Why Adam Rippon's Boyfriend Won't Be Skating on His New YouTube Channel — and Who He Was Most Impressed by on the Ice
Olympic figure skater-turned-Dancing with the Stars champion Adam Rippon has been dating boyfriend Jussi-Pekka “JP” Kajaala for about a year and the latter has already appeared on Rippon’s new YouTube channel, where Rippon posts twice-weekly vlogs and a hosts a weekly interview series.
Just don’t expect Kajaala to join Rippon on the ice.
“He has not been skating for years,” Rippon, 29, revealed of Kajaala while appearing on PEOPLE Now earlier this week.
Rippon said that Kajaala grew up in Finland around skating — and did all he could to avoid it. Funny thing, then, that years later he crossed paths with Rippon on Tinder while the skater was in Scandinavia in 2017.
“I’m like, ‘Well little did you know I’m here to haunt you,’ ” Rippon said.
Of his series “Break the Ice,” where he chats with guests while trying to help them sharpen their skating skills, Rippon said on PEOPLE Now, “Usually it goes pretty well. But we have a few disasters — which is great.”
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He said he’s been most impressed by guest Molly Burke. Burke, a YouTube star of her own, is blind.
“I was like, I have no idea what to expect,” he explained. “I mean, you’ll see when you see our episode together. But she really kind of — she’s maybe, if not one of the best, but the best skater that we had.”
During his latest PEOPLE Now sit-down, Rippon, who is set to release a memoir in the fall, also opened up about being in the bridal party for Val Chmerkovskiy’s wedding to Jenna Johnson.
RELATED VIDEO: Adam Rippon Says Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson’s Wedding Was ‘Very Intimate and Just Beautiful’
“Maybe one of the most beautiful days I’ve ever experienced in my entire life,” he said of the Dancing with the Stars stars’ nuptials. “Both Jenna and Val are some of the most beautiful people on the inside and the outside.”
Rippon recalled one of his favorite moments, when everyone gathered in the hotel before the ceremony as the couple signed their wedding paperwork.
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“We’re just eating fries and they’re signing their marriage papers and I’m like, ‘This is it, now it’s done and the rest is just a show.’ It was just really fun, because it felt really intimate. It was just beautiful.”
