Jenna Johnson Reveals Candid Thoughts About Joey Graziadei

While Jenna Johnson and Joey Graziadei have resonated with fans and with the judges, the pro dancer is admitting that she was a bit disappointed when she found out she was partnered with “The Bachelor” alum.

On a recent episode of “The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast,” Jenna Johnson opened up about her initial reaction to being paired with Joey Graziadei on the ABC dancing competition show.

Expecting to partner with an athlete, Jenna admitted she was surprised and a bit disappointed when she learned she would be dancing with the former “Bachelor” star instead of former NFL player Danny Amendola, who has been paired with Witney Carson.

“Joey knows this, I’ve been honest with him,” she admitted on the podcast. “I think people think that we know who we’re gonna have for a little bit, that’s not the case. They really like to make it a secret so it’s an authentic reaction.”

Jenna added, “But I had a feeling because I heard his name in the mix, and so I was a little sad because I’ve been promised — not promised — but I’ve never had a football player. Through my time on the show I’ve never had a football player.”

Jenna, who is married to “DWTS” pro Val Chmerkovskiy and welcomed their son, Rome, in January 2023 went on to say, “So I kind of heard Danny [Amendola, former NFL wide receiver] was going to be involved and I was like, ‘This is my year. I’m gonna get the NFL guy.’”

After sharing her candid thoughts with co-hosts Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti, both fellow “Bachelor” alums, she revealed that she is happy to be paired with Joey as “he is one of the most genuine humans I’ve ever met.”

“I think we just connected really easily and quickly and we have so much fun,” she said, adding that it is “such a pleasure to work with him.” “He’s one of those annoying people that’s freakishly good at everything,” she said with a laugh. “You just want to punch him.”

“It’s been so awesome being his partner,” she concluded.

Jenna’s recent comments come after the former “Bachelor” star revealed that he had requested to be partnered with someone in “a healthy relationship” to avoid any romantic rumors as he just became engaged to Kelsey during the season 28 finale of “The Bachelor.”

“[I am 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,” he said on the “Almost Famous” podcast. “It was something I thought about coming in. 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 added.

Despite Joey and Jenna both being in serious relationships with other people, fans still speculated that something more than a friendship was blossoming, which didn’t come as much of a surprise to Jenna and Joey.

“We knew coming in as a Bachelor Nation thing,” Joey shared. “I think it’s understandable that people are paying attention to my relationship always, and it was something that Kelsey and I talked about. I made sure before doing this that she was comfortable with putting that into the world again.”

“I think that we were more surprised that people couldn’t step away and understand the situation of the relationship I was in, the relationship that Jenna was in. We were kind of hoping that people would be a little bit more aware of that, but we weren’t necessarily surprised,” he added.

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