The preview for next week's episodes hints at a brewing love triangle between Brayden, Kat and Tanner.
Brayden is questioning everything about his relationship with Kat. During Thursday's episode of Bachelor in Paradise, Kat admitted that she was interested in pursuing a romance with Tyler or Tanner should they arrive on the beach, while Brayden maintained that he only had eyes for Kat.
In separate interviews, ET spoke to the duo about the episode, with Kat classifying her connection with Brayden as "a surprise," while Brayden noted that Kat was always one of the "top three" women he was hoping to meet on the beach.
According to Kat, Brayden knew all about her interest in other guys before she publicly namedropped two of them at the bonfire.
"Before that was said in a public setting, me and Brayden had spoken about that. He had known who was on my list, or at least who I was wanting to see on the beach," Kat said. "When it was said aloud, he responded with, 'I know this, but I'm still wanting to just pursue her.' So, it wasn't super awkward, I would say, because it was something we had already spoken about privately prior to the bonfire."
Even so, Brayden said that her public declaration "definitely stung."
"At the end of the day, I can only control myself. I can only control how I want to live. For me in that moment, I met Kat, and had a connection I felt, and I was interested in pursuing that until it ended up hitting a dead end," he said. "As far as she's concerned, she's entirely in her right to go and meet other guys and talk to them. We weren't exclusive or in a relationship. It definitely stung. I heard that she wasn't super committed to or focused on me at all, but I can't control that. It's not my job. It's out of my control."
After the bonfire, Kat said that she and Brayden had a "very mature" conversation about the situation. That appears to go out the window next week, as fans saw in a preview for the forthcoming episode. In the preview, Tanner arrives with his focus firmly on Kat.
"As soon as you hear those names drop you know those names are coming down the beach. It wasn't a super big shocker to me," Brayden told ET. "I was already kind of prepared for the inevitable, but I still I feel confident. At that time she made me feel like, although she had the guys in the back of her mind, she really cared about me and thought a lot about me. That was kind of what I was holding onto, trying to think half full, rather than half empty."
Meanwhile, Kat said the situation was "exciting, but it was nerve-wracking."
"You never want to hurt anybody's feelings," she said. "I didn't know what the best course of action was gonna be. No one can say no to a date, but it was so nerve-wracking to think that it could potentially hurt somebody's feelings."
Feelings are definitely hurt in the process, as Tanner asks Kat out, she accepts, and they are seen making out with each other.
"It feels like I got played hardcore," Brayden says in the preview, before telling Kat, "I feel cheap. I feel like a dirty whore."
"When she first told me about all of it... I was more kind of stunned rather than anything else. It kind of hadn't settled in," Brayden explained to ET, before questioning, "Was it really ever her into me or was it the rose? I guess we'll just have to stay tuned and see."
From Kat's point of view, "the Brayden you see in the bonfire might not be the Brayden that you see by the end of the [upcoming] episode."
"Brayden's reaction validated my reasoning for wanting to move on from our relationship. I believe I expressed myself very well," she told ET. "... You can never tell somebody how to accept rejection... but the way that you decide to carry yourself is what matters most."
The fact that Charity Lawson's season of The Bachelorette had yet to air before Kat and Brayden met on the beach contributed to Kat's surprise at Brayden's behavior.
"If I had seen Charity's season, it would have made a lot more sense. When I watched it back, I was texting Charity the whole time, like, 'Wow, I know what you're feeling right now,'" Kat said of Brayden, who was in the center of the drama during his stint on the show. "At the end of the day, it's not my place to say how someone should react to receiving rejection, but I do think that you should always carry yourself with kindness and respect."
Elsewhere on the beach, the preview teases Tyler's appearance, much to the delight of Mercedes and Kylee. But it's his ex, Rachel, that he has his eye on.
"I've been waiting for this. I'm so excited you're here," Rachel tells Tyler, before her first connection, Sean, bemoans, "Rachel is my only connection, so I'm feeling a little anxious, a little nervous."
Then there's Sam's much-teased inability to go to the bathroom, which may lead to her having to "deliver a poop baby."
All of that drama, Kat and Brayden teased to ET, is only the beginning.
"If you think you've seen craziness now, you have no idea," Kat said. "There's so many twists and turns that I don't even think we thought we were gonna experience, but it all comes together, and I believe it ends up being a very special experience for everyone."
"There’s a lot of drama. There's a lot of heartbreak on the beach. There's a lot of love on that beach. I think that people want to see that. They want to see all of it," Brayden said. "It can be as corny as it can be, or as amazing and real as it could be. I just think the whole aspect of it, it’s entertaining. I know a lot of people whose hearts were in it this season, so I think people should definitely tune in for that."
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