Jonathon Johnson Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Jonathon Johnson may have an idea of what he’s looking for on Bachelor in Paradise, but he’s keeping his options open.
When asked on the Saturday, January 25, episode of the “Lightweights” podcast whether he was hoping for anyone in particular to be on the beaches of Mexico, Johnson, 28, simply replied “No.”
“There’s a reason for that,” Johnson said. “I know in the past it’s gotten people in trouble for DMing people, talking to people. I want no bad blood, I want no animosity hanging over my shoulders. I don’t want any pressure to be placed upon me before I can do it myself.”
Johnson shared that he hoped to enter the spinoff show with a “clean slate and an open mind,” adding his mindset would be “whoever is here, is here.”
“If somebody’s excited to meet me, maybe they have said it, awesome. I would be more than happy to talk to them,” Johnson said. “I just want to go in open-minded and meet somebody, just clear slate.”
Johnson continued, “Obviously I’m sure I will have heard of whoever it is but I don’t want to dig too deep, message them, find out everything that I think I know ahead of time and come in with a preconceived idea. I want to come in and just be like, ‘Who are you?’”
Jonathon Johnson and Jenn Tran Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
In Johnson’s perspective, what he was looking for on Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette will differ from what he’s searching for on Bachelor in Paradise. (Tran, 27, ultimately got engaged to Devin Strader during the season finale, but revealed during the live After the Final Rose special that they called it quits.)
“I’ve done a lot of growing up since then in what I want and what I need,” Johnson explained. “I think in this world, a lot of people get lost in the sauce a little bit or drink the Kool-Aid, whatever you want to say. I want somebody who this life and this energy doesn’t affect. Like, I want them to be on it because it’s a fun, cool, experience but like is just a very real person and doesn’t take life too serious because I don’t. I want somebody I can live that kind of lifestyle with.”
Jonathon Johnson was all in on Bachelorette Jenn Tran when she sent him packing, but he wasn’t quite ready before that. When cohost Joe Amabile asked whether Jonathon, 28, was ready to get down on one knee after hometowns, the second runner-up admitted he wasn’t there yet. “No, absolutely not. No, not at that point,” […]
For now, Johnson said he’s trying not to think about Bachelor in Paradise. “It’s hard to get excited about that because it’s going to make that time until then feel so much longer if I keep thinking about it all the time. Like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait until June or July or whenever it is.’”
Johnson explained that he’s still pursuing dating until he leaves for Bachelor in Paradise — unless a special someone comes his way.
“I tell whoever it might be like, ‘Hey this is my plan, like, I’ve already said yes I do plan on going on this show. But if something feels absolutely right, I’m not going to shy that away. I’m not going to just give up on my life because this [is] a show right in front of me,’” Johnson said. “But I let them know that that is my original plan so they can choose whether to keep pursuing it or not.”
Johnson noted that he has a “fear” that someone may just see him as a “commodity” on the show and not get to know the real him.
“Is somebody gonna see me as, like, just a commodity or are they gonna be like, ‘Hey I want to know who you for who you are,’” Johnson said. “Somebody could be like, ‘Oh I want to date him because he is, like, a commodity potentially.’ I don’t see myself in that way, I just see myself as, like, a normal guy just on the dating show for fun and just looking for love.”
