Bachelor Joey Graziadei Worries About Rejection in Season Preview

November 30, 2023 9

Joey Graziadei is worried about getting hurt on The Bachelor. During the season finale of The Golden Bachelor, which saw Gerry Turner get engaged to Theresa Nist, franchise host Jesse Palmer welcomed Joey to the episode’s live studio audience.

“I don’t know how you don’t get inspired,” Joey said of watching Gerry and Theresa’s love play out, before hinting that he himself found love while leading his own season of the franchise. “To see you guys’ love and warmth to each other, it makes me want to bring that same love and warmth to my relationship moving forward.”

With that, Jesse premiered a new preview of Joey’s season, promising that the ladies “are ready to fight” for the tennis pro’s heart.

Indeed they are, as one woman refers to Joey as “hubby material,” another calls him “an amazing man,” and a third notes that he’s “the epitome of what I want in a man.”

Despite all the love coming his way, Joey hasn’t been able to let go of some deep-seated fear, which began after he was rejected by Charity Lawson during her season of The Bachelorette.

“I’m ready to find my wife, but I’m scared that someone who I really start to express how I feel to doesn’t feel the same way,” Joey tells the cameras, just before his worst fear seems to come true.

“I have to go back home. We’re just not at the same place in life,” one woman tells him, to which he responds, “I just thought we would have more time.”

“I want to let go. I want to fully be in it and I’m trying. I’m finding myself holding back,” he says in a confessional. “The last time it got taken away. I don’t want to feel that again.”

The shot of the preview shows Joey crying as he stands at his final rose ceremony.

Fans got their first look at Joey’s season of The Bachelor when a short teaser was released earlier this month.

“I just feel the most ready that I’ve ever been to be in an engagement, a marriage,” the 28-year-old tennis pro said as brief shots from his season were shown on screen. “I get butterflies.”

When ET spoke to Joey before filming for his season kicked off, he expressed confidence about the journey ahead.

“I didn’t think this was the way I was going to be doing it back in the day, but I’ve fully committed to it now,” he said. “The excitement’s great. I’m glad people are happy to see me try to find my person. I think they’re excited about this season and I am too.”

Season 28 of The Bachelor will premiere Monday, Jan. 22 on ABC. Follow along with Joey Graziadei‘s journey for love with ET’s coverage of the show.