The Bachelorette alum Jonathon Johnson has admitted he "loves the sh-t" out of Jenn Tran and he feels like he's a part of her Dancing with the Stars journey.
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And Jonathon -- who finished in third place on Jenn's The Bachelorette season -- has apparently shown up every week. Cameras have panned to Jonathon sitting in the ballroom and cheering Jenn on with other Bachelor Nation members.
"The coolest thing about being there is somehow I am a part of Jenn's journey on the show," Jonathon shared on a recent episode of Jason Tartick's "Trading Secrets" podcast.
"There isn't a single time that her and I leave the show where we don't see a video of somebody up in the rafters filming like, 'Oh my god, what are they going to do today? What's up next?'"
Jonathon shared that it's "really cool" people are still so invested in his off-screen relationship with Jenn.
"It is kind of cool to see that our friendship is flourishing and people still want to see that happen and are very adamant about it coming to life. But, no, we are just friends," Jonathon confirmed.
When asked why he thinks so many fans are shipping Jenn as his future girlfriend, Jonathon replied, "I think people love love, and they want to believe in love... The goal of [The Bachelor] is to find somebody to spend the longevity of your life with and have fun... I think people still tune in for that."
He added, "When it doesn't work out with No. 1 or No. 2, they think, 'Could it have been?' And when it comes down to it, they don't want to see this girl end up alone or sad or heartbroken or hurt."
Jonathon therefore noted how a lot of people believe he should've been Jenn's final pick on The Bachelorette's 21st season instead of Devin Strader.
"They're standing there, like, 'Hey, girl, you could still potentially go back to this guy!'" Jonathan explained.
"I think from an outside perspective, people want to... support her, and [they see] that this guy still has so much love for you and cares for you. And they'd love to see what happens."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWBut Jonathon elaborated, "I think people understand and know that we're just friends because we have said it very publicly and we are adamant about it, but people want to see that love that they watched The Bachelor or The Bachelorette for."
Jonathon told Jason, however, that since he and Jenn do "have so much love for each other" and "so much love to give" each other, people are misinterpreting their dynamic.
"We love the sh-t out of each other! But as of right now, it's just a friendly love," Jonathon concluded.
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After Devin broke Jenn's heart post-The Bachelorette, Jenn and Jonathon began spending time together in California.
Jenn and Jonathon have attended parties together, gone out for fancy dinners, and posted flirty TikTok videos that got fans gossiping and speculating about the nature of their relationship.
But Jenn said on a September episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, "Truthfully I'm not in a place where I can even date anybody right now or entertain the idea of somebody. My heart is just not there yet."
Jenn also told Us Weekly that she feels lucky to have her "good friend" by her side following her devastating split from Devin.
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"He's such a good friend of mine and to be able to be here in L.A. and to, like, cultivate that friendship with him now, it's exactly what I need right now is someone to lean on and he's been exactly that."
Jenn recently discussed wanting to remain friends with her The Bachelorette finalists on the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast.
"I'm like, 'People are going to think I'm weird,' but no, I just want to be their friend!... Everything worked out the way that it needed to. I have so much love and gratitude for the guys on my season," Jenn explained.
Jenn pointed out how fans will probably see her "grabbing a beer" with not only Jonathon, but her fourth-place The Bachelorette finisher Jeremy Simon as well.
"I want so badly to keep those friendships but nothing more than that," she noted.
When asked if he'd like to turn his friendship with Jenn into a romance on "The Viall Files," Jonathon explained, "It's a hard position to be in when -- and I'm not just trauma dumping right now -- but when, like, I think people have been in love with the idea of me before and then not actually myself."
Jonathon noted that getting eliminated from The Bachelorette in third place made him feel like "everyone else can see" his worth "except for the person" he really wanted to see it.
"It's hard to go back on that... I'm not saying [getting back together] could never happen. I'm not saying that," Jonathon acknowledged.
Nick advised Jonathon not to tease Bachelor Nation for too long about his relationship with Jenn if nothing is going to happen -- like in the case of The Bachelorette alums Hannah Brown and Tyler Cameron -- because people might turn on them.
"What if we don't know though?" Jonathon asked. "What if we can't make our minds up?"
The podcast's host Nick Viall therefore asked Jonathon point blank, "Do you want to try? Do you want to explore it?"
"I don't know," Jonathon replied. "Open-minded is probably where I stand... I genuinely have no idea."
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As for why the pair didn't work out to begin with, Jenn explained on "Off the Vine" that "it just wasn't there" with Jonathon.
"I don't think he'll mind me saying this, but he just wasn't sure about doing long distance," Jenn revealed of the California-based creative director who works in ads and marketing.
"I was like, 'I live in Miami and I'm not going to be moving,' and he's not going to be moving."
Jenn elaborated, "So we were both kind of just like -- we didn't know if long distance-wise [how it would work]. If his heart wasn't in it and mine wasn't, then it wasn't going to work."
Jonathon finished Jenn's The Bachelorette season in third place behind Devin and her runner-up Marcus Shoberg.
Jonathon admitted on the August 29 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that he knew he was going home after Fantasy Suite dates.
"I think there was just an X factor missing... We were like, 'Everything is great, everything is fun, and we have no issues with each other!'" Jonathon recalled.
"There was no drama and it was just free and easy, but that next step was there [and we were behind]."
Jonathon regrettably waited too long to fully open his heart and express his feelings to Jenn, and so he left The Bachelorette's 21st season after Fantasy Suite dates lamenting about how he had gotten in his own way of finding true love.
Jenn ultimately got engaged to Devin at the Final Rose Ceremony in Hawaii, but she announced on The Bachelorette finale how he had dumped her in a brief early-August phone call that devastated her.
But if Jonathon and Jenn don't work out, he has an official invitation to look for love on Bachelor in Paradise's tenth season next year.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
