The Bachelor season 28's Joey Graziadei is an expert at being a lead, and he recently offered a lesson to a fellow Dancing With The Stars celebrity. Joey, a 28-year-old tennis pro from Hawaii, made his television debut on The Bachelorette season 20, where he made it to the final two. When Charity Lawson gave her final rose to Dotun Olubeko, Joey was devastated. He went back to Hawaii, heartbroken and alone, and he focused on healing. Joey wasn't down for long because he was soon offered the role of The Bachelor.
The Bachelor season 28 kicked off with Joey greeting 32 single women who'd be vying for his roses. This was a historic number of contestants, the most of any prior season. Joey hoped to find love on the show, and that's exactly what happened. He gave his final rose to 25-year-old Kelsey Anderson, and the two left the show as an engaged couple. On his way to giving Kelsey his heart, he handed out a lot of other roses, so he's kind of an expert. He recently offered up a training session to a famous Olympian.
Joey's Dancing With The Stars Journey
Could There Be A Celebrity Bachelorette?
After getting engaged on the finale of The Bachelor season 28, Joey and Kelsey settled into their lives together. For a while, they moved into Kelsey's old place in New Orleans, Louisianna, but the couple recently moved to Los Angeles for Joey's new job. He had agreed to be on his third television show, signing up to compete in Dancing With The Stars season 33. Joey excelled on the show, alongside his professional dance partner, Jenna Johnson. The two are about to compete in the finale for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
One of Joey's fellow Dancing With The Stars celebrities, Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher, has been the subject of some Bachelor speculation. There's been so much online chatter about Ilona being The Bachelorette, that Joey even gave her a lesson on how to hand out roses to rejected contestants. Since Joey has a lot of practice handing out roses, he gave Ilona some tips on what to do, and, more importantly, what not to do. It could be entertaining to see a Celebrity Bachelorette, which is something the franchise has never done before.
Joey Trained Ilona Maher To Hand Out Roses
He's The Expert
If Ilona wanted to learn how to hand out roses on a Bachelor Nation show, she went to the right guy. Joey handed out a record number of roses to the cast of The Bachelor season 28. In response to rumors she'll be a Bachelor lead, Ilona recently posted a video to TikTok in which Joey hilariously teaches her how to hand out roses at a rose ceremony. On her first attempt, she hilariously tells her invisible men that though they're beautiful, she doesn't like them all. When Joey suggests she be nicer, she says, "you're not all ugly."
In addition to being an award-winning athlete, Ilona is a huge social media star with a whopping 3.1 million followers.
ABC should consider casting her as The Bachelorette, and they'd be lucky if she agreed. Ilona's Bachelor post has 820.4k likes, and her caption reads, "I think if I do it, I’ll have a real problem being nice to the men." Ilona's fans took to the comment section to register their thrill at the idea of her being The Bachelorette. "If Ilona was picked and was allowed to actually act like this, I’d be glued to the television and I haven’t watched the show in at least a decade," one person wrote. It would be a crime for ABC to not at least consider it.
Could Ilona Maher Be The Bachelorette?
She'd Do A Great Job
Ilona is a 28-year-old superstar athlete who blew up during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, where she won a bronze medal in rugby. Ilona's fun and outgoing personality, in combination with her athletic skills and unique beauty, has made her a big star. Not long after returning from the Olympics, Ilona was cast in Dancing With The Stars season 33 along with Joey, and the two have become fast friends.
While filming Dancing With The Stars season 33, Ilona grew close to Joey and Kelsey.
Joey's fiancée, Kelsey, moved to Los Angeles to be with him while he filmed the show, and she was in the audience cheering for him the entire time. Sometimes, her father, Mark Anderson from The Golden Bachelorette season 1, is also there with her. Mark too recently posted a photo of him and Ilona at the filming of Dancing With The Stars, so Ilona is officially an Anderson family friend.
Joey & Kelsey Are Staying In Los Angeles
Joey Got His Way
Before joining the cast of The Bachelor 28, Kelsey lived in New Orleans with multiple female roommates. Joey was staying with his sister between being on The Bachelorette 20 and The Bachelor 28. After getting engaged, Joey and Kelsey move into her old place with her multiple female roommates. The setup worked for them because they were traveling so much at the time. The couple moved to Los Angeles while Joey appeared on Dancing With The Stars season 33, and Joey recently told the Lightweights with Joe Vulpis podcast on YouTube that they'd decided to stay in Los Angeles.
After leaving The Bachelor season 28, Joey and Kelsey talked about relocating to New York. Kelsey always wanted to live there, where she could pursue her modeling career.
After leaving The Bachelor, Joey and Kelsey's living situation was up in the air. Hailing from Hawaii, Joey wanted to live in a place similar to his home state. In the end, it's clear Joey got his way, and Kelsey's dream of living in the Big Apple will be put on the back burner for now. If ABC cast Ilona as The Bachelorette, she'd have to live in Los Angeles too, but at least she knows how to hand out roses.
