John Paul Jones is willing to work on his self-improvement through an unconventional tactic — watching his ex-girlfriend Tayshia Adams look for love on The Bachelorette.
The actor, 24, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, August 18, while promoting his new short film, Bathtub Chronicles, that he “probably will” watch Adams, 29, step in as the Bachelorette lead.
“I mean, if there’s anything that I’ve grown from in this whole Bachelor experience, it’s been seeing yourself on TV or somebody that you’re close to,” Jones said. “So, while it may be difficult to watch Tayshia date another guy, it may be to my personal growth advantage. I probably will watch. Why not? I mean everybody that follows me on Instagram watches it, so I can’t be a total buzzkill.”
The Maryland native added that he’s not upset that his ex will be taking another chance at love on television.
“People have actually been asking me, like, ‘Are you nervous about your ex-girlfriend being the Bachelorette?'” he said. “No, I’m happy for her! I’m very excited for her to find something that’s real. She is a bit adamant about, you know, a few aspects of her life, which kind of necessitate her wanting to get married.”
Jones explained that even though their relationship didn’t work out he’s “excited” for Adams to “find her guy” on her new journey. “I clearly wasn’t the guy for her and vice versa,” he said. “I think people were expecting me to, like, be bitter or something? But we really gave it a try. I think I can find happiness somewhere else and clearly she is too.”
Adams made her Bachelor Nation debut on season 23 of The Bachelor in 2019 when she competed for Colton Underwood‘s final rose. Jones, for his part, was a contestant on season 15 of The Bachelorette where he was eliminated by Hannah Brown.
The California native and Jones met and began dating on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise, which aired its season finale in September 2019. The pair announced their split one month later.
“We have so much going on in our personal lives it is very difficult to focus on a serious relationship,” Jones explained on the “Reality Life With Kate Casey” podcast in October 2019.
Earlier this month, Us confirmed that Adams will be the second lead on season 16 of The Bachelorette after Clare Crawley found love less than two weeks into filming and quit the show. The phlebotomist was named the 39-year-old hairdresser’s replacement and is currently on set in Palm Springs.
As for Jones, the former financial analyst moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting in October 2019. However, he told Us on Tuesday that he’s returned home to Maryland due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jones’ short film Bathtub Chronicles is available now on Vimeo. He told Us that making the film was a “great experience” that allowed him to finally take his”Hollywood education” outside of the classroom.
“I enrolled in some acting classes from a few recommendations that I’d gotten and I was really just excited to put what I’d learned in the textbooks to the test,” he said. “I was just on camera thinking character thoughts and it was a lot of fun, sort of, creating this different little world and pretending that it existed. There’s nothing quite like it.”
With reporting by Kayley Stumpe
