The Bachelorette bachelor Joey Graziadei has defended Brayden Bowers' frustration over Charity Lawson breaking the show's "longest kiss" record in front of a handful of her suitors.
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"You guys can tell... He wears his emotions on his sleeve and he's 100 percent himself. I won't ever dog him for that."
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On The Bachelorette's latest Season 20 episode, five men returned to The Bachelor mansion a little upset and deflated when their group date with Charity had been cut short.
Charity had selected Joey to attempt the longest kiss in Bachelor Nation history -- in front of Gabby Windey, Rachel Recchia, the other bachelors, and a screaming crowd -- and then Joey got a surprise one-on-one date that evening.
Josh Young tried to see the best in the situation and told the other guys that, for the most part, it was a great date because the men got to share information about themselves and interact with Charity the whole time.
"How can you be glad for that, to have to sit there and watch somebody [kiss Charity]? That's not cool man," Brayden snapped, adding that such a public display of affection would've made him feel like "a punk" and "a chump."
Brayden proceeded to call Charity's public kiss "disrespectful," and Adrian Hassan later alleged that Brayden had called Charity "classless" for the move.
Brayden threatened to pack up his bags and quit the show, but Charity ultimately convinced him to stay by insisting that her intentions were pure and she'd never want to hurt any of her bachelors.
While Joey didn't fault Brayden for having a strong reaction or speaking his mind, the Hawaii-based tennis instructor did point out that Brayden wasn't even on that kissing group date to begin with.
"If there's anything I would say about it, it's hard to have a reaction if you weren't actually there. I think you probably had to see what it was like," Joey reasoned.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWJoey admitted it's "hard to understand" what Brayden and his pals were feeling since he wasn't in their shoes.
"But they weren't on the date, so it's hard to see them blow up, too, because they're just [working] off hearsay about what the date was," Joey noted.
"And yeah, I think the five guys that were there that had to watch that have a lot more of an understanding to be upset than the guys that didn't really even get to see how it came about -- because we had a lot of fun on that group date."
Joey shared how the group date was "a bonding moment" for the six guys who went on it.
"[We had] a little game show moment in front of a big audience. There was a lot of good on that day; it just sucked there had to be one winner -- for them -- and that they had to watch that," Joey recalled of his kiss with Charity.
"It's tough to watch guys get upset, but it was a little hard to understand in some parts too."
Charity and Joey did, in fact, beat Sean Lowe and Lesley Murphy's longest-kiss record with a new time of four minutes and 25 seconds.
Joey said it was easy to be in the moment with Charity and forget that there were even cameras around them.
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"I really think that at least from the side of the guys who had to sit there and watch, Charity and I both didn't really like that part of it. We understood it, but we both were, like, sitting there and said after, 'That was tough to have the guys sit there for that moment,'" Joey revealed.
"[That kiss], for us, we wouldn't have changed it for the world, but if we could fix maybe one thing, those guys didn't have to be there to watch that. No one wants to see that, as much as they signed up for it by [doing] the show."
While there's already been quite a bit of tension between Brayden and Adrian on The Bachelorette so far, Joey insisted the energy in the house was good and positive overall.
Joey said he "didn't feel" the drama in the first few days of filming.
"I thought the guys were honestly extremely genuine, easy to get along with," Joey disclosed.
"It kind of made me realize, 'Wow, we've got a really good group of guys. This might be tougher than I thought, to be someone who stands out throughout this whole series.'"
He concluded, "So I definitely had no negativity or drama feels in the first couple of days."
Joey received a rose from Charity on their date, and he is one of 14 men remaining on Charity's journey to find love heading into The Bachelorette's next episode on Monday, July 10 at 9PM ET/PT on ABC.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
