Why The Bachelorette's JoJo Fletcher Thinks People Didn't Like Jordan Rodgers During Her Season

the bachelorette jojo fletcher abc
(Image credit: ABC)

JoJo Fletcher faced her fair share of melodrama and heart-wrenching decisions during Season 12 of The Bachelorette, which aired in the summer of 2016. After recovering from her heartbreak as runner-up of Ben Higgins' emotional season of The Bachelor (which was recently revisited on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever), she found love that has lasted with Jordan Rodgers. As it happens, however, not everybody loved Rodgers as much as she did during the season, and Fletcher has weighed in on why.

Speaking with E! News, JoJo Fletcher looked back at the reactions to Jordan Rodgers while her season of The Bachelorette was airing in 2016:

Critics thought this guy is faking it, whatever. Thankfully, luckily—and I should have known better from all along—but he is that person. He's wonderful. He's amazing. He's nothing like what anyone ever thought he was...I think that comes with the territory of when you are the front runner and I just thought it was too good to be true. We don't have to prove it to anybody. I've always known he's an incredible, wonderful, loving man.

The Bachelor Nation fandom will likely never entirely agree about anything, although I think most viewers were pretty united during the previous season of The Bachelorette when Hannah Brown kept Luke Parker around past his due date. That said, Jordan Rodgers did have his critics even after it was clear that he had stolen JoJo Fletcher's heart.

Of course, it would be hard to blame JoJo Fletcher for thinking Jordan Rodgers would be "too good to be true" after what she went through with Ben Higgins on The Bachelor. Higgins broke unofficial Bachelor protocol by telling two women (including Fletcher) that he loved them, which made watching him break Fletcher's heart before choosing Lauren Bushnell all the more painful. Fortunately, Fletcher clearly made the right call in believing that he wasn't faking anything!

Despite most seasons of Bachelor Nation ending with a couple looking forward to a happily-ever-after, those happy endings together often don't work out, including Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell. To contrast, JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers are still going strong, almost four years after the Season 12 finale of The Bachelorette. In fact, Fletcher and Rodgers were supposed to tie the knot and finally get married this summer before deciding to push the wedding back a year.

The happy couple is still living together in Dallas and working together on two shows: CNBC's Cash Pad and Paramount's Fittest Couples. Their time on The Bachelorette will be revisited as well with an episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever. JoJo Fletcher also revealed that Jordan Rodgers only watched a couple episodes of their season of Their Bachelorette when it first aired in 2016, so their episode of The Greatest Seasons Ever could be an interesting experience for him!

JoJo Fletcher's run as Bachelorette will be revisited with the June 29 episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever, airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The next season of The Bachelorette is reportedly heading back into production, so Clare Crawley's shot at love is on the way as well! For more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere schedule.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).