The Bachelor star Joey Graziadei has explained when he fell in love with Kelsey Anderson and why he decided to tell her that was the case during Fantasy Suites.
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Joey has three remaining bachelorettes on The Bachelor's 28th season: Kelsey, Daisy Kent, and Rachel Nance.
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Joey had made a concerted effort not to get wrapped up in emotions and verbalize his feelings too early on during The Bachelor process in order to protect his bachelorettes' hearts and not lead any of the women on.
Joey apparently recognized that a premature love confession has the power to crush someone on The Bachelor franchise.
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But Joey professed to Kelsey that he was "falling in love" with her during their overnight date in Tulum, Mexico, and he explained to the bachelorette how he had been "fully" feeling that way "for a very long time."
Joey opened up about how long exactly he had been feeling that way at The Bachelor: The Women Tell All taping.
"It's a great question. With Kelsey... you go back to the last time she really started expressing things, almost back to Montreal," Joey told Us Weekly, referencing The Bachelor cast's time in Canada during Week 6 of filming.
At that point, Joey and Kelsey had already enjoyed their romantic one-on-one date in Spain.
"We were going a lot of off feelings, but there wasn't really words being exchanged, so I did hold it in for a while," Joey confirmed to the magazine.
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"We both agree [that] when she was falling in Montreal, I was falling too."
Joey's feelings of love for Kelsey were then solidified in Jasper, Canada, during Week 7 of the process.
"It was really after our second one-on-one in Jasper, how just great that day was, how much we were starting to continue to see things move forward and not take any steps back. That was when I kind of truly knew that I was falling in love with her," Joey shared.
"But as always, it's a feeling -- it takes time for you to feel comfortable to share those words and there needs to be the right space and you need to think everything through."
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And Joey revealed that he "never said it" to Kelsey until Fantasy Suites because he "wanted to be intentional" with his words.
Joey, however, also told Daisy that he was "falling in love" with her during her Fantasy Suite in Tulum. And Daisy, like Kelsey, also felt like she was in love with The Bachelor star at that point.
"I think you can see through this whole entire journey how it's a very tough in-between to be aware of what you're saying without being closed off," Joey explained of deciding when to say he was "falling in love" with anyone.
"They sometimes go hand in hand. So people saw me struggle through that. I was really trying to be honest and open, but I didn't want to say things until it was the right time in the right way."
Joey didn't seem to regret his love confessions on The Bachelor at all.
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Once Fantasy Suites ended, Joey said he never felt more confident in himself and in the relationships he had built and established. Joey even felt certain that Daisy -- who had been the furthest behind in her feelings for Joey -- would say "yes" if he proposed marriage to her at the Final Rose Ceremony.
But once Joey returned to his hotel room in Mexico, a note was waiting for him in the door that read, "We need to talk," and it was from Kelsey.
Kelsey explained to The Bachelor cameras that she needed to talk to Joey before continuing on.
"It's more pressing now than later," Kelsey revealed in a confessional. "I don't want to blindside Joey -- ever. I just want to be honest and tell him everything that's on my mind. I'd rather leave now than have my heart completely broken."
Joey panicked when he read the note because he didn't understand what it was about at all. He wondered if something was wrong or if Kelsey was going to leave him, which was his biggest fear filming The Bachelor.
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Joey cried and said, "I don't want her to leave. I want her to want to be here. I don't know what to do. I'm so done with this."
Joey confessed to The Bachelor cameras, "This is like my worst nightmare coming true. I am over giving everything I can and feeling like they're not choosing me!"
Click here to learn more about Joey's The Bachelor bachelorettes or click here to read spoilers that reveal how Joey's season ends and who he picked as his winner.
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