'Bachelorette' Contestant Dean Opened Up About His Past And It's Heartbreaking

Episode 4 of The Bachelorette was Dean's time in the spotlight.

The 25-year-old sweetheart (and also the "ready to go black and never go back" guy) opened up completely to Rachel during their one-on-one date, and told her about losing his mom to breast cancer when he was 15, and dealing with his family in the aftermath.

Apparently, both his siblings and his dad were not around a lot, and Dean was kind of on his own.

Dean confessed to Rachel, through tears, that he had never really spoken to anyone else about this before.

Rachel was clearly touched that Dean opened up to her. So touched in fact, that she went in for the kiss.

Fans on Twitter were clearly touched as well.

It hasn't been an easy night for poor Dean. Earlier in the episode, he had a first date with Rachel... in a blimp.

A first date on a giant blimp sounds pretty freakin' amazing, right? Well, it does unless you're Dean and you're deathly afraid of heights.

Their date seemed to go pretty well, all things considered.

The good people of Goodyear loaned ABC one its famous blimps for Rachel and Dean to take a romantic ride in. There was just one small problem — it turns out Dean is terrified of heights.

(Funny how that worked out, isn't it, Bachelorette producers? Isn't it??)

Anyways, the Bachelorette producers probably forced poor Dean into this blimp. Unsurprisingly, Dean did not have a great time.

As the moment of truth grew closer, Dean grew quieter and paler. Then, as if they hadn't tortured the guy enough already, Rachel pressured him into actually driving the blimp.

Rachel may think that Dean "totally embraced" the blimp experience, but I saw that fear in his eyes. He was just doing whatever he could to get out of the blimp ASAP.

The good news for Dean is he did get to take advantage of some "comfort me" hand-holding.

Thankfully, the second half of Dean's one-on-one date took place firmly on the ground.

After they were blimped out, Rachel and Dean shared their emotional dinner and then took to the stage in downtown Bluffton, South Carolina.

Country singer Russell Dickerson warmed up the crowd with a few favorites.

When Rachel and Dean came out stage, they were both being very affectionate with each other. That's a pretty tight embrace, there, Dean.

All in all, Dean seemed a lot happier when he wasn't 100 feet in the air, and I don't blame him.

Blimps are cool and all, but I'm really more of a coffee first date girl myself.