It would appear that Joey Graziadei has learned a thing or two about reality television. And he’s putting his relationship with fiancée Kelsey Anderson first even as he takes on the competition in the ballroom. How is he doing this? By requesting a Dancing with the Stars pro who was in a “healthy relationship.”
That’s understandable considering how DWTS partners have been scrutinized in the past about their closeness. A closeness that is only fostered by the competition. Joey realized this could be a problem early on.
Joey Graziadei wanted no noise or relationship drama
Joey thought about this before coming into the competition. He told the Almost Famous podcast how he knew his partnership on DWTS would likely be analyzed by fans. So he tried to mitigate that from the start.
“I wanted to be in a situation where I was comfortable and didn’t have to worry about a lot of this noise,” he explained. “So, I asked when I got on the show to be paired with someone that was in a successful and healthy relationship.”
They granted his wish and paired him with Jenna Johnson. Jenna is married to fellow DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy. She was a safe choice considering she has a child and her hubby is on the show too.
But even that’s not enough to keep people from stirring the pot. US Weekly noted that Kelsey was surprised by how many people were still trying to insinuate that Joey was being too touchy with Jenna.
“People are like, ‘Kelsey, why is Jenna touching your man like that?’ I don’t know maybe because it’s her job,” Kelsey shared on social media. “Maybe because she’s a professional dancer and she has to touch him to dance?”
She pointed out that she and Joey were able to survive reality dating with 31 other women so him dancing with a happily married wife and mom was no problem.
As for Joey and Jenna, they are thrilled with the support of their spouses. They remain focused on doing the best they can on the show each week, even if that means showing Joey’s abs!
Dancing with the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK JOEY MADE THE RIGHT CALL? WOULD IT HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT IF HE HAD ANOTHER PARTNER?
