Kendall Long and Joe Amabile, also known as Grocery Store Joe, met and fell in love in Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise.
While Bachelor Nation and Kendall and Joe themselves thought their relationship would be forever, the duo broke up after about two years of dating post-show.
After their relationship ended, Joe decided to take his chance on Paradise one more time for Season 7. While he met and formed a relationship with Serena Pitt, Kendall came back to the island twice during the show.
The second time Kendall came back was before the finale of Season 7, and she wanted to get closure from her relationship with Joe. During a recent podcast, Kendall revealed that she was under the impression that Joe was struggling a bit. Thus, she was decidedly shocked when she found out that Joe had proposed to Serena and asked her to spend her life with him.
What did Kendall Long reveal about her trek back to Paradise?
As Kendall talked about going back to the beach, she recalled during the podcast episode, “I felt I had, like, a romanticism toward Paradise because it was such a romantic experience the first time I went. And then the second time I went, I really had hope for it to be that – not in terms of rekindling anything with my ex… But I really had hopes of being able to find someone and to connect with someone, and I did.”
Kendall went on to explain she had a little fling with Ivan Hall, but it became very difficult for her to be in, and stay in, the same place she and Joe initially fell in love.
She stated that she was not expecting that at all, and she did think that she and Joe could be friends while she was there. However, the emotional state all of this put Kendall in, affected her in ways she knew she couldn’t stay on the island.
Kendall received backlash for going back a second time
Kendall went on to say on the podcast that she couldn’t even watch the aired episodes from Season 7, but she did receive backlash from critics who accused her of trying to win Joe back.
When Kendall returned for a second time during the season, viewers criticized her even more; however, Kendall wanted to clear the air and let everyone know she just came back for closure for both herself and Joe.
When Kendall got there before the finale, she claimed, “I was under the impression that Joe was going through a lot of mental difficulty with our relationship and me being there… And so, for me, coming back to talk to him, it would be a way to be like, ‘Hey, this chapter’s closed. It was kind of weird the way we ended it, but let’s make it not weird and let’s move on.’”
She went on to say, “[I had] no idea there would ever be any sort of proposal at all. … And I even said, like, ‘If there’s gonna be a proposal, I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to go to the beach because that’s not my day – that’s their day.’”
Kendall said that when she found out Joe had, indeed, proposed to Serena, she was upset and angry. But she did say that she doesn’t think showing up, or anything she said, hindered their relationship then or now.
For the entire podcast episode of Here for the Right Reasons and Kendall Long, click here.
The Bachelorette premieres Monday, July 11th, on ABC.