Brayden Bowers from ‘The Bachelorette’.Photo:Ricky Middlesworth/ABC

Brayden Bowers, The Bachelorette

Ricky Middlesworth/ABC

BacheloretteCharity Lawsondug into him duringMonday’sMen Tell Allspecial, but Brayden Bowers just brushed it off.

“You can’t take it too seriously,” Brayden, 24, tells PEOPLE of the show’s drama.

During theMen Tell Allspecial, Charity, 27, told Brayden she thought she gave him “a lot more grace than I think I should’ve given you” during his time onThe Bachelorette.

The other men piled on him, too, and hostJesse Palmerasked Brayden why so many people took issue with him.

“Maybe the way I can come across sometimes can come across as maybe arrogant or maybe cocky or something like that,” Brayden said. “I’m not like your traditional type of guy I guess.”

Brayden told PEOPLE the negative feedback also extended to social media.

“I’ve been getting positive feedback on social media, but I’ve also been getting negative,” he said. “And even in person, I’ve gotten some negative.”

Charity Lawson and Brayden Bowers on ‘The Bachelorette’ season 20.ABC/Craig Sjodin

The Bachelorette

ABC/Craig Sjodin

Brayden recalled being at a bar with a friend back in California when a father of a fan asked the reality star to come over and meet his daughter.

“I come over to say hi and she’s like, ‘I kind of thought you were a little bit of a douchebag,’” Brayden recalls. “And she’s like, ‘I thought you should’ve gone home night 1, but I’m going to go to the restroom.’ She got up and left and her dad was sitting there like, ‘Can I buy you a drink, man?’”

Ultimately, Brayden thinks “the jokes and the memes are hilarious,” he says. “I think it’s just funny to see people’s takes on me. Some of the videos people, the comedians that are coming out of the woodworks with some of this stuff. My friends, they’ll still call me and be like, ‘Brayden’s going to Brayden.’”

Braydenreceived Charity’s first impression roseand proceeded to scorea one-on-one date with herearly in the season. But when Charity heard Brayden had been telling the other men he didn’t think he could propose at the end of the show, shedecided to let him go.

“The idea of getting married at the end of this with all the drama, I just couldn’t do it,” the travel nurse told Jesse, 44, duringMen Tell All. “And once I realized I couldn’t give her what she wanted, I realized it shouldn’t be there.”

Jesse announced that Brayden will be part of the cast ofBachelor in Paradiseseason 9 and teased a kiss he shared withBacheloralum Kat Izzo.

“I’d say that you were definitely in your element,” Jesse said of Brayden’s turn onParadise. “I’d sayParadisewas more your dojo.”

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The Bachelorettefinale airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

source: people.com