Jason Tartick on Dating Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe: 'Friendship Turned into a Relationship'
It’s official: Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick are in a relationship.
The former Bachelorette star and Tartick, who competed on Becca Kufrin’s season of the ABC reality series, confirmed on Wednesday that they are together.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Tartick, 30, said in a live interview on the Today show.
Bristowe, who also appeared on the morning news program, said, “I mean, I was going to use my podcast to break the news, but I guess the Today show beat me to it!”
Tartick, who met Bristowe, 33, on her podcast — Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe — said that they’ve been a steady item for “about a month or so.”
“We were friends. A little banter here and there and friendship turned into a relationship,” he explained.
In an early January episode of her podcast, Tartick and Bristowe had a rather flirty exchange, which all started when she asked him why they hadn’t gone out yet.
“Jason, are you finally going to ask me on a date?” Bristowe teased.
Taking the (rather obvious) hint, Tartick made his move on the season 11 Bachelorette.
“You’re making me blush over here, Kaitlyn,” he said. “I mean, if we’re both going to be in the same city at the same time, I see no reason why we shouldn’t go to dinner or grab drinks.”
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After Bristowe accepted his invitation, Tartick said he couldn’t be happier. “My heart is racing over here, my beats per minute are off the chain,” he said. But she gave him a clear warning before taking that next step: “Don’t f—- it up.”
More than a week later, Bristowe surprised Tartick while he was in Seattle with his pals — and called herself his “girlfriend.”
Sharing a sweet black-and-white video on his Instagram Stories, Tartick slowly introduced followers to his friends at the bar before revealing who was also by his side.
“There’s my boy Nate, he’s on the phone with his sweet girlfriend. And there’s Derek. And there’s me, drinking a little —,” he said in the video, as he held up his glass. But before he could finish his sentence, Bristowe chimed in.
“With his sweet girlfriend!” she cheerfully said, with a surprised expression on her face.
“Where’d you come from?” Tartick jokingly responded back.
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To make it even cuter, Tartick tagged his two pals and captioned the video, “Who’s that girl… …@kaitlynbristowe #bestsurprise #seattle.”
The new Bachelor Nation couple’s relationship comes nearly three months after Bristowe confirmed her split from Shawn Booth — whom she met, fell in love with and got engaged to on the season 19 finale of The Bachelorette in 2015 — in November.
“After three incredible years, we have decided to go our separate ways. This difficult decision comes after thoughtful, respectful consideration. Even though we are parting as a couple, we’re very much committed to remaining friends and we will continue to support each other,” they said in a joint statement. “Due to the nature of how we met, our relationship has always been very public, and we have enjoyed sharing it with all of you, but we ask that you respect our decision and our privacy at this time.”
Booth, 31, talked about the pain of seeing her go public with someone else on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti‘s podcast Almost Famous: In Depth.
“It’s nerve-wracking every time I pick up my phone. I haven’t been on Twitter in months just because I don’t want to scroll the mentions. Going on Instagram, I do that for business purposes, and always get caught with scrolling. that’s always tough. You just have a pit in your stomach.”
He continued: “That’s the hard part and with her moving on so quickly, I just have a tough time understanding why she would put this out everywhere, or blasting it all over the place, knowing that it could hurt.”
