Brandon Jones is hoping to win Michelle Young's final rose on The Bachelorette's eighteenth season.
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Brandon J. is a 26-year-old traveling nurse recruiter from Portland, OR.
After Michelle met Brandon's family, she told the bachelor, "It is very clear to me that I am falling for you," and Brandon said he wanted to end up with Michelle "more than anything in this entire world."
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Michelle is also crazy about her other Final 2 bachelor, Nayte Olukoya, but Michelle and Brandon appear to have something deep and special.
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During their overnight Fantasy Suite date, Michelle asked Brandon if he'd get to the point of being ready to pop the question by the end of the process, and he replied, "Since Day 1 when I met you, I knew that you were The One... Michelle, I want you to know that I am in love with you."
Brandon added, "I was going to wait, but I don't want to wait any more. I want you to know how I feel, that I am truly in love with you. I am just so sick of keeping it in. I want you to know I will always put you first... until I take my last breath."
Michelle smiled big and said her heart was beating so fast, and she reiterated how she was "falling in love" with him.
Michelle gushed in a confessional, "Brandon is soul mate material, but on top of that, we also have this incredible spark and this burning passion and chemistry with each other."
Until viewers can watch Michelle make her final decision on the show's upcoming Season 18 finale between Brandon and Nayte, let's learn a little bit about this bachelor who is totally and completely invested in Michelle!
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Below is a list of thirteen facts Reality TV World has compiled about Brandon Jones.
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Brandon Jones says he's ready to find his future wife
Although Brandon is only 26 years old now, ABC says he "knows exactly what he wants in life" and is "very serious about finding The One."
ABC also shared of the bachelor that he is "kind and confident."
The Bachelorette suitor is a self-proclaimed basketball fiend
Brandon and Michelle will definitely have a love for basketball in common, and Brandon J. looks forward to maybe playing a little one-on-one with the Bachelorette.
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Brandon even has a Christmas basketball tradition with his best friend, who once traveled all the way from the UK to uphold their holiday-game tradition.
Brandon hopes to find a passionate woman to match his passion
Brandon says he's looking for a wife with a personality that can keep up with his.
Brandon wants someone who has goals and the focus to achieve them. He doesn't want to be with someone who is still figuring herself out, and he hopes to find someone who can be his best friend and teammate for the rest of their lives.
Brandon has dabbled in different careers and once worked for Nike
Brandon currently works as a vendor staffing specialist at PeaceHealth, a position he started in September 2020.
Prior to his job as a recruiter, Brandon was a talent acquisition coordinator for Nike from January 2020 to June 2020 in Beaverton, OR.
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Brandon also held down jobs several years ago as an onsite manager and recruiter for Nike AirMI as well as a social media manager for Riverdale Landscape and a management trainee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
The Bachelorette bachelor's best friend has four legs
Brandon has a cute dog named Mac, and he posted a slideshow with his black-and-white pup on November 5.
In 2017, Brandon wrote on Instagram, "Super Bowl Sunday I was given the opportunity to take home this little guy and became a Dad. Everyone meet Little Mac!.. my new baby."
Brandon is dad to a little black-and-white dog named Mac who wears sweaters, has his own little basketball, and drinks milkshakes.
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Brandon stuck close to home for college
Brandon first attended college at Portland Community College, where he studied entrepreneurship from 2012-2014.
Brandon then transferred to Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR, in 2014, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management in 2017. He also minored in Entrepreneurship.
The suitor claims he's ready to settle down and start a family
Brandon took on a lot of responsibility when he was younger, as he essentially raised his brother because his parents were always gone working.
Until he can have a kid of his own, Brandon spoils his nephew, who is also his godson, and believes he's the favorite uncle.
Brandon says he's a good listener and communicator as well as comfortable in a leadership position, which would make for a good husband and father. He also apparently thrives when helping others in his personal and professional life.
Brandon prides himself on being a fun-loving guy
Brandon tries to live life to the fullest. He once hopped on stage during a Lil Wayne and Drake concert, and he loves the comedic show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
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If Brandon was asked to describe himself in only three words, he would actually choose "fun" as well as truthful and caring.
Brandon wrote in his LinkedIn that he's self-motivates and believes in treating others with respect as well as motivating them.
The Bachelorette suitor was a late bloomer in life
Brandon was only 5'2" in his first couple years of high school and also had braces for years.
Brandon attended a predominantly white high school and explained how he struggled to fit in and felt like he had to choose "a side," meaning hanging with the white or Black kids.
The bachelor said his parents had advised him to just be himself and try to be comfortable in his own skin, and Brandon J. did just that.
Brandon has gushed about Michelle being a "queen" on Instagram
The bachelor may have made it very far on Michelle's The Bachelorette season because his recent posts on Instagram suggest he's crazy about her.
In late November, Brandon posted a photo of Michelle giving him a birthday cake and he captioned it, "Didn't need to make a wish. Everything I could ever ask for is right here, smiling back at me."
