On 'The Bachelorette,' Charity Confronts The Show's Villain — And Gets Some Closure

I won’t be watching “The Golden Bachelor.” So I really do not care about meeting Gerry Turner. But I did get a little teary-eyed hearing about his wife’s death. But I thought it was weird that Jesse asked him about fantasy suites. Old people have sex! Why did it seem the question was framed in a way where he might not have the fantasy suites? — Erin

OK, so we’ve had some folks in this chat jump on the Tanner train in his final couple of weeks. And, well, I kind of get it now. When they showed that clip of Tanner kissing Charity? I was like oh, shit, I get it. He also was just making good points on the special throughout almost every conversation. I wish we could have seen more of that during the show. He actually has a personality! —Erin

I am fully the conductor of the Tanner train. All of his comments are sensible and smart, but he also can be tastefully shady, and I respect it so much (the look he gave to the guys when Sean asked to go up to talk to Charity made me laugh out loud). Tanner, my DMs are open. —Alexandra

Tanner’s confident, assured speech to Charity was what Sean wanted his awkward I’m-gonna-get-up-and-sit-next-to-you moment to be. —Jill

Whew. I was kind of holding my breath watching this. Because Xavier is seemingly always putting his foot in his mouth. I’m glad he denounced cheating lol, but I loved how Charity was just like, man, you could have told me this way earlier. Instead, you wait until after hometowns to tell me about the cheating and your doubts? Why? What was the reason? Being scared is not enough. I thought their conversation was good, and I’m proud of Charity for how she stood up for herself. —Erin

Honestly, I like Xavier even less after seeing the montage of his time on the show; the man was really lying the whole time! Watching him say “I need to see more” the second time around was even worse than the first viewing. Also, I’m so glad Jesse brought up him choosing to say “I love you” as Charity was literally hugging him goodbye — I don’t believe for a second that he only wanted her to know how he felt; that was solely manipulation and desperation. —Alexandra

Yes!!! I agree with all of this. He just really didn’t seem to have grown from the time he cheated on a partner and understood the gravity of that — despite the way he made clear tonight he denounces cheating. Good on Charity for calling out his questionable phrasing of “I don’t want to cheat on you” during their time in Fiji when it should have been “I won’t cheat on you.” (Also, I know Brayden got all the earring attention tonight, but Charity’s are great, too.) I feel like a fool for getting swept up in his knitting charms! —Jill

Of course Brayden showed up with a new pair of dangly earrings. Kudos to him staying on brand. But I’m kind of surprised at how understated the earrings are. He should have gone all out for the tell-all special. That fan sign “Brayden, trade earrings with me” made me laugh so much. Also, seeing Jesse Palmer in the dangly earrings really made me laugh so much. —Erin

Jesse doing his normal hosting things while wearing the earrings was so good. Listen, I know everyone’s tired of Brayden at this point, but his excitement over earrings being a new thing for him over the past year is endearing. Hate him or love him, he is charismatic. And Jesse confirmed the most obvious news ever: Brayden is heading to “Paradise.” I can’t wait. —Jill

First off, I do not remember Peter at all. So finding out that he was trying to get endorsement deals is funny. Like, sir, no one even knows you; you’re not going to make bank off of being on a couple episodes of “The Bachelorette.” But the stunt the other suitors pulled saying “f**k Peter” is so childish. Like huh? —Erin

In the words of the great Keke Palmer: “I hope I don’t sound ridiculous, but I don’t know who this man is. I mean he could be walking down the street, and I wouldn’t know a thing.” I don’t understand their beef with him at all, like we’re missing so much context to this argument. But, yeah, the FP thing is stupid and mean. Would love to know what spurred this hatred. —Alexandra

Ewww, this is all very immature “you can’t sit with us” energy. Like, what did he do? Wrestler Caleb says it was because Pete dismissed anyone who tried to talk to him, and it seems like he generally rubbed people the wrong way. But, like, he was there for one night … Why are y’all still mad? You don’t have to be his best friend, but you don’t have to bully him, either. Also, I think it’s a little hypocritical to jump down his throat about wanting to make money off being a contestant. Everyone has thought about it! —Jill

So “The Bachelorette” promos touted this special as featuring the most memorable contestants. And well, I’m very curious about one particular person who was missing: Warwick. If you forgot, Warwick is the one who went on that very boring date with Charity at an amusement park. He hardly even talked on the date. And then he fell asleep in the middle of the interview once he got sent home. I wanted to hear his perspective! There were some men on the stage who I feel like I’d never seen before. —Erin

Maybe he overslept?! But truly, I would have loved to hear from truly the most unbothered — and unremarkable — contestant this season. —Jill

Justice for Warwick! Hope he’s feeling well rested these days. —Alexandra

When Brayden asks for an example of him not being honest, he brings up that Adrian told Charity he’d said she was “classless.” Adrian feels pretty certain about what he told Charity, but Brayden insists he never said it. I couldn’t catch who jumped in, but whichever guy said, “Do we have the tape or not?” spoke to my SOUL. I think that same thing every time a reality show conflict comes up where two people’s accounts of something differ — like, all of this is filmed, let’s go back and see! I know that very logical approach makes for less drama, which is why producers never use it — but I did laugh at the on-screen message that confirmed they couldn’t find any evidence that “classless” was uttered. —Jill

The thing about this conversation that made me mad is it reminded me that Charity didn’t even get the satisfaction of kicking Brayden off the show. He got to “decide” to leave, and that feels wrong! I wish there was a dramatic moment where she kicked him off. —Erin

OMG, Erin, that’s so true!! Like he really took that autonomy from her, which, now that I think about it, is the most quintessentially manipulative way to leave this show. On brand for him. —Alexandra

He’s gonna be a terror on “Bachelor in Paradise.” —Erin

It was pretty satisfying to see Brayden rewatch all of his bad behavior from this season — good on the producers for including a shot of him visibly cringing at his own words. The first to speak to Brayden is be-scarfed blond hero Sean, who calls him “manipulative.” Brayden swipes back at Sean for being scared of Charity meeting his family and claims he stayed on until he knew Charity wasn’t the one for him. Yacht captain Michael jumps in, asking Brayden why he came back if that was the case. Honestly, the thing that is impressing me the most about this whole exchange is that one guy is talking at a time. Usually it’s an impossible-to-follow bunch of crosstalk. Maybe the guys just aren’t that mad at him anymore. —Jill

That was really the most we’d heard Michael talk in the whole season. Still love him down. Also, I loved Adrian and others schooling him about how the show works. Like, sir, this is what you signed up for! To compete against other men to win Charity’s heart. Don’t try to shit on it now. —Erin

LOL at Brayden trying to argue that Adrian saying “oops, sorry” after he accidentally cursed means he’s putting up a façade, when in reality they all likely got a reminder that this was going to air on TV and it’s probably annoying to bleep out every other word. Like, be so for real right now, Brayden. I loved Adrian’s response: “I just didn’t know if we could cuss or not. But I don’t give a f**k.” —Jill

I really was trying to figure out what kind of point Brayden was making about Adrian. It made no sense! —Erin

I am surprised by some of the guys defending Brayden??? I assumed that they all didn’t like him – also I think it’s just ridiculous to support any of the crazy things he says, so not sure what James and Aaron S. gained from backing him. On a better note, thrilled to see absolute KING Tanner again <3.

Unrelated to all of this, did anyone notice that Sean’s eyebrows are SNATCHED for this? The man put on his Anastasia Beverly Hills brow dip for Men Tell All. —Alexandra

LOL, I have that brow gel and it WORKS, OK! — Erin