Bachelor Joey on When He Fell in Love With Kelsey A. — And Why He Told Her

Joey Graziadei has made a concerted effort not to say too much to his remaining women as season 28 of The Bachelor winds down, but he couldn’t help but admit he was “falling in love” — twice — during his overnight dates.

After Kelsey Anderson said “I love you” to the 28-year-old lead ahead of their fantasy suite date on the Monday, March 11, episode of the ABC series, Joey replied, “I’m falling in love with you, fully.” While Joey noted that he’s been having these feelings for Kelsey, 25, “for a very long time,” Us Weekly asked him to get more specific after the recent Women Tell All taping.

“It’s a great question. With Kelsey … you go back to the last time she really started expressing things, almost back to Montreal. We were going a lot of off feelings, but there wasn’t really words being exchanged, so I did hold it in for a while,” Joey said. “We both agree [that] when she was falling in Montreal, I was falling too. … I never said it to her because I wanted to be intentional with my words.”

Joey and his contestants traveled to Montreal during week 6 of the season, one week after Kelsey got her first one-on-one date in Marbella, Spain. (During his interview with Us and other reporters, Joey also noted that Montreal is where a producer explained the difference between a contestant “falling” for him and “falling in love with him,” adding that there’s “levels” to the process.)

As for Kelsey, Joey told Us that his feelings were solidified during week 7.

“But it was really after our second one-on-one in Jasper, how just great that day was, how much we were starting to continue to see things move forward and not take any steps back. That was when I kind of truly knew that I was falling in love with her,” Joey said. “But as always, it’s a feeling — it takes time for you to feel comfortable to share those words and there needs to be the right space and you need to think everything through.”

During Monday’s episode, Joey also told Daisy Kent that he was “falling in love” with her.

“I think you can see through this whole entire journey how it’s a very tough in-between to be aware of what you’re saying without being closed off,” Joey told Us of deciding to say he was “falling in love” at all. “They sometimes go hand in hand. So people saw me struggle through that. I was really trying to be honest and open, but I didn’t want to say things until it was the right time in the right way.”

Monday’s episode ended on a cliffhanger after Kelsey left Joey a note which read, “We need to talk,” as she spiraled about not being The One. Fans will find out next week if Kelsey, Daisy or Rachel Nance (who he did not exchange any L-bombs with) are the final two contestants.

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