And earlier in the month, he uploaded an image of Michelle giving him a rose at a Rose Ceremony.
"I promise to never again make you feel unseen," Brandon wrote alongside the image, referring to the group date in which Michelle had felt ignored and somewhat neglected by her bachelors.
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Brandon calls how he was cast on The Bachelorette "a wild story"
On a late November episode of the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast hosted by Joe Amabile, Tia Booth, and Natasha Parker, Brandon explained how he ended up on Michelle's season of The Bachelorette.
"I've only seen one season, and that was Matt James' season. And so I was told while watching, 'Hey, you've got to pick your favorite and see if she goes to the end.' So I was like, 'Okay, my favorite is Michelle -- basketball player, cutie, and everything like that,'" Brandon explained.
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Brandon said producers cast him as they were closing casting and he was "the last one to be on the show."
Once Michelle was selected to be The Bachelorette star, Brandon's roommate urged him to sign up.
"I looked at him and I said, 'No,'" Brandon recalled. "And then three days go by and he comes back to me and goes, 'No, really. I filled out most of [the application]. Just put a couple of pictures in it and send it.'"
Brandon said his roommate believed in him when he didn't even believe in himself.
"I was like, 'Okay, I look like I'm 17 years old, first off. There's no way!'" Brandon said.
Thinking he and Michelle might have a lot in common, Brandon finally signed up and got on the show "in a blink of an eye." Brandon received the phone call from producers while he was at the gym.
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"They were like, 'You've got to get everything packed up.' And I was like, 'Wait, I'm on the show?! And they were like, 'Yeah, did no one tell you? You're the last one!' And I was like, 'Okay! I'm going to have to get some clothes!' I was so excited," Brandon shared.
Why Brandon asked Michelle's parents for permission to propose so early
During a one-on-one date on The Bachelorette, Michelle took Brandon to her childhood home in Minneapolis, MN, and Brandon got to meet her parents, LaVonne and Ephraim Young, unexpectedly.
Brandon therefore jumped at the chance to have a heart-to-heart with Michelle's parents in which he asked for their daughter's hand in marriage, before hometown dates even filmed.
"That's just kind of me," Brandon explained during a late November episode of "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" hosted by Joe Amabile, Natasha Parker and Tia Booth.
"I was so invested in Michelle, and I realized, 'I don't know where I'm going to be in this process. I don't know her feelings for the other guys or their connection,' and so I realized this was an opportunity I wasn't going to let go."
Brandon went on to describe himself as a traditional man in relationships.
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"Being an old soul that I am, my parents were, like hands down, 'Always ask the parents for one's hand in marriage. Always. It's just a respect thing.'"
Brandon gushed about LaVonne and Ephraim and said, "These are the people who raised that amazing woman, and so, I was like, 'Hey, when am I going to get another chance?'"
Brandon therefore confirmed his move to seek permission to get engaged to Michelle was "a little off script."
"[The producers] called it, 'Brandon's going rogue,'" Brandon revealed on the podcast.
He recalled of the intimate conversation, "That's just me... I told Michelle, 'Hey, do you think I can talk to your parents?' And she was like, 'Okay, bye.' And so I talked to them."
Brandon called the whole date with Michelle "very special."
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Brandon explains pulling Michelle aside before Rose Ceremony
Following Michelle's overnight Fantasy Suite dates with her Final 3 bachelors, Brandon asked to speak to Michelle in private just as she was about to hand out her first of two roses.
Brandon offered Michelle some sweet and comforting words, which made her other two bachelors -- Nayte and Joe -- as well as home viewers a little skeptical of his intentions.
Fans have been wondering if it was a sneaky last-ditch effort on Brandon's part to secure one of Michelle's two roses, but according to Brandon, that absolutely wasn't the case.
Brandon explained he had stolen an intimate moment with The Bachelorette star just to "let her know she is not alone" because "letting someone you love go is one of the hardest pains to go through in life."
"To know she would have to go through it alone tore me apart inside," Brandon said of Michelle.
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He added, "No matter the outcome, her happiness comes first. Her mental health and well being comes first. Ultimately, that she comes first."
Brandon noted "there is a bigger picture than just getting a rose" when looking for love on the ABC reality dating series.
"We are all people at the end of the day and in the end, we all need somebody there for us in these life changing decisions," Brandon wrote on Instagram.
"I wasn't there for a rose at that point, I was there for my best friend."
Brandon received support from several of his The Bachelorette buddies, including Clayton Echard, who will be starring on The Bachelor's 26th season when it premieres in January 2022 on ABC.
"This is one more of countless examples that separates you from the rest!" Clayton wrote on Brandon's post. "You're a true role model for how men should treat women! Proud of you, brother!"
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Will Urena and Leroy Arthur also complimented Brandon on his treatment of Michelle.
"Well said my guy! Way to speak from your heart," Will wrote.
And Leroy commented, "The Brandon we know and love."
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