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‘Bachelorette’ Alum Ben Higgins’ Advice for ‘Serious’ Bachelor Joey Graziadei: ‘Find Some Joy’
As someone who knows the ropes, former Bachelor lead Ben Higgins has some advice for the star of The Bachelor season 28, Joey Graziadei.
“My advice to him is to enjoy it, to try to have as much fun with this new opportunity as life as possible because I know him to be somebody who is fairly serious,” Ben, 34, exclusively reveals to Life & Style. “He really wants to see if this can work. He really wants to walk through this experience with authenticity and genuineness. And I think that’s incredible. And it’s the mark of somebody that you want as a lead, both bachelor and bachelor. But I think the downside of that is sometimes when you want to be so authentic, it’s hard to have fun with it. And I just hope he can find some joy in these moments that are going to come.”
Ben, who refers to Joey, 28, as a “good dude” jokingly says that “rumor has it that [Joey] is the best-looking Bachelor of all time.”
“I can’t disagree with them,” Ben adds. “He’s a stud.”
Most seasons of the show have at least one incredibly dramatic moment, but Ben’s remained fairly drama-free. In The Bachelor season 20 finale, Ben gave his final rose to Lauren Lane (née Bushnell) in 2016, and their romance led Freeform to give them their own spinoff called Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After. However, the two called it quits a little over a year later in 2017 and Lauren went on to marry country singer Chris Lane. Even though Ben participated in the now-defunct The Bachelor Winter Games in2018, the Indiana native left without finding romantic connection. However, it didn’t take long for Ben to find the woman he would eventually marry, Jessica Clarke, when the two connected on Instagram in 2018.
Now, Ben’s returning to reality TV, but this time it’s not to find love. Ben Higgins will be facing off against other stars from the stage, screen and stadium in the 2024 HGV Tournament of Champions this January in Orlando.
As for Joey, he thought Charity Lawson was the one for him when he made it to the final two men during season 20 of The Bachelorette. He even began to drop down on one knee before Charity stopped him and told him she had found a “deeper love” with Dotun Olubeko.
However, during After the Final Rose, host Jesse Palmer announced that Joey was stepping into the role of the next Bachelor. Some fans questioned whether or not Joey would be ready to jump back into the dating pool after his heartbreaking split from Charity, but he assured fans he was ready.
“I’m more ready than I was in that moment,” Joey explained during After the Final Rose. “For me it was just you have to take some time to get some closure. Watching Dotun’s and Charity’s connection was enough for me.”
ABC revealed the 32 women competing for Joey’s heart in December 2023, and the tennis pro expressed his excitement about his journey to find love.
“You just want to be fully committed to it all and understand that there’s a lot of things that are out of your control,” Joey told Good Morning America during an August 2023 interview. “But what I’m taking in is just fully leaning into it and taking it for whatever it’s going to be.”
