Even though Joey Graziadei and his Dancing With the Stars partner Jenna Johnson were both in committed relationships with other people, fans still pined over their chemistry during the show’s most recent season.
“I said early on, it was the only reason why I was afraid to do Dancing with the Stars is I knew that there was always an audience there that tries to ship couples or find a way to mess with the fact that your job on the show is to be connected and have chemistry with your partner,” the former Bachelor, 30, said on the Wednesday, July 30, episode of the “Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey” podcast. “That is literally what you’re supposed to do every week is to perform and show that you can move together in unison, like that is the idea of what the show is.”
If Graziadei, who found love on The Bachelor season 28 with Kelsey Anderson, was going to compete on the reality series, he wanted to make sure his dance partner was also in a serious relationship. He was ultimately paired up with Johnson, 31, who is married to fellow professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy.
“I get matched with Jenna, who is married to Val, who is a pro on the show and I was like, ‘There’s no way anyone’s gonna say a thing. They’re married.’ He’s watching us dance. He’s teaching me what to do with his wife. How could there be anything?” he reflected. “Well, there’s still people that have opinions and they still find a way.”
While Graziadei and Johnson were under the fans’ spotlight, Anderson, 27, dealt with the brunt of it. Graziadei gushed that his fiancée handled it amazingly — especially when the trolls were in her comments section.
“She could be posting like a ‘Get Ready With Me’ video and they’ll just post something random under it that has nothing to do with it being like, ‘I can’t believe Joey was doing this on Dancing with the Stars,’” he recalled. “So it was more just that some people are a little over the top, but I always think about like, that was 1 percent of the 99.”
Graziadei added that Anderson was in the audience for “every single” episode supporting both him and Johnson.
“We made it through as best as we could during that time, but anytime someone tries to come after our relationship, it’s hard, but it’s part of being in a public relationship,” he explained. “We’ve kind of accepted that and yeah. I look back on all of it now being like, ‘If we can get through that, we can get through anything.’”
Graziadei and Anderson met during The Bachelor season 28 and got engaged in the season finale. Following his time on the dating series, Graziadei competed on DWTS season 33 and ultimately took home the mirrorball trophy.
Earlier this year, Anderson shared that she and Graziadei delayed their wedding plans by one year.
“We really don’t want to be stressed,” she said in a May interview with SI Swimsuit. “We don’t want to just throw things together.”
