Joey’s Bachelor Season Timeline Might Surprise You

The start of a new year means the start of a new Bachelor journey. And this time around, it’s Joey Graziadei’s turn to look for love. “I felt like my story was unfinished from my time on The Bachelorette ... I just felt ready for this whole opportunity, and tried to be ready to hit the ground running immediately,” Joey told Extra of his season.

It’s good that the 28-year-old tennis instructor felt ready because his Bachelor experience began very quickly.

The Bachelor filmed Joey’s season in the fall, months before the Jan. 22 premiere. That timeline is typical for the series, but several factors made this year’s schedule a little busier than normal.

Joey Finds Out He’ll Be Bachelor

As Golden Bachelor fans will remember, Joey actually found out about the gig during an appearance at Gerry Turner’s pickleball group date.

Trista Sutter shared the announcement in a deleted scene, asking Joey if he’d like to be the next Bachelor. “Of course I will,” he said with a smile. He later told Extra that he was “shocked but also not” by the decision “because there was conversations [about it]” beforehand. (Members of Bachelor Nation correctly predicted Joey’s fate, too.)

Since The Golden Bachelor was filmed over the month of August, and the pickleball date happened roughly halfway into Gerry’s season, it seems that Joey’s Bachelor journey officially began in mid-August.

Meeting His First Contestant

Joey was announced as the next Bachelor on Aug. 21, during Charity Lawson’s After the Final Rose special. He also met the first contestant from his season, Lea Cayanan, who received a mysterious card she could only open upon arriving at Bachelor Mansion.

Filming Begins

Speaking of Night 1: According to Reality Steve, Joey’s Bachelor season began filming on Sept. 19. Jesse Palmer shared a snap from Bachelor Mansion on Oct. 2, confirming that production was underway by early fall.

The Final Rose Goes To...

Don’t worry, no spoilers! (Although, plenty are out there if you want to take a peek.) All you need to know is that Joey’s season reportedly held hometowns in late October, per Reality Steve. The blogger reports that the final rose ceremony happened on Nov. 12. This means Joey’s season spanned approximately eight weeks.

It also means Joey is one of few people in Bachelor Nation who didn’t get to watch The Golden Bachelor live, since he was busy filming his own love story! Fortunately, if Reality Steve’s timeline is correct, Joey had enough time to head home and catch up on the season before that roller coaster of a finale — and, ultimately, attend the Golden Wedding.