Joey Graziadei has revealed what he learned from his hometown date with Charity Lawson on The Bachelorette and how he applied that to the women's hometown dates on his The Bachelor season.
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Joey made it all the way to the Final Rose Ceremony on Charity's The Bachelorette season, which aired last year and ended with her selecting -- and getting engaged -- to her winner Dotun Olubeko.
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Joey finished as the runner-up and left The Bachelorette's 20th season heartbroken, and as fans may recall, his hometown date had some conflict.
Joey appeared uncomfortable and uneasy when playing tennis with Charity, and his beloved Uncle Joe was skeptical that Joey was being himself. Uncle Joe was also wary of Joey's willingness to commit given his behavior.
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Joey was therefore asked how his The Bachelorette hometown date affected his approach to hometowns on The Bachelor's 28th season during the February 29 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, which is co-hosted by Bachelor in Paradise spouses Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
"I think I learned not to judge completely off of the hometown because there's so many dynamics and things that might affect if it goes well or not," Joey explained.
"And definitely be willing to ask questions. If I felt, kind of, any pushback from a family member, I would want to learn and ask more about why."
Joey said he thinks it's "important to understand" a family member's concerns rather than to just go with how the person is feeling.
"Because I can speak from experience. The reason why my uncle was pushing so much, which is why he was unsure, is because he was protecting me and making sure I felt that way," Joey shared.
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"And he wanted to feel out the person I could possibly end up with! Because that was the last time he was going to see her, if that's the case."
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Joey insisted that while his uncle's intentions were good, he was just "a little rough around the edges with how he did it."
The Bachelor star added, "And I know other family members can be that way too. So I guess what I took in was just to make sure I asked a lot of questions and wasn't quick to judge if I felt something was a little off."
Joey will be shown visiting his Final 4 bachelorettes' hometowns on the upcoming February 4 episode of The Bachelor. His Final 4 women are Daisy Kent, Kelsey Anderson, Maria Georgas, and Rachel Nance.
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"There's got to be one family member who pushes a little harder," Joey said of hometown visits on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
"[There's always] one person who says, 'I'm going to check this person a little bit.' And you'll see that in this. There's always someone who does that, and it's just part of it."
The stakes were high for Joey when he traveled to his Final 4 bachelorettes' hometowns after The Bachelor cast's time in Alberta, Canada.
For instance, Joey was hoping that Daisy was going to fall in love with him and finally express her feelings to him, but Daisy explained how her family was going to be hard on Joey and discover if he could really take care of her during times of sickness.
And Joey was about to become the first man whom Maria ever brought home to meet her beloved father.
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In a preview of the upcoming episode, Maria's dad tells Joey during her hometown date, "It's hard for me right now because I don't know where you stand."
Maria's dad then says to The Bachelor cameras, "Maria is 100 percent daddy's girl. If she gets hurt, it would be a problem for Joey."
Joey therefore admitted he was "nervous" going into hometowns, adding, "I think that a family's blessing is such a big deal."
Joey previously confirmed that he's "happy" after filming; however, the ending of his The Bachelor season was a "shocker" and "unprecedented" for the franchise.
"I was emotional!" Joey said on the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast earlier this year.
"I think the big thing is I have not been a huge, avid watcher of the show. This was all very new to me, but from what I'm told, the ending is something that hasn't happened before."
Joey acknowledged, "I know they say that every time, but this is actually, from what I'm told, that is the case."
Joey also told Kaitlyn Bristowe that he has no regrets from his history-making season.
Click here to read spoilers on how the rest of Joey's The Bachelor season plays out, including which bachelorettes finished as his winner and runner-up.
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