Jenn Tran said her ex-boyfriend’s appearance on “The Bachelorette”  threw her off—mostly because she didn’t understand what he was doing there even after he explained why.

In an August 2024 interview on “The Viall Files” podcast, Tran, 26, addressed the unexpected arrival of her ex-boyfriend Matt Rossi during a trip with her suitors to New Zealand. Rossi took the long flight to Australia in an attempt to stop Tran from finding love with another man. “We were in love,” he said in a confessional. “And I think a part of us will always be in love.”

But Tran was left confused by the grand gesture, considering she was on a friends-only basis with Rossi three years after their romantic relationship ended.

Jenn Tran Said She Was ‘Not in Love’ With Matt Rossi

In her interview with Nick Viall, Tran admitted that she was “shocked” when her ex showed up in New Zealand and professed his love for her. She assumed he was flown in by producers to give her “advice” on her journey to find love on the ABC dating show.

“At first, when I saw him, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, a friendly face, I’m so excited. He must be here to give me some advice or something,’” Tran told Viall. “And very, very quickly, I was like, ‘This man is not here to give me advice.’”

Once Tran realized that Rossi wanted to rekindle their romance, she felt confused.

“We hadn’t dated in three years,” she said. “We dated for, like, three months, so we were not in love. And so, yeah, I was really, really shocked and confused. I was trying to wrap my head around what exactly it is that he had wanted from me in that moment.”

Tran admitted that she had talked to Rossi after their split. But she insisted there was “nothing there” romantically as she lives in Miami and he lives in Boston. She also claimed he was happy for her when she told him she was going to be “The Bachelorette.” There was no inkling that he wanted anything more than a friendship with her.

Still, she shut down speculation that he crashed her show for clout. (Rossi is a content creator with a large following on TikTok.) “I don’t think he would have flown all the way across the country to New Zealand if it wasn’t [serious],” Tran told Viall.

While Tran told Viall she didn’t date Rossi long enough to fall in love with him, she told a different story in a December 2023 TikTok video. In the clip, she referred to Rossi’s nickname of “Weiner Boy.” She said she was “head over heels in love” with him and hoped to marry him, but he dumped her.

Matt Rossi Said He Was Ready to Get Engaged to Jenn Tran

When Rossi showed up in New Zealand on “The Bachelorette,” he was given a few minutes alone with Tran before her rose ceremony.

After shocking her with his arrival, Rossi told Tran he still had romantic feelings for her. “I’m not ready to let you go and get engaged without telling you that I still have really strong feelings for you, now more than ever,” he told the stunned “Bachelorette” star. “I really do love you,” he added before revealing he was ready to get engaged. “My intentions are to be with you. I want to continue this journey together.”

While Tran questioned why he didn’t tell her this before she left to be “The Bachelorette,” he claimed he did, just not “as grandly as this.”

Rossi documented his self-paid trip to “The Bachelorette” in an August 2024 TikTok video. He confirmed he had a “crazy” 24-hour trip to join Tran in New Zealand, on his own dime. “That was crazy…this is one of the most insane travel days I’ve ever done in my life,” he shared. “Skipped two weddings in Colombia to fly here. But hey, those are the thing we do for love, right?”

As for how it all ends, in a preview for the August 4 episode of “The Bachelorette” several of Tran’s other suitors are upset over the unexpected arrival of Rossi.

According to Reality Steve, Rossi’s cameo could be short-lived. The spoiler blogger noted that Rossi did arrive on the day of the week 4 rose ceremony. But he speculated, “Jenn clearly doesn’t let him join the show because there’s zero evidence of him anywhere from that moment on.”

But there is the chance that producers purposely didn’t show him in other previews for the show. In her interview with Viall, Tran laughed when the podcast host questioned if Rossi was still her “ex” boyfriend.

With her season still airing, Tran was unable to confirm if she allowed Rossi to join her season or not. But she did tell Viall she’s “happy” with how her “Bachelorette” journey ended. “I won’t say like if I’m in love or not, but I will say that I’m very happy,” Tran teased. “I’m very happy with the way things turned out and I couldn’t have seen it going any other way.”