JoJo Fletcher & Jordan Rodgers on How Other ‘Bachelor’ Pairs Would Fare on ‘Battle of the Fittest Couples’
Q&A
If anyone knows what can happen when competition and combustible personalities get together and have to live in one big house, it’s The Bachelorette couple JoJo Fletcher and NFL quarterback Jordan Rodgers.
The engaged duo blossomed during Season 12 of the ABC reality series, and now, three years later, they’re the perfect hosts for Paramount Network’s Battle of the Fittest Couples. The new reality series sees 12 of the most athletic and swole-some individuals looking to put their relationship and physical endurance to the test with $100,000 on the line.
“We love the concept. We love the idea of taking couples, putting them in a house. We know what that’s like, and then watching them compete,” Fletcher said. “We see their emotional strength, their mental strength, physical strength. We love the opportunity to work together for the first time. So, it was really a no-brainer for me.”
Rodgers, who also co-hosts the CNBC reality series Cash Pad with his fiancée, feels there isn’t anything quite like Battle of the Fittest Couples.
Paramount Network
“Obviously, there are competition-like shows, individual or team in nature. But to have it solely based on couples and couples together competing,” he added. “Then the fact the term fittest is ambiguous — from strength-trainers to cross-fitters to fitness models to endurance athletes. In all these challenges, there isn’t one that favors one discipline or the other. You got to see a lot of people out of their element a lot of times. That’s where you see the relationship dynamic play out most in these competitions. When they are out of their comfort zone. That was really cool to see all these people live together and all the drama that comes along with it.”
With the challenges just starting to heat up, the fit duo took time away from the “Rage Cage” to preview what’s to come and also update Bachelor Nation on their wedding plans.
Jordan, being an athlete and former professional football player, did you have any input in what the competitions were like?
Jordan Rodgers: They had a great competition team that was there way before we showed up on site, testing all these challenges and putting them together. We were there during that. We gave input and ran through a couple. There was one challenge where you are completely almost vertical where we tried to run up this thing. It was so hard. To see and walk through these challenges before the couples got to do it. It was really cool. Our crew put together some amazing, difficult, challenging and unique opportunities for these athletes. So, I did get to run through a few of them.
JoJo, what would you say your fitness style is? I know we’ve seen you both do things like goat yoga and other types of unique workouts.
JoJo Fletcher: When Jordan and I are home working out, we love cardio. We love high-intensity interval training. We love being in high-intensity workouts. It’s cardio mostly.
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Rodgers: It’s bootcamp stuff. Cardio, body weight stuff, dumbbells, explosiveness. JoJo is an athlete. It makes me mad sometimes because when we take our dog to the park almost every day, we bring a basketball there because there are basketball courts there. I’m like a former professional athlete. It doesn’t matter if it’s not football, I should be good at this. She smokes my ass every day. I’m like, “Have you been shooting hoops behind my back?”
Fletcher: I grew up with three older brothers. I was always into sports. I was always into rough-housing. I don’t have good dance moves. I was never a dancer. I ran track. I think just growing up and playing sports translated to what I try to do day-to-day.
Rodgers: The cool part about this is she had never been in a relationship, and I’ve never been in a relationship, where we enjoyed working out and doing fitness with our significant other. I used to hate it. As soon as we got together, it was, “Well, let’s try this.” We work out almost every day together. We rarely do workouts separate. We are always doing class workouts together or at home or designing workouts at the gym. It’s a big part of our daily life.
How would you say hosting this fitness series compares to hosting Cash Pad? Will we be seeing a Season 2 of that show?
Fletcher: We haven’t heard back yet, but the network has a few months to decide. The shows are very different. I think with Battle of the Fittest Couples, our first jump into working together, it’s a true hosting role. We are behind the scenes. We are watching the cameras that are in the house. We are with the crew during the setup of the challenges. We are very involved behind the scenes. With Cash Pad, it’s less about hosting it and more of us doing our work and letting people follow us and not losing money.
Rodgers It’s a little less pressure since we aren’t running through the courses competing and have a $100,000 on the line.
Cash Pad (CNBC)
Jordan, you recently got re-engaged. Why was it important for you to propose again and with your own ring? And do you suggest that to other Bachelor couples?
Rodgers: That was something that personally I always wanted to do. Our first engagement was so real and so special to us. This was not to overshadow that or belittle it in any aspect. I think we got to the point where we wanted something that was just us. No producer, no cameras, no JoJo standing in the 120-degree heat index on the beach for six hours. I wanted something that was just us and authentic to us.
Also, it was important for me to buy a ring and design it and go through that process with JoJo. It’s an experience you got to do. There is a lot of stress for the show, but let me tell you, when you are trying to keep a proposal a secret, traveling across the country, buying a ring behind her back — that is real life. I wanted something that could re-kickoff planning the wedding since we set a date and are getting married next year. That was important to us.
How is the planning going? Are you guys adding any Bachelor stars to the guest list?
JoJo: We have yet to put our guest list together. We have been a little slower than I initially thought. We have our venue. We have our date. We’re starting to put some stuff together. I know Becca Tilley from my season will be in my wedding. I know that for sure. Then once we put our guest list together, we’ll know.
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Which Bachelor couples do you think would do well on Battle of the Fittest Couples? Who would you want to see compete?
Fletcher: I think Rachel [Lindsay] and Bryan [Abasolo].
Rodgers: She would be scheming in the house.
Paramount Network
Fletcher: I think Kaitlyn [Bristowe] and Jason [Tartick].
Rodgers: Colton [Underwood] and Cassie [Randolph] would do good. Colton played in the NFL.
Fletcher: You want to throw in some OG’s in there. What about Sean and Catherine [Lowe]? Sean, back in the day, I used to see him do different workouts classes around Dallas. So I know he likes to stay fit.
Rodgers: These Bachelor couples would do good.
Fletcher: We need to do a Bachelor spinoff for this.
Speaking of, are there any plans to do a Bachelor franchise show where you guys are hosting?
Fletcher: That would be amazing. No plans are I the works just yet. Right now, we are building our own house. We’re always looking at doing more remodels and AirBnBs. Jordan is full-swing [hosting] ESPN [college] football right now.
Rodgers: Yeah, I only have one or two free days a week. We have our hands full for sure.
What can we expect for the rest of this season of Battle of the Fittest Couples? Any surprising twists?
Rodgers: The challenges continue to get much more intense from a physical standpoint. And these are things that you can’t script. Ambulances had to be called on the film set during challenges… and the “Rage Cage” continues to be something that just breaks the competitors. It’s something that is so tough, that “Rage Cage” is really the most physical. It is literally dragging someone, beating someone one-on-one. It is the most physical draining competition and challenge in the entire show.
That is really what sets the stage each week. They are going to get bigger. They are going to get harder. There will be some serious injuries. And drama in the house as you saw from the first episode, alliances get stronger, the backstabbing continues. There are a couple of times things almost come to blows. Things get really intense. There was one time JoJo was at the house and a fight almost broke out in front of her. It was crazy. And it’s only going to get crazier.
Battle of the Fittest Couples, Tuesdays, 11/10c, Paramount Network
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