[This story contains spoilers for Charity Lawson’s season 20 finale of The Bachelorette.]
After Charity Lawson handed out her final rose of The Bachelorette, the ABC dating franchise revealed the star of its upcoming 28th season of The Bachelor.
Joey Graziadei, Lawson’s runner-up from season 20 of The Bachelorette that aired its finale Monday, will be the new Bachelor for the season that is set to premiere next year. Graziadei is a 28-year-old tennis pro from from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, who missed out on the final rose that Lawson gave to winner Dotun Olubeko.
“I’m definitely the hopeless romantic,” Graziadei said in a promotional video shared to the show’s Instagram account. “I want to be married. I want to have a love that lasts a lifetime. So I’m really ready to go on this journey.”
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter following the taping of her “Men Tell All” special, Lawson praised Graziadei’s character. “Joey is just someone who is extremely sincere and just patient and really loving,” she said. “He has a compassionate heart.”
Regarding what made Olubeko stand out to her, Lawson told THR at the time, “When I am with Dotun, you see just this undeniable chemistry. It almost seems like it’s just something that is meant to be. For me, in this whole journey, the way that they both were just extremely intentional, and I never felt like I had to question why they were there, is huge. I was rest assured with Dotun and Joey that I didn’t have to worry about that at all, and so I was able to continue growing our connections.”
Charity Lawson and Joey Graziadei on The Bachelorette
ABC/Craig Sjodin
Zach Shallcross was the lead of The Bachelor season 27, which aired its finale in March. He and winner Kaity Biggar are currently engaged.
“It’s as simple as she’s the love of my life,” Shallcross told THR after his finale aired. “We’ve met each other on a TV show, but it’s so much more than that. We both truly want this to work and know it will work, and it’s a feeling I’ve never had.”
