The Bachelorette returned to ABC on Monday, June 26 with drama and a potential Season 20 villain right out of the gate: Brayden Bowers.
Those who watched The Bachelorette’s Charity Lawson meet her 25 contestants at the mansion know that Charity’s brother Nehemiah dropped in to surprise her and scope out the dudes hoping to win his sister’s heart. And after spying on the group of guys all night, Big Brother Lawson identified a sole threat. Yep, you guessed it. Brayden!
After sharing his concerns about Brayden with Charity, all signs pointed to Brayden getting the Bachelorette boot. But in the first big rose-related twist of the season, she offered that man her first impression rose instead. Girl, what?!
So who is Brayden Bowers on The Bachelorette Season 20? How did he land Charity’s first impression rose? And why do Charity’s brother and the rest of the contestants have an eye on him? Here’s everything we know about Brayden Bowers, including a recap of his first night at the mansion.
The Bachelorette Season 20 contestant Brayden Bowers is a 24-year-old travel nurse from San Diego, California. He made his first impression on Night 1 by memorably exiting the limo with tequila shots for himself and Charity to ensure the two were “up to date on their shots.” Yes, it was a painfully corny move, but Charity excitedly replied, “Speaking the love language!”
After saying “cheers to a shot at love” and admitting tequila is not his friend, Brayden headed inside and Charity told cameras, “That’s a good one.”
In Brayden’s intro video we saw him doing yoga on the beach, mountain climbing, bungee jumping, scuba diving, snowboarding, and cliff diving. “I’m a very emotional person. I feel a lot, you know? Like I’m in that mindset where I’m constantly evaluating things, but I also like to have fun too,” he explained. “There’s very few experiences that I’d say no to. I want to live my life with a wanderlust for the world. You know? Like Aladdin. That’s what I want, dude. I want to go on a magic carpet ride. I want to find someone who’s going to experience all these things with me and I hope that’s Charity.”
Like Charity, Brayden also opened up about being in a past relationship where he was cheated on. “She knows what it’s like to be hurt like that, so it makes me a little more hopeful for this whole thing,” he said. “I just want that connection with someone, you know?”
If you’re looking to learn the basics on Brayden Bowers, his official Bachelorette bio is as follows: “Brayden is as hardworking, romantic and funny as he is handsome. The travel nurse has big goals for his future but says there’s one major piece missing from his life – a wife. Brayden has been in serious relationships before but is excited about this unique opportunity to date Charity. When Brayden loves, he loves hard and he is ready to put it all on the line to find his perfect match. Brayden is hoping his future wife is honest, adventurous and, most importantly, will love his dog, River, as much as he does! Could Charity be the perfect match Brayden (and River) have been looking for?!”
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…Brayden’s fun facts:
If you want to learn more about Brayden as Charity’s season plays out, follow him on Instagram at @braydenbowersofficial, where he has 902 followers at the time of writing this piece.
As noted in our Season 20 premiere recap, while Charity spent the night getting to know her contestants face to face, her brother Nehemiah disguised himself with a wig and fake mustache so he could do stealth recon as Charles the bartender. When he wasn’t grilling the guys on their intentions and impressions of his sister, he was eavesdropping on their conversations from afar. And though Nehemiah almost got made by one contestant who swore he recognized him from somewhere, he made it to the end of the night with dirt on one man in particular: Brayden.
After Charity and Brayden had a hell of a makeout sesh, Nehemiah overheard Brayden bragging to the boys about how well he was feeling after some 1:1 time with his sister. Before Charity handed out her first impression rose, Nehemiah pulled off his disguise and came clean, telling Charity that Brayden has a huge ego, was mouthing off at the bar, publicly bragging about their kiss, and acting cocky — which he found problematic. So why did Charity give Brayden the first impression rose after all that? The rest of her contestants are still understandably confused. But here’s what went down when Charity pulled Brayden aside to question his behavior.
Brayden corroborated Nehemiah’s version of events and nervously admitted he felt confident about his first impression rose chances after their kiss. Charity left the room to think and when she returned, she offered the first impression rose to Brayden, assuring him that he had every right to feel confident because their connection was that strong. But when the two of them met back up with the rest of the guys there was a clear shift in the mood.
Will Brayden stick around long enough to get a Hometown Date? Or does his Night 1 drama foreshadow an early departure ahead? We’ll have to wait and see. But we imagine Undercover Brother isn’t too happy he got the first rose.
New episodes of The Bachelorette Season 20 premiere on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Episodes are available for next-day streaming on Hulu.