Montco’s Joey Graziadei made his debut as ‘The Bachelor.’ Here’s what you missed.
***so many spoilers ahead***
The opening episode of ABC’s The Bachelor starring Collegeville’s Joey Graziadei started and ended with Philly women getting roses.
Monday night’s premiere featured nods to Philly laced throughout the episode as the Montco native and tennis instructor met and chatted up more than 30 women in hopes of finding his soulmate. And based on the show’s cold open — featuring a tearful sniffling Graziadei standing solo on the beach — there’s a chance none of his potential ladies end up being the right fit.
But we’re putting the cart before the horse. Here’s what you need to know from night one at the Bachelor mansion.
🌹 The basics
The episode opens with what appears to be a failed proposal scene from the show’s finale, and Graziadei is alone and unhappy. We don’t get any details or audio (aside from said sniffling) before the screen flashes to a dramatic “roll back the tape” rewind scene.
Then, we cut to Graziadei introducing himself in front of a familiar Philly skyline. It follows your typical Bachelor formula: He’s on a motorcycle in Malibu (where the bulk of the show is usually filmed), he’s with his family, he wants someone to “do life with.”
In what has to be some sort of record, Graziadei is shirtless in a tennis-playing montage less than five minutes into episode one (a moment we called on our Night One Bingo Board).
Before long, we’re meeting the 32 women he’s about to date — the highest ever on The Bachelor, host Jesse Palmer announces.
At this point, Graziadei’s feeling pretty good. He’s a wholesome 28-year-old from Collegeville and it shows.
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“Each and every one of these women are making me feel special,” he tells producers. Indeed, the women are pulling out all the stops. Clad in colorful sequined dresses (and one jumpsuit), the women are showing up in go-karts, on boats, with food, and even a custom voodoo doll.
Predictably, there were also a lot of tennis jokes and references.
“Before [this] I was a normal dude, living in Hawaii as a teaching tennis instructor,” Graziadei told the women as he held up a glass of champagne. “A toast to finding my next doubles partner.”
🌹 Three local women bring Philly flair
Night one also meant the debut of three Philly women hoping to win Graziadei over: Elenie Latsios and sisters Allison and Lauren Hollinger.
Latsios, who goes by Lanie, 27, a Compass realtor selling near Center City, pulled a can of spray cheese from behind her back and said: “I just wanted to ask you, will you go on this journey whiz me.” (Oof.)
Graziadei also met Allison and Lauren Hollinger — who initially kept from Graziadei and their housemates that they are sisters.
Allison, 26, also a realtor, was shown walking toward City Hall in her intro video and revealed that she’s wanted to meet Joey since seeing him on Bachelorette Charity Lawson’s season last year.
“My older sister signed us up,” she said. “We thought it’d be a good experience to try out together. It’s definitely going to be weird. No one expects to date the same guy as her sister all at once and for the whole world to see.”
When Lauren, 28, a registered nurse at Jazzi Cosmetic Surgery & Aesthetic Medicine in Rittenhouse Square, popped out of the limo, she brought a heaping dose of Philly flair that would make any Birds fan proud.
Lauren pushed a pair of unlabeled beer cans toward Graziadei and told him her talent is shotgunning them, challenging him to a matchup. She won, finishing hers in about four seconds.
“Obviously I knew I was going to win and I did,” Lauren later told producers. It was obvious to us, too. Graziadei is a Packers fan, after all (something he justified to The Inquirer in an interview).
🌹 What else happened?
Graziadei cultivated sparks with — and kissed — several women on the first night, including Jess Edwards, 24, Jenn Tran, 25, Kelsey Anderson, 25, Maria Georgas, 29, and Philly’s Allison (much to the dismay of her older sister).
We also found out what was in the mystery envelope given to Lea Cayanan, which host Palmer said contained an advantage for her.
Cayanan, 23, opened the envelope to find the ability to take another woman’s one-on-one date from her at any point in the season ahead of hometown dates. She was visibly troubled by the pressure of it all and spoke to Graziadei about not wanting to override his judgment or “play god.” Graziadei was touched by this.
Ultimately, Cayanan told the other woman about her advantage card through tears and decided to throw it into the fireplace. Her good karma came back to her when she received Graziadei’s first impression rose, indicating she could be a standout contestant this season.
The Hollinger sisters also revealed to Graziadei and the other women in the mansion that they’re sisters — something no one was surprised by, but virtually everyone seemed to be confused about. A throughline in their story so far is that they’ve apparently dated the same guy before — albeit not at the same time — and we’re dying to know more.
Edwards started some drama early on when she revealed to everyone that she had kissed Graziadei first. She later provoked Taylor Wiens, 23, when she interrupted her conversation with the bachelor despite talking to (and kissing!) him already.
🌹 Who stayed and who went home?
During eliminations, two of the three Philadelphia women — Lauren and Allison Hollinger — stayed. Lanie went home. Dramatically (as is the nature of this show), Allison, the younger sister, received Graziadei’s first rose from the ceremony while Lauren received the last one.
When Allison got her rose and walked back up to the rafters of women, her sister turned around and whispered semi-playfully: “You did not get the first rose,” before suggesting she go fly a kite (in so many words). So this “dating the same guy” thing should pan out smoothly.
Lauren later teased Graziadei by telling him, “You’re really going to give Allison the first and me the last rose?!” He apologized.
In the end, 22 women stayed. Zoe Antona, Kyra Brusch, Natalie Crepeau, Chandler Dewgard, Samantha Hale, Talyah Jackson, Philly’s Lanie Latsios, Sandra Rabadi, Kayla Rodgers, and Samantha Washington were eliminated.
The Bachelor airs on ABC on Mondays at 8 p.m. Follow along for more coverage on the show from The Inquirer all season long.