The Bachelor season 28 star Joey Graziadei went on his first group date during episode 2, and the wedding-themed date was the worst in the history of the show. Joey, a 28-year-old tennis pro from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, got his start as the runner-up on Charity Lawson’s Bachelorette season. Although they fell in love, Charity broke up with Joey so that she could get engaged to Dotun Olubeko. A few months later, Joey happily accepted the role as the new Bachelor so that he could continue his journey to find his wife.
During The Bachelor season 28 episode 2, Joey had two group dates and a one-on-one date with Daisy Kent. During the second group date, the women played paintball. The first group date, which was wedding-themed, was especially cringeworthy. The nine women chosen for the date–Rachel Nance, Taylor Wiens, Kelsey Toussant, Lexi Young, Evalin Clark, Erika Cardenas, Maria Georgas, Lauren Hollinger, and Jess Edwards– dressed in white wedding dresses and attended a mock wedding reception for themselves and Joey. There are several reasons why this group date was the worst in Bachelor history.
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1 The Bachelor Season 28 Women & Joey Appeared Desperate To Get Married
The Women Wore Wedding Dresses & Participated In A Mock Reception
The wedding group date began with the women rushing into a room in the Bachelor Mansion to pick out their wedding dresses. In the frenzy to choose a dress, Rachel actually knocked over one of the racks of dresses and fell to the floor. Daisy Kent, who wasn’t chosen for the date, wondered if it was a blessing in disguise that she wasn’t picked because she thought it was bad luck to see the bride in a wedding dress before the wedding.
Maria lamented to Lauren that she thought that she looked like “that 80 year old mom that goes to weddings and hits on young men.” In her confessional, she said that she was getting really excited to picture that she’d be walking down the aisle to see Joey, but it was going to annoy her to turn back and see all of the other women in wedding dresses too. However, Maria added that she loved it, and there was so much she wanted to know about Joey.
Starr Skyler, who wasn’t chosen for the date, pointed out that Joey was going to visualize the women in wedding dresses. It scared her that she wasn’t one of those girls. It was the first time that the women were in wedding dresses, which is a very unnatural thing to do if a person isn’t actually getting married. This date made the women and joey, who agreed to it, appear desperate to get married.
2 The Date Was Triggering For One Bachelor Season 28 Contestant
Lauren Grieved Her Late Father
Lauren, who’s participating on the show with her sister, Allison, was very upset throughout the whole date because her father passed away seven months before. On the date, she realized that she was still in the grieving process, and it hit her that her father wouldn’t be at her wedding. At the wedding reception, Lauren noticed that everyone else was having so much fun, but she just couldn’t get herself in that mindset. She said that being in a wedding dress brought up a lot of emotions about her father being unable to see her in her actual dress some day.
Maria helped Lauren by talking through it with her. Lauren said in her confessional that she was “salty” because she ended up in a wedding challenge. She didn’t even talk to Joey during the wedding reception because she felt that her energy was so off. At the after-party, Lauren told Joey how she was feeling and cried. He was very understanding. However, Lauren ended up self-eliminating from the competition during the pre-rose ceremony cocktail party after all of the stress.
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3 Joey Asked The Women To Imagine That They All Just Got Married
Joey Pretended To Have Nine Brides
The absurdity of the date was apparent when Joey told the women, “We’re going to imagine that we all just got married.” They had to imagine that they were about to have the wedding reception. Rachel added to the ridiculousness by saying in her confessional, “I never thought I’d be at my own wedding with nine brides.” Jesse then introduced a reception full of strangers to “Mr. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. and Mrs. Joey Graziadei!,” highlighting the foolishness.
4 The Women Had To Participate In Childish Activities
The Women Played Musical Chairs
Jesse announced that, at the end of the group date, the bride who impressed Joey the most would get the very special first dance. The women first had to compete in a game of “Bridal Musical Chairs” in order to determine who would sit next to Joey at the bride and groom’s sweetheart table. The women walked around the table while music played, and they scrambled when the music stopped to get the seat next to Joey.
