Joey Graziadei is ready to serve for his match point.
The tennis pro from Collegeville, Penn., was announced as the lead of The Bachelor season 28 on Aug. 21. The big reveal came during the live After the Final Rose special for Charity Lawson‘s season of The Bachelorette just after viewers watched as Joey was left heartbroken when she chose Dotun Olubeko as her final rose recipient.
Joey, 27, quickly became a fan favorite after the season began, thanks to his easygoing nature, chemistry with Charity (including their record-breaking four-minute-and-twenty-five-second-long kiss) and his compelling family backstory: Joey’s parents got divorced after his father came out as gay when he was a child.
“I want love, bad,” a devastated Joey said after Charity broke up with him in the finale. “I would just ask the universe, ‘When, when is it going to happen for me?'”
Well, he got his answer when host Jesse Palmer announced Joey would, in fact, be the next Bachelor, with his season set to air in early 2024.