Commentary by ClareEckert

I don’t know about all of you, but I have been an avid watcher of Season 28 of The Bachelor. Drama, spice, romance, Season 28 of The Bachelor has it all! But, here’s a quick little PSA: spoilers are heavily included in this story, so if you haven’t quite caught up on this season’s episodes of The Bachelor, maybe skip this one! But if you’re like me and patiently await Bachelor Mondays, or Bachelor Tuesdays, depending on whether or not you have cable, you’ll want to read on! 

First, let’s begin by talking about the main focus of ABC’s TV sensation, The Bachelor, the main man himself. This season of The Bachelor features Joey Graziadei, a 28-year-old professional tennis coach, originally from Royersford, Pennsylvania.

Joey attended West Chester University where he received a bachelor’sdegree in communication and media studies (see what I did there?). While attending, Joey was a member of the school’s division II men’s tennis team.

After graduation, Joey moved to Hawaii where he works as a lifestyle and experience ambassador at the Kukui’ula Development Club, a luxury neighborhood and country club. 

This season’s Bachelor has quite the impressive resume if I do say so myself. Now let’s get to know more about Graziadei’s search for love. 

Being portrayed as the suave, debonair bachelor he is, you wouldn’t think Joey has struggled with love; however, real Bachelor fans know this is far from the truth. Joey’s path to love has been a rocky road, beginning not on The Bachelor, but on The Bachelorette. 

Joey’s journey for love has been going on a very, very long time: two seasons of reality TV to be exact. Before being THE Bachelor, Joey was the runner up to Dotun Olubeko on Season 20 of The Bachelorette in 2023. The Bachelorette was Charity Lawson, a 28-year-old therapist. 

As Charity was about to send Joey home, he began a romantic speech and got down on one knee, but Charity stopped him before he could pop the question. Ouch! However, Joey was ready to give love a second try when it was announced he would be the Season 28 Bachelor. 

Now let’s take a look at the Season 28 lineup. The Bachelor started with 32 amazing contestants, each one willing to risk it all for Joey’s heart. This may seem like an absurd amount of competition, but once you see Joey, you’ll understand why.

And we can’t forget our fellow Nebraskan, 25-year-old Samantha Washington from Lincoln, Nebraska. She did unfortunately get eliminated in the first round, but way to represent, girl! 

We had careers varying from a Miami Dolphin’s cheerleader to a radio chemist. The variety in the careers of the contestants truly shows women’s ability to excel in every field. 

Out of 32 contestants, it’s easy to forget a face, but two faces you won’t forget are Maria Georgas and Sydney Gordon. Now this is where the drama element of the show comes in. 

The drama between Maria, a Bachelor fan favorite, and Sydney, a rather controversial contestant, started when a fellow contestant and close friend of Sydney’s, 31- year-old Madina Alam, expressed her insecurities about being the oldest contestant on the show. Maria was overheard saying “she’s not even that old” and “I’m old too” in response to Madina’s insecurities. Madina interpreted these comments as Maria discrediting her feelings and was upset. 

Being Madina’s close friend, Sydney took it upon herself to confront Maria. However, Maria did not back down. The fight only escalated as the show went on; Both girls continued to hold grudges. The fight came to its culmination when the girls were sent on a two-on-one date together in Malta. The girls were forced to travel on a boat – just the two of them – and later discuss the fight with the Bachelor himself. At a table set for three, the girls were forced to dish out the drama. I mean, can you talk about awkward?  

The date ended with a win for Maria as Sydney was sent home in the fourth round of the show. However, the drama was seemingly resolved on The Women Tell All episode, where the eliminated girls came back to, well, tell all.

The drama became a major focal point of the show. Bachelor nation became a nation split in two: team Maria and team Sydney. I know as a journalist I’m expected to be unbiased, so all I’ll say is that I’m definitely not team Sydney. (GO TEAM MARIA) And let’s just say, neither is Marian. 

The girls at Marian who watched The Bachelor showed their support for team Maria by answering our April Network survey. 13.3 % of voters chose Maria over Sydney. Meaning, as a school, we are definitely team Maria! If only she hadn’t been eliminated… 

The final episode of The Bachelor left just two girls standing, Daisy Kent and Kelsey Anderson. I personally believe the winner to be Kelsey Anderson, but enough about me. Before the final episode of The Bachelor aired, I took to the halls to find out who Marian girls thought would win Joey’s heart. 

Freshman Lydia Salzbrenner said, “I think that Joey will pick Kelsey because she is outgoing, fun, and doesn’t care what other people think of her.

Sophomore Ruby Scanlan said, “I can just tell that Kelsey is the one for him, especially because whenever he looks at her, he gets all googly eyed.”

Senior Chloe Whitcomb said, “The chemistry between Kelsey and Joey is just unmatched.” 

Well, there you have it, the majority of Marian girls believe Kelsey to be the winner—will she really be—you’ll just have to read on. 

The conclusion to Joey’s search for love on Season 28 of The Bachelor ended with a bang. The winner of Season 28 of The Bachelor was… drum roll please… KELSEY ANDERSON! The season ended with a ring on Kelsey’s finger and a smile on Joey’s face! Shortly after, Jenn Trann was announced as the next Bachelorette. Looks like the Marian community and I were right, Kelsey wins Joey’s heart. 

This season of The Bachelor can teach us many lessons: don’t fight on national television, don’t cry on national television, mostly just don’t go on national television. But the most important lesson The Bachelor can teach us is that being a bachelor or bachelorette isn’t so bad… So goodnight to all the bachelorettes of Marian and good luck on your journeys to find love!