Evalin jumped across the table in her wedding dress to grab the seat and landed on Lauren. Joey gave her an A-plus for effort, but Lauren was there first. Maria and Lauren won the seats next to Joey. Joey then mingled with the guests with Maria, cut the cake with Taylor, and ate the cake with Erika. He also had his first-ever conversation with Evalin besides her limousine entrance. While all of this might’ve seemed fun, there was a strangeness and desperation to it that made it hard to watch. Joey and the contestants seemed immature and like kids playing dress-up, rather than people who are actually ready for marriage.
5 The Other Women Had To Watch Joey & Jess Kiss
Jess Had Already Ruffled Feathers On Premiere Night
At the wedding reception, the guests began to clink their glasses when Joey and Jess were talking. Joey and Jess shared a kiss in front of the other women while eating cupcakes. Taylor gave them a thumbs down and commented in her confessional that they already knew that Jess received Joey’s first kiss, so Taylor wasn’t happy about having to watch them kiss again. On premiere night, Jess had told all of the women about her kiss with Joey. Joey eventually gave Jess the group date rose after she opened up to him about her past relationship.
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6 The Other Women Had To Watch Joey & Rachel Share Their ‘First Dance’
Rachel Made A Beautiful Toast To Joey
Rachel really wanted to win the first dance with Joey, so she decided to give a beautiful toast in which she called herself “Mrs. G,” and acted as though she were at her and Joey’s wedding. She showered him with compliments, saying, “I didn’t fall for him for his beautiful eyes. I fell for him because of his beautiful mind and his kind heart.” Joey said in his confessional that she blew him away with her toast.
Joey then chose Rachel for the dance. He explained in his confessional that all of the women were amazing today, and he wished he could dance with all of them, but he could only pick one. Joey said that Rachel had “this sense of confidence” and “really leaned in to all of it.” He added that he really was happy to talk to her and walk around during the whole reception.
Joey and Rachel then danced on the dance floor in front of all of the guests and the other women. Not only that, but Michael Bolton was there to perform “When a Man Loves a Woman” live. Joey and Rachel danced closely and Rachel even kissed him, all while the other eight women watched. In her confessional, Rachel said that she was over the moon about Joey picking her, and that it was a perfect start to their relationship.
Taylor said in her confessional that the kiss was hard to watch, but they did have some chemistry. Jess admitted that she wasn’t looking at Rachel and Joey, but instead tried to focus on Michael and his voice. In his confessional, Joey gushed, “I’m just really happy with Rachel right now, and I can’t wait to learn more.” However, there were eight other women on the date. This highlighted how strange the show really is.
7 Not Every Woman Had The Chance To Talk To Joey
Lauren Was Left Out
During the date, Joey didn’t have the chance to speak to Lauren. Although it was partially because Lauren was avoiding him because she was feeling sad, it was also because the date wasn’t conducive to him really getting to know the women. Mingling with strangers at a fake wedding reception wasn’t the best way for Joey to get to know the women he might be proposing to in just a few weeks.
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8 The Date Was Obviously Set Up To Cause Drama
The Women Didn’t Fall Into The Trap
Forcing women to dress up in wedding dresses and watch each other kiss and dance with the man they’re all dating is not only unnatural, but it was obviously all a set-up to create drama among the women. Watching them fight for Joey in wedding dresses made them seem desperate, when they’re not. They’re actually strong, successful women who were reduced to competing for Joey under these circumstances. Thankfully, all of them handled a bad situation maturely. They didn’t fall into the Bachelor producers’ trap.
The Bachelor has had some bad group dates over the years, but the wedding group date takes the cake. It was very awkward and forced, and took something sacred like marriage, and made a joke of it. It might’ve been seen as fun or funny if the premise of The Bachelor wasn’t for Joey to find his actual wife. Instead, it seemed desperate and humiliating. Joey and the Bachelor season 28 women on the date deserved better.
Sources: The Bachelor/Instagram, Bachelor Nation/YouTube
