The Bachelor season 28 leading man Joey Graziadei found his happily ever after when he got engaged to Kelsey Anderson during his finale, and he did this despite the interference of the producers, who seemed determined to create drama during the season. Joey, a 28-year-old tennis pro from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, got his start as the runner-up on Charity Lawson’s Bachelorette season. Although Joey was heartbroken when Charity broke up with him to get engaged to Dotun Olubeko, he was happy to continue his journey to find his potential wife as the Bachelor.

The Bachelor season 28 began with Joey choosing from 32 women. By the season finale, he’d narrowed down that group to two: Kelsey and Daisy Kent. In an unprecedented move, Daisy self-eliminated at the final rose ceremony, after informing Kelsey that she’d be leaving. Joey and Daisy had a respectful and loving breakup, during which she told him that she knew that Kelsey was the one. She left after wishing them both well. Joey then proposed to Kelsey, and she happily said yes. Although Joey got exactly what he wanted from The Bachelor in the end, his experience was more difficult because of the producers’ interference.

The Bachelor Season 28’s Lea Cayanan Received An Advantage

Lea Forfeited The Perk That Was Given To Her By The Producers

When Joey was announced as the next Bachelor during Charity’s “After the Final Rose” episode, he had the chance to meet one of his future contestants: Lea. During their meeting, host Jesse Palmer gave her an envelope that she wasn’t allowed to open until The Bachelor season 28 premiere night. When Lea finally opened the envelope, she discovered that it contained a card which gave her the opportunity to steal a one-on-one date from any woman throughout the season, up until the hometown dates.

Lea was very upset by this, and didn’t want the advantage. She didn’t want to force Joey to go on a date with her, and she also disliked the idea of having to hurt one of her fellow contestants by stealing a one-on-one date from her. Therefore, Lea burned the card in the Bachelor Mansion fireplace. Joey was so touched by her actions that he gave her his first impression rose.

When Joey went on his first dates of the season during week one, only Lea and Sydney Gordon were left out of the one-on-one and group dates. It’s very suspicious that the woman who received a date card that would’ve allowed her to steal a date from someone wasn’t given a date. It seems that the producers wanted to create drama with the card, but it backfired when Lea destroyed it. A stolen date could’ve changed the course of Joey’s journey, and perhaps affected the outcome, especially because Daisy received the first one-on-one date.

The Bachelor Season 28’s Sydney Gordon Appeared To Be A Producer Plant

Sydney Had Previous Ties To The Show

Sydney was the biggest villain of the season because of her bullying of Maria Georgas. However, even after Maria accepted Sydney’s apology at “The Women Tell” all, and even gave her a hug, Sydney’s motives behind targeting Maria remain a bit of a mystery. Sydney claimed that she was defending her friend, Madina Alam, after Madina expressed concerns about being one of the oldest women in the house. When Sydney overheard Maria saying that Madina should embrace her age because she’s a beautiful woman, she misconstrued it as Maria belittling Madina’s feelings.

However, Sydney then made it her mission to expose Maria as a “mean girl” and a bully to Joey, even though it wasn’t true. Her reactions to Maria were over-the-top and strange, which made it seem as though she might’ve been planted by the producers to create drama. The fact that she’s friends with Bachelor in Paradise couple Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon makes this even more suspicious. If this is true, the producers nearly ruined Maria and Joey’s relationship when she almost self-eliminated because of the bullying. It definitely put a strain on their relationship.

The Bachelor Season 28’s Kelsey Anderson’s Note Seemed Unnecessary

Did The Producers Force Kelsey To Leave The Note?

After Joey and Kelsey’s beautiful overnight Fantasy Suite date during which Kelsey told Joey, “I love you,” for the first time, she began to spiral about the fact that he was still dating Daisy and Rachel Nance. Before the date, she’d met with The Golden Bachelor season 1 runner-up Leslie Fhima, who’d told her to protect her heart because she’d believed that Gerry Turner would pick her and ended up heartbroken when he chose to get engaged to Theresa Nist instead. This interference by the producers nearly derailed Kelsey and Joey’s relationship.

Kelsey decided to leave a note on Joey’s door that said, “We need to talk.“ When Joey found the note, he immediately got scared and began to panic, thinking that something had gone wrong or that Kelsey had to leave. However, when they finally spoke, Kelsey told him that she just wanted him to know that she missed him and that it was hard for her when they weren’t together because he was spending time with the other women. Joey admitted in his confessional that he was shaken by the note, and that it would take a while for him to get over it.

Although there’s no way to prove that the Bachelor producers were behind the note, it seemed out of character for Kelsey to do something so dramatic. She later expressed in her confessional that she regretted the wording of the note because it scared Joey so much. The whole situation seemed suspicious, from the unnecessarily dramatic wording of the note to the fact that she left a note at all. It seems likely that the ending of Joey’s season was going so smoothly that the producers wanted to throw something in to create a cliffhanger for viewers. However, the note could’ve destroyed Joey and Kelsey’s relationship.

Daisy & Kelsey Were Allowed To See Each Other Before The Final Rose Ceremony

The Bachelor Season 28 Finale Was Unprecedented

Never in the history of The Bachelor have the final two women been allowed to talk before the final rose ceremony. Usually, they’re completely isolated, and they have no idea how each other’s final dates played out. However, Daisy was allowed to visit with Kelsey when she realized that Joey would most likely choose Kelsey instead of her. This led to one of the most powerful moments in the history of the show, when Kelsey and Daisy were shockingly revealed to be riding in the same limousine to the final rose ceremony, holding hands.

While this never-before-seen moment led to one of the most beautiful Bachelor endings ever, it easily could’ve gone the other way. Kelsey could’ve been upset with Daisy for interfering, and Joey could’ve been angry that Daisy pretty much told Kelsey that she was the one before he had the chance. It seems that the producers set up the whole ending of the show just so that they could advertise it as unprecedented. Even though it all worked out in the end, the producers should never interfere, especially at the very end of the journey.

The Bachelor season 28 was perhaps the best ever, due to Joey’s near-perfect handling of the lead role and the many wonderful women who appeared on the show. However, the producers must stop interfering with the action in order to create drama. Joey and Kelsey are a magical couple who seem meant-to-be, but their relationship should’ve been able to evolve without the producers manipulating the situation. Viewers can see right through it, and it’s a turn-off. The Bachelor producers should be hands-off if they want fans to continue to believe in the integrity of the show.