Season 28 Bachelor star Daisy Kent is getting candid about using a cochlear implant while searching for love with Joey Graziadei.
Daisy, 25, shared a clip via TikTok on Thursday, January 25, from the season premiere, during which she struggled to hear what another contestant was saying to her. In the video, she leaned and said, “Hmm?” after one of the women remarked that it still “did not feel real” to be in the mansion.
The episode then cut to Daisy in a confessional, where she shared, “All the girls are super nice but I do feel overwhelmed because I can’t really hear that well with that much noise going on.” She continued, “I’m new to having a cochlear implant and I didn’t think it was going to be this overwhelming to me.”
In her social media video, Daisy paused the episode and explained, “For me, walking into a big room and there’s a lot of voices and a lot of noises bouncing off the wall no matter where I am, it can be a little bit overwhelming because there’s so much sound coming in from different areas.”
She noted that when she’s with new people and doesn’t “know their mannerisms” or “facial expressions,” it’s hard for her to understand what they’re saying.
“Although this is amazing,” she said while pointing to her cochlear implant, “it can still be overwhelming at times.”
Daisy is not the first Bachelor contestant to be open about using a cochlear implant. Abigail Heringer, who vied for Matt James’ heart on season 25 of The Bachelor, also spoke about her experience with using the hearing device.
Earlier this month, the 28-year-old shared a TikTok slideshow of herself with the implant at various points in her life.
“I was born profoundly deaf (had zero hearing in both ears),” she noted, adding that her older sister had the same condition.
At 2 years old, Abigail got her cochlear implant and started to go to speech therapy to communicate verbally. After graduating college, she applied to be on The Bachelor and met Matt, 32. She received the first impression rose on night one for being “vulnerable” with him about using a cochlear implant.
Although she left Matt’s season single, Abigail returned for season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise, where she met her now-fiancé, Noah Erb. Noah, 29, popped the question to Abigail in August 2023 after two years of dating.
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
