Joey Graziadei Reveals His One Special Request After Joining 'DWTS'

Before making his "Dancing With the Stars" debut, Joey Graziadei had one specific request in mind regarding who he would be partnered with.

As the "Bachelorette" fan-favorite prepared to take on a whole new kind of competition, he made sure the show knew exactly what he needed in a dance partner.

Joey Graziadei wanted to prioritize his relationship with Kelsey Anderson while navigating the challenges of the ballroom.

The reality star, who became engaged to Kelsey during the season 28 finale of "The Bachelor," mentioned that he was in “such a great place in my life with everything that Kelsey and I have built that I didn’t want to have a distraction.”

“It was something I thought about coming in,” Joey said on the “Almost Famous” podcast of how fans would analyze his partnership on "Dancing With the Stars." “I wanted to be in a situation where I was comfortable that I didn’t have to worry about a lot of this noise. So, I asked when I got on the show to be paired with someone that was in a successful and healthy relationship.”

"I didn’t want there to be any chance of noise on this because I know that comes with the show and the territory sometimes," he later added.

Joey is partnered with Jenna Johnson, who is married to fellow "DWTS" pro Val Chmerkovskiy.

“I think it’s very obvious that my relationship is known on the show. I mean, I have a child [and] my husband’s on the show as well,” Jenna chimed in. “I thought, you know, people would obviously know that Joey’s engaged.”

Joey also noted that going into the competition, he made sure that his fiancée was “comfortable with putting that into kind of the world again."

“We’re in probably the best spot we’ve been [on the show] now with Kelsey being more vocal,” Joey said on the podcast.

Kelsey also addressed her fiancé's relationship with his dance partner.

“So many people are like, ‘Kelsey, why is Jenna touching your man like that?’ And honestly, I don’t know, maybe because it’s her job,” she shared in a TikTok video. “Maybe because she’s a professional dancer and she has to touch him to dance. I don’t know, that’s my understanding of it.”

“I have to have a certain level of security to go through all that, and Joey and I are still together and strong after a year of all that craziness,” Anderson continued. “Joey is also the type of man to give me the security that I need or give me the reassurance that I need and deserve in our relationships.”

She later added that if she and Joey could handle dating on reality TV—with 31 other women vying for his attention at the start—then she could definitely “survive watching him dance with a married woman who has a cute little baby boy.”

Jenna shared on Thursday that Kelsey’s public comments about the situation have helped reduce the number of remarks she and Joey receive.

“Kelsey’s incredible. She’s been so supportive during this whole experience,” Jenna shared. “Obviously, my husband loves Joey and is so supportive. So I think we could have asked for better partners in this situation.”

On September 17, Joey made his "DWTS" debut alongside partner Jenna Johnson, performing to Tyler Hubbard’s “Dancing in the Country.” Before his second week on "Dancing With the Stars," the Bachelor Nation star underwent a minor procedure to reduce moisture on his silk shirts.

A video posted on the Velour Medical Spa TikTok account was captioned, “Botox in the underarms treats hyperhidrosis & helps reduce pit stains!” In the clip, the 29-year-old reality star was shown sitting shirtless in a chair as the injections were given under his arms.

Joey is competing against Jenn Tran, Danny Amendola, Dwight Howard, Chandler Kinney, Ilona Maher, Brooks Nader, Phaedra Parks, Eric Roberts, Stephen Nederoscik, and Reginald VelJohnson. Tori Spelling and Anna Delvey have been eliminated.

"Dancing With the Stars" airs on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.