Is Brayden The New Bachelorette Villain?

It wouldn’t be a season of The Bachelor/ette without a contestant who gets the villain edit — whether it’s someone who gets the dreaded “wrong reasons” accusation, or someone who stirs up conflict among their fellow suitors. As Charity Lawson’s season proves, getting a first impression rose doesn’t preclude you from being cast in this role! In fact, the coveted rose might just catalyze it.

Ever since 24-year-old Brayden Bowers earned Charity’s first impression rose in The Bachelorette Season 20 premiere, several of his contestants were skeptical. After all, he spoke freely about kissing Charity and predicted he’d get the rose, which rubbed some of the men the wrong way — including Charity’s brother, Nehemiah Lawson, who was in disguise as a bartender.

“[He was] crossing that line from confidence to arrogance to cockiness,” Nehemiah told Charity. “That’s problematic. He seemed even so emboldened to be like, he might get a rose.”

But Charity saw things a little differently. “I’ve come to understand that that is Brayden’s personality,” she recently told Bustle. “He’s someone who has a very bold personality. He’s very charismatic. It just shines through.”

For the men, though, the tension escalated into the July 3 episode. After Adrian Hassan listened to Brayden complain about wanting a group date rose and saying Adrian didn’t deserve the dodgeball MVP award, he addressed his concerns with Charity — telling her some men treated the experience like “spring break.”

Later, Brayden voiced his disapproval of Charity’s group date, where she and Joey Graziadei shared the longest kiss in franchise history. The kiss “disrespected” the other men, Brayden said. “To be honest, I don’t know if this is someone that I can have a relationship with.” He even expressed his intentions to leave but had a talk with Charity that seemingly smoothed things over.

It didn’t stop there, though. Adrian then told Charity that Brayden described her actions as “classless,” which left Charity feeling confused. “Adrian and Brayden told me two different stories, and I trust both of them, so I still don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said before the rose ceremony.

She ultimately decided to keep both men around — which, of course, can only lead to more drama in the weeks to come. So if Brayden is indeed the next Bachelorette villain, how long will his reign last?

Potential spoilers ahead! According to Reality Steve, it could be a few more episodes. The spoiler commentator recently reported that Brayden is eliminated during a group date between the fourth and fifth rose ceremonies.