Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson continue to find success on their Dancing With the Stars journey — but they’ve faced the occasional obstacle along the way.
“It’s a process. From the beginning, we felt really comfortable with each other and there was this unspoken trust,” Joey, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 12, after he and Jenna, 30, performed on the 500th episode special.
Joey told Us that he and Jenna have already been through “so much” together, adding, “You end up having ups and downs. You can’t always see it, but there’s definitely some downs.”
Despite encountering some challenges, they have persevered by counting on each other.
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“This is a really hard process,” Joey explained. “You have to continue to lean on one another. You do enough with someone, you’re just going to learn to trust them. And I trust her wholly.”
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson Disney/Eric McCandless
Before joining season 33 of DWTS, Joey appeared on season 28 of The Bachelor, where he got engaged to Kelsey Anderson. Fans have frequently spotted Kelsey, 25, in the ballroom cheering on her fiancé throughout the season.
In September, Joey recalled asking the DWTS producers to be paired with someone who is already in a “healthy” relationship. (Jenna is married to fellow DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy.)
“It was something I thought about coming in,” he said on an episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast. “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.”
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson Disney/Eric McCandless
Joey continued: “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. I’m 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.”
For Tuesday’s 500th episode celebration, Joey and Jenna put their own spin on Riker Lynch and Allison Holker’s season 20 contemporary routine to “Work Song” by Hozier. After receiving an overall score of 55 out of 60 from their performance and their instant dance, Joey told Us how he would be celebrating the big night, which also happened to be his one-year anniversary.
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“We are going to do something special after this,” he hinted. “I had to make sure I planned it with her. I can’t just do something random because that would just be a no-no. We’ve got to make sure Kelsey likes it. … In the little moments we can get in, I’m trying to do everything I can.”
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Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson Disney/Eric McCandless
Joey went on to share what he’s learned about Kelsey over the past year, saying, “Just how understanding she is. It’s a really important relationship to have someone that can see different things and get to know you better and understand what you need. She does a really good job at the little things when I need it the most and it’s not something that goes unnoticed.”
Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. You can stream episodes on Disney+ the next day.
With reporting by Carly Konsker
