Charity Lawson went out west to look for love — well, northwest.
The Bachelorette, 27, headed to Stevenson, Washington with her 10 remaining men. First Impression Rose recipient Brayden insisted he knew Charity better than any of the other guys and couldn’t believe they thought they’d formed connections with her.
“They don’t even know her favorite color,” Brayden complained in an on-camera interview. Meanwhile, Bryaden knew she preferred blue.
“I have the strongest connection right now with her,” he continued. “I think that’s apparent.”
FIRST ONE-ON-ONE
Charity began her time in the Evergreen State with a date with Dotun.
“I have such strong feelings about him,” she told the cameras. “He makes me feel so safe. He makes me feel seen and I also like have a blast with him.”
Charity and the integrative medicine specialist, 30, faced their fears and bungee jumped off of one of North America’s highest bridges.
“It’s liberating,” Charity said after jumping. “It’s scary, but I feel so at ease.”
So at ease, in fact, that she and Dotun jumped for a second time. “Today has been one of the best days of my life,” he said.
Charity and Dotun ended the day by roasting marshmallows and making s’mores — Dotun’s first time! Next to the fire, Dotun recalled coming to America after winning an immigration lottery. Dotun said his parents struggled in the process and Charity said she could related to that. Growing up as a Black girl, Charity said she felt “I had to be the best at everything I did.”
Dotun said Charity gave him “a sense of hope” and they kissed.
“This is good,” Charity told the cameras of her relationship with Dotun. “It’s natural. It’s not forced.”
She gave him a rose and they ended the night in a hot tub.
“Maybe I’m just a big lover boy, but I can’t imagine anyone has connected that strongly,” Dotun said to the cameras.
GROUP DATE
Charity picked Joey, Aaron, Michael, Caleb, Brayden, Sean, John and Tanner for this week’s group date in the woods. Charity brought some of her friends in the Skamania Scouts along to help out. The girls told Charity’s suitors that they’d be issuing a few challenges to determine who received extra time with Charity at the Kissing Tree.
For the first challenge, the guys needed to find something in the forest for Charity and the scouts to eat. Brayden served up a charcuterie board of leaves and a beetroot, while Aaron, 29, scrounged up mushrooms and a frog, which grossed out the ladies.
The next round of the competition consisted of the Skamania Scouts asking the men questions about how they would warm Charity without fire and how they saw the journey ending. Afterwards, the scouts decided that Aaron won and earned extra time with Charity. That choice upset Brayden.
“I’m not just going to settle for someone that doesn’t add to my life,” Brayden said to the cameras. “I like her. I think she’s an amazing woman. She might just be an amazing woman for someone else that’s not me.”
At the afterparty, Charity walked in on Brayden and Aaron bickering. Then Aaron and Sean, 25, expressed to Charity that Brayden didn’t feel ready for an engagement.
“To have to hear the guys voice how they feel, how you feel about this whole thing, it scares the hell out of me and it’s like, what is making this so hard for you?” Charity asked Brayden. “I need to know.”
Brayden said that hearing about Charity’s connections with the other men “hurts.”
“I feel like I like you, but I don’t want to be here right now,” Brayden told Charity. “I don’t feel like I’m capable of getting there in this environment.”
With that, Charity walked Brayden out. “I am more frustrated now than sad,” she told the cameras of how she felt about Brayden’s departure.
Charity followed up the frustrating moment with Brayden with nice conversations — and kisses — with Joey, 27, and Michael, 28. She ended up giving Joey the date rose.
SECOND ONE-ON-ONE
Charity invited Xavier on the last one-on-one date of the week, which began at The Hood River Fruit Fest.
They discussed their favorite fruits (pineapple for Charity, blueberries for Xavier), stomped fruit and then jumped on a train where they sipped champagne. Charity worried that she only had a physical connection with Xavier, 27, and thought he reminded her of “people I would’ve dated in the past in regards to like our chemistry.”
Charity went into the evening portion of the date, hoping to find “how loyal of a guy he is,” she told the cameras.
The child and family therapist started by asking Xavier if he had any fears about the end of the journey.
“I’m somebody who, if I’m in a relationship, I give all of myself in that,” Xavier said. “And my fear with that is like, giving all of myself and not having [it] reciprocated. That’s like a huge thing for me because in my previous relationship, it was like, really tough to ask for things that I needed.”
Xavier proceeded to ask Charity about her concerns about marriage.
“It is the infidelity thing,” she said. “It is terrifying.”
Charity also shared that she worried about not fully knowing her partner when they got married.
“I’m fully invested in showing you who I am and not hiding any part of me from you,” the biomedical scientist said.
He continued to do just that by telling Charity about how his mom had multiple sclerosis and his dad served as her primary caregiver. “I want to do that same thing for my wife, the mother of my children,” Xavier said.
That brought Charity to tears and allowed her to see another side of Xavier. As a result, she gave him a rose.
COCKTAIL PARTY AND ROSE CEREMONY
At the cocktail party, Charity brought Tanner to the woods and told him they’d be looking for Sasquatch, who’s been known to be spotted in the Northwest.
“We’re actually not really on the hunt for Sasquatch,” Charity told Tanner, 30. “We’re just going to kiss."
The mortgage lender didn’t mind the pivot.
While they might not have spotted Sasquatch, someone else lurked in the woods. Brayden returned, walking right past all the guys and straight to Charity.
“I didn’t like how I left the other day,” the travel nurse said to her. “I was really emotionally charged and I really wanted to come back and just let you know that I’m really sorry about this whole thing.”
Charity didn’t need really want to hear it. “I don’t know if you ever even saw yourself at the end of all this with me,” she said to Brayden.
Sean and the other guys got mad that Brayden stole their time.
“Why are you here, man?” Aaron asked Brayden.
Brayden made his way back into the limo to leave as the men followed him outside. “Close the door and get out of here. Push the gas, man,” Aaron instructed Brayden’s driver.
With Brayden gone for good, Charity moved on to handing out roses to men with whom she actually saw a future. “I really just am focusing on where each connection is and where I see myself at the end of all this,” she said to the group at the top of the rose ceremony.
Charity extended roses to Aaron, Tanner and Sean, sending home Caleb, Michael and John.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
