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Bachelor in Paradise's John Graham (Venmo John) spills all

The Bachelorette favorite is living it up on the beaches of Mexico with Jorge and Wells the bartender. We ask him all about his journey for love.

Alexandra Able Senior Social Media Producer
3 min read
JOHN

John, taking time off from app development for some fun in the sun. 

Craig Sjodin

If all those fawning tweets week after week were any indication, John Graham, aka Venmo John, is one of the most popular contestants to come out of season 14 of The Bachelorette

Each week, with each new episode, we were reminded what we'd lost on week 5 when the clean-cut software engineer whose opening line to Becca was "I made the app for Venmo" got sent home. And each week, as we were put through the ringer with dumb men doing dumb things (I'm looking at you Chris R.), we knew that deep down, Venmo John would never stoop to such lows. 

Now that he's a cast member of Bachelor in Paradise I'm hoping Venmo John continues to be as graceful and level-headed as ever, while Chris R., who's also a cast member, continues to dig himself a deeper hole of suck.

After seeing how much Bachelor Nation loves Venmo John, I asked him to swing by CNET HQ in San Francisco to chat about rose ceremonies, fellow contestants, how he prepared for life in Paradise, and what really happened on the beaches of Mexico. 

And, he said, in so many words, "Let's do the damn thing."

Watch this: Venmo John from The Bachelorette spills all

We covered a lot: his relationship with Becca Kufrin, drama from this season, his time at Venmo and how it helped prepare him for the show, and his pick for the final rose. We also chatted about his new job at The Fin Exploration Company, started by Venmo co-founder Andrew Kortina to create "something like the OS from (the movie) Her today." Graham's a software engineer there holding nightlong hackathons. Oh, and we also laughed a lot (if you can't tell). 

The Midwest native made it so damn easy for me. From the moment I slid into his Instagram DMs to when we finally met in person, 28-year-old Venmo John is exactly as sweet as he seemed on The Bachelorette. 

He's got a warm personality and a killer smile, and I gotta say, he gives great hugs. He was up for anything, much like on The Bachelorette when he had to do things like show off his lumberjacking skills, and he gave me some good insights into being a contestant and how sweet Bachelorette Becca truly is.

Off camera, we talked about all sorts of things, like how awesome it is to live in San Francisco but how we both miss New York City, my beautiful dog (as seen in this CNET review), his amateur cooking show, and what went wrong with him and Becca. 

I also asked him if contestants, like Jordan for example, are what they seem on camera. He said they are, so ladies, stay away from Jordan. I really did try to get some spoilers out of him about his time in Paradise, but all he would say was, "Just watch, and call me after."

I will, Venmo John. I will. 

Your guide to everything Bachelorette: The show is more than tears and drama. It's a lifestyle.

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