After telling JoJo how recently he broke up with his previous girlfriend, Robby still managed to be a frontrunner on The Bachelorette by winning the group date rose. If you've been wary of his intentions, you likely went to know when Robby and his ex-girlfriend broke up, especially since he told JoJo during the July 11 episode that he broke up with his long-term ex-girlfriend this past winter — only a couple months before filming for The Bachelorette began. While she seemed pretty cool, calm, and collected about Robby's information on his ex originally, a sneak peek from Robby's hometown date suggests that JoJo is not completely OK with Robby's timeline and is going to demand some more information.
During the July 11 episode, Robby claimed to JoJo that he and his girlfriend of "a little over three years" broke up during "Christmas break." Memories of Christmas seem far away in this hot summer month of July, but the winter holiday was only a short half a year ago and at the time of Robby and JoJo's Argentina date, he said four and a half months had passed since the breakup. For context, JoJo reportedly started filming The Bachelorette on March 16 — just a few months after Robby's prior relationship ended. (Bustle's previous requests for comment from Robby's ex-girlfriend on their relationship have not been answered.)
However, before you start hating on Robby too much, the scheduled cycle of Bachelor -branded TV shows is a well-oiled machine, so there's never much time between The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. With that in mind, while it's totally fair to criticize Robby, I must acknowledge that JoJo is kind of in the same boat. According to Reality Steve, Ben's final rose ceremony was scheduled to take place on Nov. 18. That means, JoJo had her heart broken in mid to late November, which really isn't that much more time than Robby said he had between his breakup and the start of filming.
Yet, there is a key difference between JoJo and Robby's situations that must not go unnoticed. JoJo had a Bachelor relationship end — where your chances of finding lasting love are slim and the entire process is accelerated to take place within a single season of filming. Robby, on the other hand, ended a very long, real-world relationship. If you follow Charlotte's breakup rule from Sex and the City, "It takes half the total time you went out with someone to get over them." That means that Robby would need at least a year and a half to adequately move on, at least if you apply Charlotte York Goldenblatt's logic to The Bachelorette. (Someone call Kristin Davis up, because "Watching The Bachelorette with Charlotte" should be a thing.) While I'm a big Sex and the City fan, I don't put too much stock in the opinions of fictional characters, and everyone heals from breakups at different rates and in their own ways. This just goes to show that Robby and JoJo's respective breakups shouldn't be compared.
As Robby told JoJo when he said he loved her, he has a new lease on life because of the death of a friend and so he could be genuine about his emotions, even if the timing is as fast as Robby running down the halls of a hotel in his underwear.
But don't fret, Robby haters, because I do have another reason to give him some serious side-eye. Robby Instagram stalkers should know that his Instagram used to have many photos of his ex, but as of this article's publication, only one still existed on his page. You can see the photo from two years ago below as long as Robby doesn't eventually take it down. What the removal of all of those photos implies, I'm not certain, but I'm convinced it means something.
How cool JoJo actually is with Robby's split will be revealed as The Bachelorette continues with the hometown dates. And despite breaking up with his ex recently, I wouldn't count out Robby just yet. Even if Robby and his ex did date for over three years and end their relationship last winter, Robby may have been speaking the truth when he said things just never seemed right between them — and when he said that he loves JoJo.
Images: Michael LeGrand (2), Matt Dunn/ABC; Giphy
