As Joe walked away, Michelle suddenly asked, “Have I met you before?” Joe gave her a little smile and said, “We’ll see.” But Michelle wasn’t ready to let it go. “Have I slid into your DMs?” she asked. “Is your last name Coleman?” “Yeah, that’s me,” he said, and walked away. Naturally, viewers had questions (just like Michelle!). And then on the next episode, one contestant in particular decided to stir the pot—and in the response, the rest of the guys in the house had lotsmore questions. Wondering what’s up? Keep reading to find out what we know about how Michelle Young and Joe Coleman knew each other before The Bachelorette.
Who is The Bachelorette’s Joe Coleman?
According to his official Bachelorette profile, Joe is a real estate developer from Minneapolis, Minn. And Michelle, if you remember, is from Minnesota, too (actually, from a Minneapolis suburb). Joe played Division I basketball at the University of Minnesota (while Michelle likewise played D-1 b-ball at Bradley University in Illinois), and his profile reads, “while he says that basketball was his first true love, he’s now ready to build a life outside of sports and find a wife.” Interesting… As Michelle then pointed out on Episode 2—when the men faced off on the hardcourt in a game of 5-on-5—Joe was named Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball in 2011, while she was named runner-up Minnesota’s Miss Basketball that same year.
OK, so how did Michelle Young and Joe Coleman meet?
It doesn’t seem like they ever actually met in person before their first Bachelorette encounter, even though they basically hail from the same city. After Joe and Michelle’s first meeting drew to a close on the Season 18 premiere and Joe had walked away, Michelle told co-hosts Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe that she DM’d Joe on social media after seeing that he’s big into basketball. The two chatted back and forth and then, as Michelle put it, “He ghosted me.”
Why did Jamie claim that Michelle and Joe had met in person before TheBachelorette Season 18?
Again, when Michelle talked to Tayshia and Kaitlyn on the Season 18 premiere about Joe, she made it sound like they’d only talked online. But on Episode 2, contestant Jamie Skaar claimed to a coterie of the guys—and then to Michelle herself—that she had a “boo” back home in Minnesota before her season of The Bachelorette had even started filming. Jamie also seemed to strongly insinuate that the boo in question was Joe. “I happened to have a friend from Minneapolis who happened to run into you,” he told Michelle during a spontaneous one-on-one. “He was walking into a bar and he saw you walking out [and he later told me], ‘She’s already boo’d up with a tall, light-skinned baller.’” But wait, there’s more! Jamie also seemed to imply that it was the other Bachelorette contestants who had a big problem with this info—but not him. “There’s been a whole bunch of talk today about this kind of feeling that maybe you might have known Joe before here,” he told her. “For me personally, I don’t really care because I feel like whatever happened before, getting here has nothing to do with me, but… there’s people out there that are questioning that. Given the level of trust that we’ve built here and the connection that we’ve built here, it was really important for me to tell you that.” Michelle, in response, said she was “blindsided” and later told the whole house that her social media exchange with Joe happened “years” before and only lasted a couple messages before he ghosted her. After Michelle excused herself from the group, the guys quickly started talking about how one person among them clearly told her falsehoods while Jamie… stayed silent. Meanwhile, Bachelor Nation fans seemed to make it known on Twitter that they were staunchly not on Team Jamie thanks to his manipulations. Ultimately, Jamie was shown the door by Michelle for starting that rumor.
What happened between Michelle and Joe on night 1 of The Bachelorette?
Michelle made it clear after their initial introduction that she wasn’t 100% convinced Joe was there for the right reasons, given that he totally wrote her off online in the past. So, she pulled him aside for a one-on-one. During their chat, Michelle called Joe out for totally ghosting her. “Someone forgot to hit send,” she said at one point. Joe’s response was that he wasn’t ready for a relationship when they connected, and he cited George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the ensuing strife as a reason for not responding. Still, Michelle wasn’t ready to let him off easy, pointing out that she’s also a person of color who was impacted by Floyd’s death, adding that she would have understood if he had simply said he was going through a hard time when they first connected. “I need to protect my heart,” she added. While it looked like Michelle might send Joe home in that moment, she didn’t.
What has Michelle Young said about Joe Coleman?
Michelle vaguely referenced the moment with Access before the premiered aired. “Minnesota is such a small community, especially athletics,” she said. “So, yeah, I put two and two together and figured some things out and was very surprised.” Michelle said that knowing someone before the show “can cause drama,” and suggested that plenty of drama came out of her interacting with Joe beforehand. “I think it causes drama amongst the men because emotions get involved – envy, jealousy, everything in between,” she said. “But for me, I wanted to make sure I was keeping people there who were there for the right reasons and people I wanted to explore that with so everyone is going to have to tune in and see how that whole story plays out.”
Did Michelle Young send Joe Coleman home on night 1 of TheBachelorette Season 18 premiere?
Nope! Michelle decided to give Joe another chance despite not being thrilled with their social media exchange. After she grappled with her decision right until the very end—even walking away for a few moments to collect herself—Joe got her very last rose at the Night 1 ceremony. Lucky guy! Next, Is Katie Thurston Still Engaged? Catch Up With the Bachelorette Season 17 Star
