Television March 18, 2024
Bachelor Joey Graziadei on If He Found 'The One' (Exclusive)
“Extra” caught up with “The Bachelor’s” Joey Graziadei right after the “Women Tell All” taping.
After surviving an explosive season, Joey is reliving his search for true love, aka his "journey to find his person" on “The Bachelor: Women Tell-All.”
“I think what people see is true and real," Joey said. "In those moments, you're asked to open up a different side of yourself, a side that a lot of people close off at times in their life because they're afraid of getting hurt. You see me trying to do the best job that I can. A lot of times when I have those feelings, what I try to do is communicate through them, which I did, obviously."
He teased, “I can tell you that going into that final day, I opened up and was ready to open up the most that I can. That's all I can say."
He played coy about if he's found "the one," saying, “I cannot answer that one, you will have to watch the finale to find out.”
Joey was also tight-lipped about what went down in Mexico on the highly-anticipated fantasy suites episode!
He noted, “People love hearing what happened in those fantasy suites, and I get it. But for me I always say the same thing, and it's old school of me, but I think that stuff should stay behind closed doors.”
What wasn't so secret, contestant Maria finding herself swirling in drama with the other ladies!
Graziadei shared, "I think that a lot of people see that with Maria, we had a very strong connection. We always had a really good time. She's been honest and open about the fact that one of the thing she struggled with most was the other women, the process, the idea that there are going to be other people here, and it's only going to get tougher, because things get more personal, more intimate."
He continued, "I was never surprised with that, because that's real, that's honest... It wasn't that I ever had an issue with it, it just was the point that when it came to the next week and going to the final three, I had three other women that were more confident with how everything was going to move forward, and I think she knew that."
Joey also touched on contestant Rachel Nance's emotional time on "Women Tell All," saying he was "surprised" to hear she had been receiving online hate.
"To hear that, to be in that moment and see how much it's affecting her, I didn't expect that, and I felt for her fully," he said. Joey added, "I just wanted her to know that it was a safe space and for her to just take her time because she deserved that."
He noted that it was "great" and "necessary" seeing Rachel again. "I think you could see from the clip of when we did say goodbye, there were a lot of emotions on her side, there were a lot of emotions on my side. Sometimes it's hard to collect your thoughts. It wasn't like anything new was said tonight. It was just a reaffirmation and ability to have a little bit more time and space to talk through it, which I think everyone deserves."
After a full year of being on reality TV, Joey is ready for what’s next! He dished, “I'm very excited for this to be done. For all of it to be out and for me to kind of move forward and do what I want to do.”
"The Bachelor" airs Mondays on ABC.