Season 20 of The Bachelorette has officially come to a close, and Charity Lawson‘s final three suitors are heading in three completely different directions.
Aaron Bryant will be searching for love as a contestant on Bachelor in Paradise season 9, Joey Graziadei will be searching for love as the lead of The Bachelor season 28, and Dotun Olubeko is happily engaged to the woman of his dreams.
During the season finale of The Bachelorette on Monday, Charity found herself in love with two men leading up to the highly-anticipated proposal.
Given that she was head over heels for both Dotun and Joey on that fateful day, it was “not easy” for Charity to reject the latter. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Charity dished about what was going through her mind on the day of the proposal:
“It’s a crazy place to be in, feeling two extremes. Once I saw Dotun, I was just at peace and I was so excited. I was ready to say yes to forever with him.”
Now that Charity and Dotun are engaged, it is clear that she made the right choice. Based on the duo’s interactions during the “After the Final Rose” episode, it is clear that they are as happy as can be!
Given that Charity has had time to process her emotions since rejecting Joey, she could not be more thrilled to have him serve as the next Bachelor (despite John Buresh being her initial choice).
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Charity answered the question “What advice do you have for Joey now that he’s going from being a contestant on The Bachelorette to the lead on The Bachelor?” With kindness and grace:
“The experience itself is so life-changing. Just from a lead’s perspective, it’s obviously completely different from being a contestant. There are so many other things that you have to consider, and you’re not just focused on one person, you’re focused on every single relationship… As we know with Joey, he’s a loverboy, so I think he will be very intentional in that regard. That’s the challenging part. If he does give himself to every single relationship, that’s going to be something that he’s really mindful of and really taking it day-by-day. It’s going to be a lot, but I know that he has all the necessary tools to be successful in this, and certainly if they cast it as good as they did for me, he will have some phenomenal options… Hopefully his person will be in that group. We’ll be watching and wishing him the best.”
To follow Charity’s eloquent response, Dotun chimed in to share what his interactions have been like with Joey since The Bachelorette aired, as well as his thoughts on him being the next Bachelor:
“He has texted me, and throughout the season, we have texted about our weird bond that we have through loving the same person… I know he’s ecstatic for me and I’m ecstatic for him. Truly, he’s going to be a great Bachelor, I know it. He’s so intentional. Shoot, I fell in love with the guy! When he looks at you in your eyes, it’s so intense, but it’s in a good way, and I think the girls are going to be head-over-heels for him.”
Despite the less-than-ideal love triangle that Charity, Dotun, and Joey had with one another a few months back, it is clear that the trio has left the awkwardness in the past — they seem to be just as excited as us to watch Joey’s journey unfold on The Bachelor!