Ben Higgins doesn't tend to shy away from offering his opinion, and he's advising The Bachelorette couple JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers tread carefully when it comes to their new reality show.
ADVERTISEMENT
JoJo and Jordan are currently starring on Engaged with JoJo and Jordan, a new reality series that premiered on the digital-entertainment network Kin on October 2.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Well, there's probably no one better to give the couple advice than Ben, who got engaged to Lauren Bushnell at the end of The Bachelor's 20th season and then starred on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?, a similar reality series for the Freeform network in 2016.
"I think that the show we did was hard, really from beginning to end," Ben admitted to Us Weekly.
ADVERTISEMENT
"If you took a step back and if anybody cared about Happily Ever After? or not -- which I don't know if there was any person in the U.S. that did -- if you take that back and think about it, that'd be a really hard situation, right?"
The highs and lows of Ben and Lauren's post-The Bachelor romance were documented on Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?, including Ben's decision to call off their televised wedding and Lauren's struggle to jumpstart a career and get settled in Denver, CO after moving from Los Angeles, CA.
The Almost Famous podcast host and Lauren eventually called it quits on their relationship in May 2017 after a little more than one year together.
Ben explained his original motive for doing The Bachelor spinoff was to document his blossoming political career. Unfortunately for the former The Bachelor star, however, he was unable to follow through with a campaign due to contractual obligations of his reality show.
RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
"[My] pursuits were running for office. [I] was spending all this time preparing for this, meeting with people, talking with people," Ben told the magazine.
"That ended abruptly and... then all of a sudden, there's this show in place and they're talking about this couple's lives. That was a hard transition for Lauren and I."
Ben therefore warned JoJo and Jordan to "have a clear direction on where [their] show" is headed.
"Not that it's scripted -- not that it needs to be -- but, you know, with Jordan and JoJo's show, it sounds like they know where they're going," Ben acknowledged.
"It's going to be about them being engaged, about their strengths and failures, but it's going to be about them and it's going to be them just sitting down and talking about life together. That, to me, means direction."
ADVERTISEMENT
Ben then confessed he and Lauren didn't have creative control of their own show, nor did the episodes accurately depict their normal, everyday lives.
"Lauren and I didn't have that direction. We didn't know where Happily Ever After? was going to go," he said. "Most weeks we were shocked or surprised at, you know, what's going to be happening. It was hard, it was really hard."
RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER? WHICH COUPLES HAVE SPLIT UP?? (PHOTOS)
Ben gives himself and Lauren "major credit" for putting their private lives on full display for fans at home after getting engaged, according to Us.
Jordan proposed marriage to JoJo on the Season 12 finale of The Bachelorette in 2016, and then the couple moved in together in her hometown of Dallas, TX.
ADVERTISEMENT
They have since expanded their careers, with JoJo releasing a clothing line called Fletch and Jordan working as a studio analyst for the SEC Network.
Engaged with JoJo and Jordan is set to feature a combination of reality TV and DIY home decor, and also allow viewers to learn about the low points and difficult times in their relationship.
The series is available to watch on Kin across YouTube, Facebook Watch, Instagram, Twitter and Amazon.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT?! (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski