Brayden Bowers didn’t find love on Bachelor in Paradise, but he’s still dating within the franchise.
Brayden, 25, surprised viewers by debuting his relationship with fellow Bachelor Nation alum Christina Mandrell during the BiP season 9 finale on Thursday, December 7, as the show offered updates on each contestant.
“Now, Brayden is dating Chrisitna from Zach’s season,” read a message on the screen alongside a cute video of the couple. “Brayden is teaching Christina’s daughter how to accessorize.”
Christina, 28, first appeared on Zach Shallcross’ season 27 of The Bachelor, which aired from January to March. She was eliminated during the third week but revealed that she shares a daughter, Blakely, with her ex-husband Blake Dennis.
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Brayden, for his part, caused controversy on Charity Lawson’s season 20 of The Bachelorette, which came to an end in April. He self-eliminated during the fourth week of the season.
Following his brief Bachelorette journey, Brayden headed to Mexico for a second shot at love. He made an immediate connection with Kat Izzo (Zach’s season) when season 9 premiered in September, but their flame ultimately fizzled out.
“I don’t do well with dating multiple people at once. And I think that that was one of the things that was hard about Paradise — the aspect of dating multiple people at once, because it’s just, like, how do you truly get to know someone when you’re getting to know five other people?” Brayden admitted to Us in October. “And so for me, it was like, ‘I liked Kat. I knew I liked her.’ I knew I had a connection and I was going to ride that road until it ended … or until it ends.”
As Kat decided to also explore other relationships, Brayden moved on with former Bachelorette Rachel Recchia — until Becca Serrano (Zach’s season) arrived in Paradise. He cut things off with Rachel to explore a possible relationship with Becca.
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“I know that Paradise is really open and doesn’t have rules, but for me, I have my own rules and I think that’s kind of more so just what I followed,” Brayden told Us. “I can’t hold other people to that, but that’s what I hold myself to.”
In the end, both Becca and Rachel self-eliminated, which meant Brayden wasn’t offered a rose and was sent home.
Before kicking off his connection with Christina, Brayden said Paradise was full of “hot and sweaty rose ceremonies,” telling Us that his journey on the show was “a wild ride.”