Daisy Kent is bringing “The Bachelor” home to Minnesota.
‘Bachelor’ picks Daisy Kent for hometown dates: ‘We’re going to Minnesota!’
On a date in Canada, the 25-year-old nabbed one of the last four roses. Next week, the show will feature Becker, Minn., where she grew up.
On Monday night’s episode of the reality TV series, Kent received one of tennis pro Joey Graziadei’s final four roses. That means that next week, she’ll introduce him to family in Becker, Minn., where she grew up on a Christmas tree farm.
“We’re going to Minnesota!” Graziadei said after handing Kent the rose. The 25-year-old asked whether he’d ever been. First time, said Graziadei, who grew up in Pennsylvania and has lived in Hawaii.
The episode took place in Alberta, Canada, where Kent and Graziadei rode horses through the trees. They settled into a hot tub, mountains and water behind them. The area “reminds me a lot of home,” Kent said.
While other women had told Graziadei they were falling in love with him, Kent had not.
“The fact is, I’m not in love with Joey, but I can see myself getting there,” she told the camera. “I’m not going to tell him I’m in love with him just to get a rose.”
Over dinner, she explained that her reticence was rooted in past illness. Kent has shared on the show and on her Instagram and TikTok accounts that she has a rare condition called Ménière’s disease, which caused profound hearing loss. (She now has a cochlear implant, which allows her to hear by electrically stimulating her auditory nerve.)
Her family was also by her side as she struggled with Lyme disease, which left her weak and unwell.
“They’ve seen me so low,” Kent said. Partly because of that experience, “I just know they’re going to have big questions for you,” she continued. Would Graziadei be there for her “in sickness and in health?”
“They’re just going to want to make sure you can be that person for me if it is us in the end.”
Graziadei, 28, reassured Kent that he would accept all of her, understanding that her health issues could return in some form. After giving her the rose, he led her to an ice rink, asking how long it’d been since she’d skated.
“A long time ago,” she said, “on, like, my pond.”
In addition to Kent, contestants Kelsey Anderson, Maria Georgas and Rachel Nance received roses Monday night. Anderson was the other contestant to nab a one-on-one date; the pair plunged into a chilly lake. Graziadei then made an admission that might not bode well for his trip to Minnesota:
“I’m not built for the cold,” he said.
Lefse-wrapped Swedish wontons, a soothing bowl of rice porridge and a gravy-laden commercial filled our week with comfort and warmth.