Jenn Tran is lucky to have her “good friend” — and former flame from The Bachelorette — Jonathon Johnson supporting her Dancing With the Stars run.
“Honestly, it just means so much,” Jenn, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Tuesday, September 17, live premiere of DWTS. “He’s such a good friend of mine and to be able to be here in L.A. and to, like, cultivate that friendship with him now, it’s exactly what I need right now is someone to lean on and he’s been exactly that.”
Jenn, who sent the 28-year-old home after fantasy suites week on her recent Bachelorette season, danced a cha-cha with pro partner Sasha Farber to Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” on Tuesday’s episode. They earned a score of 19 out of 30, positioning Jenn and Sasha, 40, in the middle of the leaderboard.
Jonathon was spotted in the audience next to fellow Bachelor Nation personalities Justin Glaze, Susie Evans, Jason Tartick and Kelsey Anderson. (Kelsey’s fiancé, Joey Graziadei, is also competing on DWTS this season.)
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For Jenn, she was “so excited” about her ballroom debut.
“I was not expecting a seven; I was expecting all twos,” Jenn quipped to Us. “I’m honestly just so excited. I had fun out there, which is just like the best part because I feel like I’m so critical of myself. So, the whole time I just want it to be perfect, but I’m happy that I was able to let loose and have fun.”
Part of Jenn’s excitement stems from her chemistry with Sasha. Jenn learned she was joining the cast just moments after her Bachelorette finale aired on September 3. She hopped on a last-minute flight to New York City for the September 4 DWTS reveal on Good Morning America.
“[We first bonded by] running on a plane,” Sasha joked to Us. “Like, if we were going to get on the actual plane. Because that’s how we met. We literally ran [in] the airport two minutes before our flight took off. It was like an arranged marriage.”
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Jenn — who was the most nervous to receive judge Derek Hough’s critiques — tried to follow all of Sasha’s tips about their routine.
“[His best advice was] to have fun,” Jenn said. “I’m like, ‘It’s funny enough, I forget to smile, I forget to just have fun because I’m so critical of myself.’ I just want everything to be perfect, but the best tip is to, like, let loose and have fun because that’s when the hips come in and everything else comes in.”
Following her first performance, Jenn joked she wanted to celebrate with “some tequila shots.” Sasha, however, put his foot down.
“We gotta get to work,” Sasha teased.
Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.
With reporting by Carly Konsker
