Tom Schwartz’s ex Jo Wenberg is ready to find love again — and she isn’t opposed to making it happen on reality TV despite a rocky stint on Vanderpump Rules.
Jo, 35, took to Instagram Story on Wednesday, August 7, to share a video of herself on the beach, writing, “Sign me up to find a man!” In addition to tagging the account for The Bachelorette, Jo added in the caption to the video. “Make me the next Bachelorette.”
Bravo viewers watched Jo and Schwartz, 41, crash and burn on season 11 of the show. Schwartz initially started dating — or at least casually seeing — Jo in the aftermath of his and Katie Maloney’s divorce. While Schwartz seemed to be interested in a casual relationship that allowed him to date other people, Jo was more hopeful about a future with him. The duo ultimately broke up on screen and Schwartz faced backlash for seemingly stringing Jo along.
“There were maybe mixed signals there a little bit. We had a lightning in a bottle situation for a while there,” Schwartz said on WWHL in February. “I don’t know if it was sustainable given my mental state of being. I don’t know if I was equipped to be in a conventional relationship.”
Schwartz joked he “should have been committed” instead of seeking out a girlfriend, noting, “I was in a very weird place like I have never experienced in my entire life. I’ll shut up now.”
Jo told a different version of the story while claiming a lack of “trust” led to issues in their relationship.
“The one thing that wasn’t there probably was trust. And that’s OK, because who am I to say who [he] needs to be with or who doesn’t need to be with? What I need to do is I need to move on and work on myself,” Jo said on an April episode of the “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast. “I look back and I feel very grateful that I had somebody in my life that made me so happy. We could not have laughed more.”
Schwartz has since publicly moved on with Sophia Skoro. “She’s so sweet and she seems great,” Jo said on an Instagram Live in April. “Yes I do [think he is my other half]. But I think it is going to take some time. In due time. … Maybe in the future [we will get back together] but I am not sure.”
One month later, Jo accused Schwartz of still trying to remain in contact with her, sharing in a Cameo video, “What’s happening with Tom and I? When you go through a breakup, as a female I decided to lean into my emotions and stay in bed for months until I had to go to my job. Which by the way, I have a job outside of the show.”
She continued: “He decided to move on with a woman, and we are not talking. Even though he will text me and I ‘m not going to text him back because that would be really disrespectful to his girlfriend.”
Schwartz, however, has made it clear he wants to keep his distance from Jo. Instead, his focus has remained on the new woman in his life.
“She overlooks all my baggage,” Schwartz said on “The Viall Files” podcast in April when asked his favorite thing about Sophie, 23, calling her “one of the coolest human beings on planet earth, the baddest bitch alive.”
