Meet ‘Bachelorette’ Jenn’s Ex-Beau Matt Rossi, the ‘Wiener Boy’ Who Broke Her Heart
Jenn Tran is wrangling with the return of her ex-boyfriend Matt Rossi on The Bachelorette.
The hunk showed up in New Zealand to try to win her back on episode 4 of the hit ABC reality show’s Season 21.
The episode ended in a cliffhanger with Jenn thinking about allowing Matt to join the competition with other suitors for her heart.
A preview segment showed that Matt would stick around for Monday’s week 5 and make the other guys resent him.
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But who is Matt, why does Jenn call him “wiener boy,” and how did things previously end between the two?
Read on to find out more!
How did Matt’s first appearance on The Bachelorette go?
At the end of July 29’s episode 4, Jenn’s 11 men were preparing for the rose ceremony, when host Jesse Palmer suddenly told cameras that a guy from Jenn’s past had flown himself to New Zealand to plead his case with her.
Matt informed Jesse, “I’m here to tell Jenn, ‘I still love you.’”
When Matt approached her, Jenn gasped, “What are you doing here?!”
Matt told her he’d tried to attend a wedding in Colombia but left because he missed her.
He said, “I’m not ready to let you go…give me the chance to show you.”
What is Jenn and Matt’s romantic background?
Jenn, 26, recalled on The Bachelorette how they’d reconnected as just friends after having dated three years earlier. He was NOT one of the “toxic” exes she’d already talked about on the show.
How old is Matt?
He is 28 years old.
Where is Matt from?
Rossi is from Boston, Massachusetts.
Who are Matt's parents?
Both of Matt’s parents are immigrants from Italy, something he has in common with Jenn, whose folks came to America from Vietnam. Matt's dad owns an Italian restaurant in New Hampshire and his mother styles hair and owns a salon.
What does Matt do for a living?
Although a chyron on The Bachelorette called Matt, also known as Matty, an “insurance executive,” he has also worked in various businesses and is a rising social media star.
In fact, a YouTube podcast from March 2024 featured Matt, describing him as “an experienced brand marketer with a demonstrated history of working in the food & beverages industry. He’s spent the last 4 years working for Boston Beer Company, currently operating as brand manager for Truly Hard Seltzer. And in the last year, he’s built a dedicated following across social media for his creative and humorous lifestyle content which often features his very cute humorous [dog] Kirkland.”
What has Jenn said about Matt in the past?
The pretty physician assistant took to TikTok in December 2023, before she became famous on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor.
She said her breakup with an ex-boyfriend, later identified as Matt, led her to become a physician assistant.
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Why did Jenn call Matt ‘Wiener Boy’ in the video?
Jenn didn’t name Matt in her TikTok, but called him “Wiener Boy” because he owns a little dachshund dog. On his own social media, Matt has showed off his dachshund named Kirkland. His Instagram profile says he’s “the guy with the wiener (dog).”
How did the romance begin?
In the TikTok video, Jenn said three years before, right after college, she’d moved to Boston and had a relationship "wiener boy," aka Matt.
Matt’s separate TikTok video revealed he met her on the dating app, Hinge.
Jenn told the camera she was “completely head over heels in love with him,” and wanted marriage.
Why did Jenn and 'Weiner Boy' break up?
Jenn said "wiener boy" dumped her three months into their romance, leaving her devastated. She was "in shambles" after the split and "couldn't eat and couldn't sleep."
How did the breakup lead to a career?
To flee her heartbreak in Boston, Jenn decided to go with a friend to Miami.
She partied to get over Matt and and applied to a physician assistant school in Miami, getting accepted there.
Jenn noted in the video that if Matt hadn’t broken up with her, she never would have become a physician assistant.
“Everything happens for a reason,” the first Asian American Bachelorette concluded.
What was Matt’s side of the story?
In a funny February 2024 TikTok video, Matt admitted that he was Jenn’s ex and pretended that his dog Kirkland was telling the story. The hunk said he was only 24 when he met Jenn and wasn’t ready for a serious relationship. He hoped Jenn would give him “another shot.”
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What is Matt’s life like now?
Matt recently shared an Instagram video depicting the life of a man with a small dog.
The cute video shows Matt playing with his dog on his bed. Later, after Matt does a hot yoga class and prepares a healthy meal, he feeds Kirkland, who is “extremely picky” about dog food, and takes him for a walk. He even showed the dog peeing in his favorite outdoor spot!
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In another video, Kirkland is shown getting pampered at a dog grooming salon as part of Matt’s “Sunday reset” in which he cleans his apartment top to bottom.
Keeping to the wiener theme, Matt has also shown himself eating a hog dog at a Boston Red Sox game and dressed up in a hot dog costume with friends.
Will Matt be a factor in Jenn’s Bachelorette journey?
When Jenn asked if Matt was ready to get engaged during The Bachelorette week 4, he said yes.
“I really do love you,” Matt insisted.
Jenn asked, “You want to date me and my 11 other boyfriends?”
Matt said yes!
As the episode ended, Jenn took a break to think.
But spoiler expert Reality Steve has claimed that the other men are livid in episode 5 and “tell him he’s already had his chance with her" and he believes "Jenn doesn’t let him continue on the show.”
Steve has also asserted that Jenn gets engaged to Devin Strader at the end of The Bachelorette.
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