Before finale, get to know Daisy Kent, the bubbly Minnesotan on 'The Bachelor'

BECKER, Minn. – It looked like a movie: On a recent episode of "The Bachelor," a horse-drawn carriage carried a young couple through rows and rows of evergreens. But for Daisy Kent, the Minnesotan on board, it was a typical Saturday night.

Just swap the white horses with a four-wheeler.

As a kid growing up on that same Christmas tree farm north of Becker, Minnesota, Kent and her four siblings would put on pajamas and pile into a big wagon hooked to that four-wheeler, said her mom, Julie Kent. "And then we would go out and we would pull them through the trees, looking up at the stars."

Kent, 25, is now sharing her life, including her childhood's central Minnesota setting, with the star of "The Bachelor," tennis pro Joey Graziadei, plus the millions of people watching, cheering and betting for or against their romance. She is one of the show's final three contestants.

At times, that childhood was as storybook as it might seem, Julie and Brandon Kent said on a recent Saturday morning at Dueling Brews, a Becker coffee shop. But as Daisy grew older, she began losing her health and her hearing. That's a tale she's told on the ABC-TV reality show, on her hugely popular TikTok and Instagram feeds and in her children's book, "Daisy Doo: All the Sounds She Knew," which Dueling Brews sells next to a sign urging people to support "one of Becker's own."

Though Kent now recounts that story with strength and a smile, "there were a lot of times in her life when she was really struggling," said her older brother, Milan Kent, holding his 2-month-old baby. "All the things she was going through were hitting really hard. She felt like she would never lead a normal life. So I think she's able to resonate with people in that sense, too.

"It's not all sunshine and roses — and she knows that."

'Nothing but a Daisy'

They made a deal: Julie Kent named the sons. Brandon Kent named the daughters. At first, Julie bristled at "Daisy," as it was the name of her grandmother's dog. But it ended up fitting her silly, bubbly girl.

"Now she's nothing but a Daisy," said Julie Kent, a first-grade teacher.

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