Nick Viall Suggests Bachelor Joey Graziadei Is Taking the ‘Easy Way Out’

As always, Nick Viall has a couple critiques of the latest Bachelor. The former lead called season 28 star Joey Graziadei a “people pleaser” — and he wants him to start weeding out his contestants.

“No one’s been sent home outside of a rose ceremony. There’s been no traumatic exit,” Nick, 43, said on the Thursday, February 15, episode of his “Viall Files” podcast.

While noting that Sydney Gordon’s exit from the show wasn’t during a rose ceremony, Nick pointed out that it was in the setting of a two-on-one date, where leads tend to only hand out one rose. (Joey, 28, gave the two-on-one rose to Maria Georgas.)

“Joey hasn’t sent anyone home outside of the format of the show. … Everyone else has gone home on a rose ceremony,” Nick continued, adding that there’s been no interaction where Joey has had a conversation with a contestant and said, “‘You know what? You’re not my person.’”

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Nick noted “it’s hard” to recognize there isn’t a fit with a contestant and break up with them on the spot, but he feels it’s more “authentic” — and said it’s something he tried to do as the season 21 lead.

“To me, that’s just Joey, the people pleaser, wanting to be kind of nice,” Nick said. “It comes across as super nice. It very much does, but it’s less authentic.”

Joey’s taking “the easy way out,” according to Nick, by waiting until the rose ceremony to break a few hearts.

“It’s much easier to not give someone a rose than to actually say, ‘Hey, listen, you know, I just don’t think this is it. Can I walk you out?’” Nick said.

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He continued, “There’s just no way he’s having all these one on ones and realizing with all these women that there’s a strong connection, and to me, when a Bachelor or Bachelorette doesn’t send anyone home outside of the format of a show, you know, it makes their actual connection seem a little less authentic.”

While Nick may be coming down on Joey, Bachelor Nation’s Molly Mesnick can’t get enough of this season — and called the tennis pro a “fantastic Bachelor.”

“He sits there and he genuinely hears what these girls are saying to him and he asks follow-up questions, which make you understand, yes, he’s retaining what they’re saying and he’s asking good questions back. It’s amazing,” Molly exclusively told Us Weekly on the “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast on Tuesday, February 13.

The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.