‘Bachelorette’ recap: Hometowns end with a crushing elimination

It was time for hometowns on Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette, and with just four men left, Charity faced her toughest rose ceremony yet, ending with Aaron being sent home in the season’s most heartbreaking elimination.

Before meeting Aaron’s family in his hometown of Houston, Charity confessed that after getting off to a strong start, their relationship had cooled off somewhat, and she hoped the day would get their courtship “back on track.” Charity seemed to find the clarity she needed from discussions with Aaron’s family and from Aaron himself, who declared that he was falling in love with her.

Charity’s date with Joey, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction when, during her conversation with Joey’s uncle Joe in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, he expressed his concern that Joey, who has a tendency to become someone he believed people wanted him to be, wasn’t showing Charity his “true self.” That raised a red flag with the Bachelorette who, after going into the date feeling confident about their relationship, left with a little uncertainty.

Over in Cleveland, Xavier, who’d previously struck Charity as being a little uncertain of his readiness to get down on one knee, eased her doubts by confidently saying that he was falling in love with her. Meanwhile, the outpouring of love and support she received from Dotun‘s family in Fresno, California, solidified his place as a frontrunner in the competition.

Back in Los Angeles, Charity revealed to host Jesse Palmer that she was falling in love with all four men, and the hometown dates only left her more confused.

At the rose ceremony, she chose Joey over Aaron, despite her concerns over his authenticity. In an emotional goodbye, she tearfully told Aaron that she wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision.

“I’m falling in love with someone, yet and I just them home,” she said in a confessional, adding, “What if I just made the absolute wrong decision?”

Here are the men going to fantasy suites:

Dotun, 30, an integrative medicine specialist from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Joseph “Joey,” 27, a tennis pro from Lawai, Hawaii.
Xavier, 27, a biomedical scientist from Carrboro, N.C.