'Bachelor' suitor Jenni Croft reunited with ex immediately after filming

Jenni Croft was rejected by Brad Womack during The Bachelor's final eleventh-season Rose Ceremony, and she apparently fell right into the arms of her ex-boyfriend as soon as she got off her flight to Phoenix after the show finished filming in Los Angeles.


"He picked me up from the airport when I got back home from the show," Croft told Phoenix's KZZP-FM radio station during a Wednesday interview.  "Everything happens for a reason, and I completely believe in fate.  I honestly believe we're supposed to be together."

The 27-year-old dental office clerk and Phoenix Suns cheerleader said she's already back living with her ex-beau, whom she only referred to as Russell.

"I am in a happy relationship now and it couldn't be better," Croft told KZZP-FM.  "We dated for about two-and-a-half years.  I came back [from filming The Bachelor], and he poured his heart out and I poured my heart out and we want this to work with each other."

"He's actually a really great guy," she told KZZP-FM.  "I have to say that he did say to me, 'No matter if you want to be with me or not -- I can tell you that this has made me a better person -- and I will be a better person' ... [and] I can promise you that our relationship has been out of this world since I've been back."


According to Croft, Russell was the one that had previously decided to end the couple's relationship.

"He broke-up with me," she told KZZP-FM.  "I think it was that point where I don't know if he knew what his priorities were.  Now, we both know that family and a relationship and pursuing more than just being someone's girlfriend or boyfriend is more important... I put myself in the situation, and I want to be in the relationship with him."

While Croft didn't specify exactly when Russell "broke-up" with her, the pair had apparently remained in regular contact right up until she left to film The Bachelor this past summer. 

"I was gone for six weeks [and when I got back] he said, 'Those six weeks, there couldn't be anything worse than you being gone for that long,'" Croft told KZZP-FM.

Croft said that in addition to a more recent move from Miami to Phoenix, she had also previously moved from Dallas to Miami -- leaving a coveted three-year cheerleading gig with the Dallas Cowboys in the process-- in order to remain together with Russell.


"We were together for two-and-a-half years.  I moved from Dallas to Miami, and from Miami to Phoenix for him," Croft, a Wichita, KS native, told KZZP-FM.  "So obviously, I've been willing this whole time to do whatever it takes."

However despite her willingness to move cross-country with him, Russell wasn't interested in proposing to Croft. 

"I wanted to marry him when I first moved to Miami with him," she told KZZP-FM. 

Although she hadn't received the marriage proposal she wanted, Croft still subsequently followed Russell from Miami to Phoenix for his job "in the mortgage business," where, in attempt to finally get him to propose to her, she eventually moved out of the couple's joint living space and began living with a Phoenix-area girlfriend in December.

"I've tried that, it's not worth it,"  Croft told the radio show's hosts when they suggested she threaten to move out if Russell wouldn't propose to her.  "I'd rather be with him and be happy than try to play a game."


According to Croft, it was during the period after she moved out and Russell "broke-up" with her that she was cast on The Bachelor's eleventh edition.

The Bachelor star Brad Womack informs Jenni Croft of his final Rose Ceremony decision (Photo credit ABC/Craig Sjodin)

Croft received Womack's "first impression" rose during the first night of the competition, and she made it all the way to the final Rose Ceremony alter after finally being able to tell The Bachelor star she was falling in love with him.

"In that moment I was so excited, and I wanted everything to work out for me," Croft told KZZP-FM about the sincerity of her feelings for Womack.  "You're surrounded by nothing but thinking about him for six weeks, so you do get your hopes up and you want that so bad.  But then he said he didn't want to be with me [and] I'm not going to fall over and pass out and die because some man doesn't want to be with me."

So instead of falling over and dying, Croft fell right back in with her ex.


"Now everything is where it's supposed to be," she said.

Croft gushed about Russell repeatedly during the interview, saying he's "more than a loan officer;" is "absolutely" better looking than Womack; and "actually [has] 10-times better of a personality than The Bachelor." 

However despite Russell's standing, he was unable to attend the recent funeral of Bettie Doralee Elsten, Croft's grandmother, in Wichita.

"He couldn't.  He was in Phoenix," Croft told KZZP-FM.  "But it was like a spur-of-the-moment thing, I flew out that day and I came right back... He did send flowers to every single person in my family and to the funeral.  He definitely wished he could be there -- and I do two -- but some things just happen."

Croft said she planned on spending last week's Thanksgiving holiday with her family in Wichita as well as with Russell, however apparently not in the same place at the same time.


"I'm actually driving to Oklahoma to see him," said Croft, explaining Russell's late flight from Phoenix to Oklahoma made too tiresome for him to actually make the drive to Wichita.  "He just flew-in last night at like 1AM -- he's a great guy!"

According to Croft, all hope for a marriage proposal from Russell isn't completely lost. 

"I will [get engaged] some day," she said.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio