The Bachelorette’s Jenn Tran Has Your Summer Dating Forecast

If you didn’t know Jenn Tran was a Sagittarius, you’d guess it pretty quickly from her Bachelorette promos. In teaser clips for her season, which premieres July 8, the 26-year-old physician assistant student can be seen skydiving, driving stunt cars, and fiercely telling a room full of men “If you think this is not the place you should be, then you should get out.” She has fire sign energy written all over her.

When I tell her this over Zoom, Tran lights up. “That’s the best compliment anyone could have given me today,” she says. The New Jersey native may not be the first Bachelorette with a fiery birth chart, but she’s a boundary-breaking star for other reasons: the first Asian American lead and the first who officially qualifies as Gen Z.

She admits there’s a lot fans don’t know about her yet — Tran finished fifth on Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season, so her screen time was relatively minimal. But if her social-media presence is any indication, she knows how to engage an online audience: Make jokes about your ex, and drop hints about your love life through Sabrina Carpenter lyrics. (Here’s hoping the fears expressed in “Please Please Please” don’t actually come true for her.)

Below, Tran opens up about her signature saying, her favorite Taylor Swift songs, and what she’s most excited for people to see this season.

Elite Daily: I need to know the origin of your catchphrase “shot o’clock.” Where does it come from? What does it mean?

Jenn Tran: I don’t like mixed drinks — sometimes they hurt my stomach — so I like to take shots instead. When people come to my house, I don’t want to take a shot alone, so I’m always asking my friends if they want to take one with me. It just turned into “shot o’clock,” and now every time my friends come over, they know what they’re in for.

ED: What’s your drink of choice?

JT: It’s usually tequila shots at my house. My friends don’t love me for that because nobody likes tequila, apparently. But when I’m at a restaurant, I’m not asking for a shot with my steak. I’ll go for a margarita or spicy marg, or I’ve recently been loving a tequila-mezcal cocktail situation.

The vibe of shot o’clock is don’t sip the drink, take it all down. Don’t second-guess your choice.

ED: How can we all embody the shot o’clock energy in our dating lives this summer?

JT: The vibe of shot o’clock is don’t sip the drink, take it all down. Don’t second-guess your choice, whatever it is. It’s time to stop thinking and just go do it.

ED: Kind of like you just did with The Bachelorette gig. Speaking of, you said the playlist for your photoshoot was Taylor Swift and Shrek. What’s your No. 1 song in each category?

JT: “Funkytown” from Shrek [2] for sure. I was playing it on repeat. For Taylor Swift, it’s between “Lover” and “You Belong with Me.”

ED: Is there a Taylor Swift song that sums up your season?

JT: Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this before. Maybe “Fearless”?

ED: That’s fun and flirty. I was afraid it was going to be like “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”

JT: “The Smallest Man”? [laughs] No.

ED: I’d be worried. From promos, it looks like you’re doing a lot of stunts with the guys. What did you think of all the adventure dates?

JT: I’m a thrill seeker, but I’m all talk sometimes. I’ll say I’m down to do this or that, but when I actually get there, I’m like, “What the hell was I thinking?”

I’ve always said that I would go skydiving, but I knew somebody would have to sedate me and push me out of the plane. When I found out I was doing it on the show, I was literally sobbing. I was kicking and screaming. But deep down, I knew I had always wanted to, and now was the time. So I did it. And at the end of the day, when you overcome a fear, it’s really rewarding.

ED: What’s something the world doesn’t know about you that we’ll find out this season?

JT: So much. I feel like the world didn’t really get to know me the first time around, but you’re going to learn a lot about me now. I speak Vietnamese, so you’ll see that with my family. I’m excited for people to meet them and see that dynamic.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.