The Big Picture

Joey Graziadei’s continuous improvement on
DWTS
has boosted his confidence and impressed fans and judges.
Partnered with Jenna Johnson, Graziadei received positive feedback, culminating in top scores and a strong partnership.
Jenna and Val have fostered a supportive environment for Graziadei and his fiancée, Kelsey, to feel included in the
DWTS
experience.

Dancing With the Stars’ growing popularity and engagement has proven that, 33 seasons in, the reality competition still manages to keep its traditional format fresh. With celebrities from all walks of life getting the opportunity to learn a different dance style every week and perform it in front of a live audience, fans get to vote for their favorite stars to keep them in the competition for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. This season is particularly packed with a diversified cast that includes athletes, actors, and for the first time ever, two Bachelor Nation alums – Jenn Tran and Joey Graziadei. After leading The Bachelor Season 28, Graziadei not only left the matchmaking show with a fiancée (Kelsey Anderson), but was also invited to join DWTS. Partnered with pro Jenna Johnson, his progress in the ballroom from Week 1 to Week 4 didn’t go unnoticed by both the judges and the audience.

Their strong season opener was a first glimpse at the contestant’s potential, with a cowboy-inspired cha-cha that set the tone for his journey as a dancer next to Johnson. On Soul Train Night, the duo were the first to get 9s from the judges, and by the end of Heavy Metal Night, they wound up at the top of the leaderboard. After their thrilling results early on in the competition, Graziadei and Johnson spoke with Collider about their momentum so far, their intense process coming up with that rock-influenced tango, and how they are including Kelsey in this experience. The pair also shared what viewers can anticipate about their next performance on Dedication Night, which will be a Viennese waltz dedicated to his bride-to-be.

Joey Graziadei Has Impressed Audiences With His Continuous Improvement on ‘DWTS’
Image via Disney

COLLIDER: You’ve had a particularly great week, earning your first 9s on Soul Train Night and landing at the top of the leaderboard by the end of Heavy Metal Night. Do you feel like the momentum you’ve had has made you more confident about your chances in the competition?

JOEY GRAZIADEI: Yeah, I think every single time we go out there, and we deliver the dance that we’re trying to do, you build more confidence. Jenna and I have been talking the entire time about how much we really are, just trying to take it week by week and not focus too much on the scores and, again, do the best that we possibly can do. If the scores deliver and things keep building, it’s just going to give us more confidence. Each week, there is a reset, which is the crazy part of this experience. You just gotta have that mindset of appreciating the moment, but then moving into the next thing.

COLLIDER: Jenna, you’ve been partnered with other Bachelors before. What would you say are some of Joey’s strengths in comparison to other Bachelor alums that you’ve worked with, and how are these skills going to make him a strong contender for the mirrorball trophy?

JENNA JOHNSON: I would say one of the best things about Joey is he’s just incredibly smart. He’s a visual learner, so having him look at dance moves and understand what his body position is supposed to be really translates into his body, and he’s able to pick it up. Just him being a teacher of tennis helps him be an incredible student. It’s really made my job so enjoyable having an eager student who wants to pick it up and who understands what I’m saying. Also, he’s severely competitive, which you need some of that in this competition. The last thing that I’ll say is that he, so far, doesn’t have an ego.

JOEY GRAZIADEI: Not so far.

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JENNA JOHNSON: [LAUGHS] You never know, we are only halfway through. He’s willing to take my critiques and not take them personally, but has the mindset that I’m just trying to help him get better, so that’s been really awesome too.

COLLIDER: I wanted to go back to Week 1 when you two opened the season with the Cowboy-inspired cha-cha. Was it nerve-wracking to be the first ones up or was it better than having to wait to perform later in the night?

JENNA JOHNSON: I’ll let Joey answer this one. What do you think?

JOEY GRAZIADEI: I was actually initially very scared about going first, mainly just because I had never done it before, and I didn’t know what it was going to feel like just to be on that stage and be able to perform. Now looking back, especially after the last couple of weeks, I loved that we got to go first that night just because you don’t have to wait around. You get the ability to just go out there. We were building this for over two weeks at that time, and it’s just like time to do it, and it’s so nice to be able to go first and start it off strong. That was one of my favorite performances that we’ve done so far.

