Warning: This article contains major spoilers for season 28 of The Bachelor. Scroll at your own risk…
Season 28 of The Bachelor is right around the corner, and Reality Steve has already revealed who receives the first rose of the season — the coveted First Impression Rose — from Joey Graziadei.
With a whopping 32 women exiting the limo on night one, Joey has quite the decision to make, but who ends up being the lucky lady? Keep scrolling to find out for yourself…
Joey Graziadei gives the First Impression Rose to Lea Cayanan on The Bachelor season 28
On December 10, the cast for The Bachelor season 28 was finally announced, revealing that the most suitresses in the history of The Bachelor franchise will be vying for the heart of the handsome Joey Graziadei, but one of these contestants was a rather familiar face: Lea Cayanan.
Fans of The Bachelor franchise got to see Lea interact with Joey for the first time during the “After The Final Rose” special for The Bachelorette season 20, just moments after he was announced as the lead of The Bachelor season 28. Receiving a mysterious envelope after meeting Joey for the very first time — which was long before the other 31 contestants did — the Hawaii native was already coming in with a leg up on the competition, but according to Reality Steve, the contents of the envelope ultimately sealed her fate as the First Impression Rose recipient.
“The biggest story of night one was what happened with Lea, the girl who met Joey on the ‘After The Final Rose’ special of Charity’s season, and was a given a card that she couldn’t open until the night of the limo entrances. Back on October 18th, I spoiled on Instagram that the letter gave her the opportunity to steal someone’s one-on-one at any point during the season, however, Lea decided against that and threw the letter in the fire. She said she felt like she wanted to be chosen by Joey for a one-on-one and not have to steal one from someone else. Joey respected this decision and, in turn, gave Lea the First Impression Rose.”
Technically this was Lea’s second impression, but we could not be happier for her nonetheless.
As for who Lea actually is, the 23-year-old was born and raised in Hawaii, however, she has attended school in both Washington and Arizona, pursued a career in California, and more. While she has lived all over the western half of the United States, she is still extremely proud of her Hawaiian roots, considering herself a “cliff diving enthusiast” who absolutely adores the beach, canoeing, hiking, painting, and more. She even plays the flute, and dreams of teaching others music someday — how cool is that?
In addition to this, Lea admitted to ABC that she takes love very seriously, and she has never been one for casual dating. If Joey were to pop the question during the finale of The Bachelor season 28, she would definitely be on board, leaving fans of The Bachelor franchise with one burning question: Could this duo be in it for the long haul?
Catch the premiere of The Bachelor season 28 on ABC on January 22 — or the following day via Hulu — to watch the potential love story between Joey Graziadei and Lea Cayanan unfold from the very beginning. This season is sure to be nothing short of spectacular!