Just four months after getting ditched by Bachelor Ben Higgins at the final rose ceremony, JoJo Fletcher is already one week and several dates into taping the Bachelorette Season 12. Ben has only kind words to say about his runner-up, but Fletcher’s ex, Chad Rookstool, is now speaking out about JoJo and what he has to say about her relationship with Ben may surprise some of her most loyal fans.
Chad, who owns a hair salon in Dallas, dated JoJo before she went on the Bachelor, something that was confirmed by the show’s host, Chris Harrison , during an interview with Yahoo.
Now that JoJo is the Bachelorette , Chad has decided to talk about their relationship and suggests that she’s not interested in finding love with the 25 guys cast for the show — and her love for Ben Higgins wasn’t the real deal.
Chad tells In Touch that he started “hanging out” with JoJo and were “intimate again” again again after filming wrapped last November. After getting back together and “sneaking around” while the show was airing, Chad states that JoJo told him that her relationship with Ben was “only for TV.” She then went on to break off their relationship a second time when she was offered the Bachelorette gig.
Fans will recall that during JoJo’s hometown date with Ben, she came home to find flowers and card from Chad, something that cast just a wee bit of doubt in Ben’s mind when it came to seeing a future with the 25-year-old Texas-based real estate developer.
Not exactly the hometown welcome Ben was expecting… https://t.co/DNG5ZqkF04
— The Bachelor (@BachelorABC) February 22, 2016
Although she told Ben during her hometown date that her relationship with Rookstool was over, Chad indicates that it was far from over when she returned from Jamaica after losing out to Lauren Bushnell at the final rose ceremony.
“When she got home, she kept telling me she loved me and that we should have stayed together and fought through our issues,” Chad tells In Touch . “She said we would’ve been married by now, and I agreed with her.”
Chad states that he is certain JoJo went on the Bachelor for “career purposes,” not love, and was cast for the show because her brother, Ben Patton, is friends with one of the show’s casting producers. According to Reality Steve , the producer is Louis Caric, and Patton got to known him when he was on on Eva Longoria’s show Ready for Love .
After she returned home from the final rose ceremony, Chad tells In Touch that he asked her if her feelings for Ben were real and feels that she “got sucked up in the show” and did not have “legit feelings” for the Bachelor .
“JoJo told me, ‘Chad, come on, you know it was TV.’ I think she just got sucked up in the show rather than actually trying to have legit feelings.”
Chad goes on to say that before the Bachelor finale aired, JoJo talked to him about possibly getting the Bachelorette gig, but did not break off their relationship for good.
Rare behind-the-scenes photo!!! pic.twitter.com/qoG7pDPdDC
— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) March 22, 2016
Caila Quinn was the rumored frontrunner until hours before Chris Harrison revealed on the live Bachelor: After the Final Rose special that JoJo would be handing out roses on the upcoming season.
It’s not clear how long before the announcement was made that JoJo signed a contract with ABC, but Chad states that JoJo had talked to him about possibly getting the Bachelorette gig before the Bachelor finale aired.
When it was confirmed that she got the gig, Chad tells In Touch that she told him she wasn’t “saying goodbye forever,” but he told her that he wasn’t going to “wait for her” this time.
According to the Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss, JoJo is taking her role as the Bachelorette “very seriously” and really did love Ben Higgins.
JoJo is taking this very seriously. She really did love @benhiggi and wants what Lauren has…
— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) March 18, 2016
JoJo heads into her third rose ceremony on Friday and already had a number of one-on-one and group dates with her 25 guys . Will she really find true love on the Bachelorette or will her ex-boyfriend’s, Chad Rookstool’s, accusations that she’s just on the show to further her career prove to be true?
[Image via Chad Rookstool /Instagram]