Minnesotan Daisy Kent nabbed the coveted first one-on-one date on "The Bachelor." Then she used it to talk about Lyme disease and hearing loss, wowing the show's star, tennis pro Joey Graziadei.
On Monday night's episode of the ABC-TV reality show, Kent and Graziadei attended a music festival, dancing and kissing onstage, drawing cheers. Over dinner, the 25-year-old shared the story of her hearing loss.
Kent, who grew up in Becker, Minn., and now lives in San Diego, told Graziadei that when she was 11 years old, she began having mysterious, "stroke-like seizures." When she was 17, she awoke to her dad shaking her and realized she couldn't hear him. At one point, her health was so bad that she "could barely walk a block." She was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Treatment two years ago in Germany helped her overall health, Kent explained, but her hearing worsened, isolating her.
Then, she got a cochlear implant, which allows her to hear by electrically stimulating her auditory nerve.
Kent founded a nonprofit called Hear Your Heart in 2021, public records show. She told Graziadei that "it just helps kids see what makes them different can be empowering."
Before the date, Kent had been nervous that her health issues might concern Graziadei. Since her surgery, she had gone on just one date, with someone she'd known. But the 28-year-old tennis pro was impressed by her resilience and her nonprofit: "I'm blown away, honestly." Kent showed Graziadei the external portion of the device, explaining how it works.
"You're wearing it with pride," Graziadei said, beaming. "You have this confidence about it, and you want to make a job out of it and help other people. ... It's extremely inspiring to me.
"This has only made you seem more interesting, more impressive. … "
Kent told the camera that "how he responded, honestly, it made him 10 times more attractive to me."
On TikTok and Instagram, Kent details the joys and anxieties of life with a cochlear implant, from how hearing loss affects relationships to how she styles her hair. In one video, which has gotten more than 1.5 million views, she pointed to a moment during the show's premiere, explaining that she had been struggling to hear.
"Notice how I say, 'Hmmm.' I got confused," she said. "For me, walking into a big room where there are a lot of voices and a lot of noises bouncing off the wall ... it can be a little overwhelming because there's so much sound coming in from different areas."
Just before this week's episode, she posted a video about her anxiety watching the show.
"Opening up to people can be hard, and especially opening up when anyone who wants to watch it can," she said. "But I know that's how we make connections with others. And I believe, like, life is about opening yourself up and sharing and seeing how you can connect with other people."
Kent said she'd be watching with a few friends and taking "deep breaths."