COLLIDER: I loved how it started strong, because a lot of people didn’t know what to expect from you at the beginning. It’s been incredible to witness your improvement throughout the weeks and how much support you’ve been receiving from DWTS fans. On Hair Metal Night, Derek (Hough) even mentioned that you had the best tango performance ever by a male contestant on the show. How was it for you to receive a compliment like that from one of the judges?

JOEY GRAZIADEI: I mean it was unreal! I think he said it was one of the (best). I just want to make sure we make that clear. I don’t know if I can take the best male tango that he’s seen from a celebrity, but he did say one of the (best) and even that alone, I mean, you can roll out the footage and look at Jenna’s face when she heard that. I think we were both just so grateful. We really take everything Derek says to heart and kind of hope that we can build on it. I think for both the performances this week, we got so much positive feedback from all the judges and to hear a comment like that, it just makes you feel like you’re doing the best that you can, and you have this ability to keep building on this momentum. The hard work pays off when you hear stuff like that.

COLLIDER: Absolutely! Jenna, I wonder if it was hard for you to choreograph a tango to a rock song, because you did an incredible job with that dance number.

JENNA JOHNSON: Thank you! You know, I’ll be super honest, that tango almost broke me for a sec and Joey can attest to this. I don’t know what it was, and maybe it was the music, but it just wasn’t coming together in my head and I kept changing the routine on him. I was so flustered and frustrated because it just didn’t feel like it was coming together how I wanted it to and Joey was being such a good sport to accommodate all of these changes and just bear with me. Now looking back, I’m so grateful for that messy process because it did turn out even better than I could have expected it. I just wanted the movement to match the power of the song and heavy metal songs, or hair metal songs, are just so aggressive in general. I think it brought out a different energy in us, and I’m very happy with the end product.

The Former ‘Bachelor’ Feels Supported By His Pro Partner On and Off the Dance Floor

COLLIDER: It was great! Now, Joey, one thing that you mentioned before joining the show was that you really wanted to be partnered with someone who’s in a healthy and committed relationship. How has Jenna, as your pro partner, and even her husband Val, helped to foster this comfortable environment for you to grow as a performer and include Kelsey in the experience?

JOEY GRAZIADEI: I mean, there are a lot of levels as to why I asked for that. I wanted to have a partner that was understanding of my personal partner and my relationship, because there’s a lot of commitment that we put in. I want her to understand how to kind of have Kelsey feel involved as much as possible. They (Jenna and Val) have both done everything in their power to invite us over for dinner, to have a couple of dates together where they have got to feel more comfortable and get to know Kelsey, so she feels like she’s a part of the process. Kelsey is always helping us with social media things and Jenna is always open to it. It’s a crazy experience where you’re away from the person you’re with so much because Jenna and I are spending so much time together and doing as much as possible to build the dances. But I mean, at the end of the day, it’s just having the understanding and thinking about not just my feelings, but Kelsey’s too, as we go through this, and I couldn’t ask for someone better than Jenna to handle those types of emotions.

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It’s so cool to see Kelsey cheering you on week after week. I guess my last question is that going into Week 5, is there anything that you can tease about the Viennese waltz you’ll be performing next and are there any surprises ahead? Recently, we’ve learned that you can do a backflip and play the drums. Is there anything else we haven’t learned about you?

JOEY GRAZIADEI: Jenna, you can take this one. I’m out of tricks at this point, but Jenna can at least talk about what I think is going to be amazing about this dance coming up.

JENNA JOHNSON: I’m excited because I feel like this week is really going to be about the dancing and the storytelling and I don’t feel like we’ve had a dance where we’ve really had to tell like an emotional piece. This is going to be really exciting. It’s a special piece for Joey and I hope that I can do this moment for him and Kelsey justice.

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC and Disney +. Episodes are made available on Hulu the next day.

U.S. reality show based on the British series “Strictly Come Dancing,” where celebrities partner up with professional dancers and compete against each other in weekly elimination rounds to determine a winner.Release Date June 1, 2005 Cast Carrie Ann Inaba , Bruno Tonioli , Len Goodman , Tom Bergeron , Cheryl Burke , Tony Dovolani , Derek Hough , Mark Ballas , Karina Smirnoff , Maksim Chmerkovskiy , Kym Johnson , Sasha Farber , Val Chmerkovskiy , Emma Slater , Sharna Burgess Main Genre Reality Seasons Studio Expand

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