ABC
The Bachelor’s Joey Admits He Feared Hometown Dates Would Be a ‘Step Back’ for His Relationships
While teasing the upcoming hometown dates episode on season 28 of The Bachelor, lead Joey Graziadei admitted to his biggest fear about meeting his final four’s families.
“I think anyone that’s been to that point can understand how good things are going for a lot of relationships at that point [in the season],” the tennis instructor, 28, said on the Thursday, February 29, episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast. “You might be hitting the best point possible. You’re seeing something grow, seeing something get to the point where this might actually work. I was so afraid for hometowns being a step back.”
Joey said that his relationships with Kelsey Anderson, Daisy Kent, Maria Georgas and Rachel Nance were going “so well” before hometowns and he feared “something going wrong” when the women introduced him to their loved ones. His biggest concern was the relationships “not moving at the same trajectory as [they] were” because of something that happened during the family meetings.
However, at that point in the season, he admitted he was still pretty confident that everything would work out. He told hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt that he was 70 or 80 percent sure the process would work for him as he went into the crucial hometown week.
“I could see the relationships were getting there but we [hadn’t] gotten to the point of anyone expressing that they’re in love with me, if there’s real feelings, if they could see a future,” he explained. “Those conversations come later on. I think what you’re feeling is, ‘Is [this] going to keep progressing? It is right now, but is it going to get there?’ So there’s always going to be that 20 to 30 percent of doubt until you know that someone is going to feel the way you might feel.”
During the Monday, February 26, episode, Joey made his hardest decision yet when he sent home Jenn Tran and Kelsey Toussant, leaving just four women remaining. He will travel to their hometowns on the March 4 episode.
When Joey was a contestant on The Bachelorette, he had a memorable hometown date thanks to his uncle grilling Charity Lawson about their relationship. Going through that helped give Joey an idea of how he wanted to handle things as the lead.
“I learned not to judge completely off the hometown,” he said. “There’s so many dynamics that might affect if it goes well or not. And definitely be willing to ask questions. If I felt any kind of pushback, I would want to learn and ask more about why because I think it’s important to understand it and not just go with how they’re feeling.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
