While the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast aims to cover the drama on screen, the transition of Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt taking over hosting duties for Becca Kufrin and Michelle Young caused a stir off screen in Bachelor Nation.
“When we were offered ‘Happy Hour’ — we’re friends with Becca and [her fiancé] Thomas [Jacobs], [they] are invited to our wedding — I had called Becca and just kinda let her know,” Joe, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly during a joint interview with Serena, 25. “And I think she had heard and she honestly said nothing but nice things. We get along and I was just kind like, ‘This is the situation.’ And she was happy for me and happy for Serena. And I know Thomas expressed his feelings online.”
News broke in June that Becca, 33, who has been working on “Happy Hour” since 2020, and Michelle, 30, who joined her in 2022, were out as the cohosts. Becca is currently expecting her first child with Thomas, who declared via Instagram Stories that the couple would not be tuning into Charity Lawson’s season 20 of The Bachelorette.
Thomas also replied to a fan who commented, “Wishing [Becca] and [Michelle] could have [said] goodbye, especially since Becca has been doing the podcast for so long!,” writing: “Yeah, we would’ve liked that too.”
Serena Pitt, Joe Amabile. Rommel Demano/BFA.com/Shutterstock
Weeks after the social media drama, Joe told Us: “[Thomas] actually called us as well. We’re on great terms with them — no issue.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Becca on ‘Happy Hour’ for a season and she was an amazing host and did great things with ‘Happy Hour,’” Serena added. “Professionally, I’m excited to see what she does next. Personally, our relationship is great. I’ve spoken with her over text as well. And Michelle also reached out and just said, ‘Congratulations.’ I know she texted me personally and commented on the ‘Happy Hour’ post. So it’s all good in our relationship with them. We know we have big shoes to fill.”
Joe and Serena met on season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise, tying the knot at a New York City courthouse in 2022. The twosome will exchange vows again in Charleston in September. For now, however, they are focused on recapping Charity’s journey.
“We really enjoy working together and podcasting together and have a lot of fun doing it. I don’t know if we were the ‘right’ choice. I think we were a choice and we’re lucky enough to get it,” Joe, who confirmed he is no longer working on the “Click Bait” podcast, told Us when asked why the spouses were the right ones for the “Happy Hour” gig. “But I do think there’s multiple couples and people in the franchise that could also step in and host a podcast. So we’re lucky and grateful.”
He continued, “We had [talked] about doing our own podcast, I wanna say probably a year ago. And we did have that conversation. ‘Do we want to mix work with our relationship?’ But, you know, when you break it down, a podcast takes a few hours a week to shoot. So like, if we can’t figure that out, then I think we got some bigger issues.”
