It’s an exciting time to be in Bachelor Nation! The premieres of The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 are just days away, but that’s not all. Joey Graziadei has begun filming for The Bachelor Season 28, which will likely premiere early next year. As the tennis pro prepares for his own journey to find love, it sounds like he’s got plenty of support from those who came before him, with former leads like Ben Higgins and Arie Luyendyk Jr. reaching out. However, Graziadei said he actually turned down the advice they had to offer, and honestly, I think that was a good call.
Fans were introduced to Joey Graziadei on Charity Lawson’s season of The Bachelorette. He may have lost Lawson to Dotun Olubeko, but second place came with a pretty sweet consolation prize — the chance to lead his own season. Graziadei told People that it was “nice” to hear from leads of the past, but when they offered to give him pointers on his upcoming journey, he said he told them:
I appreciate the love and support, but I really am excited to do it my own way. I don’t think I really need to look for advice from anyone. I think I’ve just got to look within. I’m here for a reason and I’m gonna do my best to show that.
It sounds like Joey Graziadei knows what he wants and is already laser-focused on how he wants to handle himself for Season 28. As for who reached out and what they told him, the new Bachelor said:
I was lucky enough that Ben Higgins sent me a DM, Arie did as well. A lot of guys just kind of wanted to at least send some support, saying they’d love seeing me last season and they wanted to make sure if I needed anything whatsoever, they would be there to help.
This honestly might be the best strategy for Joey Graziadei, given The Bachelor’s low success rate when it comes to lasting relationships. For instance, Ben Higgins got engaged to Lauren Bushnell in Season 20, but they broke up after a year of dating. Arie Luyendyk Jr. is still married to Lauren Burnham from Season 22, but they only got together after Luyendyk had proposed to Becca Kufrin and then changed his mind. His breakup with Kufrin was filmed for the show, and aired unedited during the finale in what was one of the biggest WTF TV moments of that year.
Even following the advice of The Bachelor’s biggest success story, Sean Lowe, proved to not be the best idea for Zach Shallcross last season, when he decided there would be no sex during Fantasy Suites. This immediately backfired when Shallcross did have sex on one of his overnight dates, causing a huge “Sex Week” controversy that plagued the remainder of his season.
To that end, I think Joey Graziadei may be better off going it alone, even if the former Bachelors did hope to help him learn from the mistakes they made. We’ll find out soon enough if he made the right call. In the meantime, we’ve got plenty to keep us occupied, with Gerry Turner starting his journey on The Golden Bachelor at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 25, and Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 following immediately after at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.