© Provided by Meredith Corporation January Jones Says She Did Date Bachelor Nick Viall Despite Previously Calling Him Just a Friend

January Jones accepted Nick Viall‘s rose after all!

The 42-year-old actress revealed Monday on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast that she went on “a couple dates” with the Bachelor Nation star despite previously saying they were just friends.

But the Mad Men star wasn’t initially attracted to Viall after watching him on TV — in fact, the whole reason they connected in the first place was because he was trying to fix her negative view of him.

Jones explained that during one of Viall’s seasons, she “got so into” the show that she was speaking publicly about her opinions, “and I was just blasting that guy,” she said.

“Nick slid into my DMs, and he’s like, ‘I’m so sorry that your perception of me is so negative, I’d love to take you out to coffee and see if I can change your mind,'” Jones revealed. “And I squealed.”

© Leon Bennett/WireImage; Presley Ann/Getty Nick Viall, January Jones | Leon Bennett/WireImage; Presley Ann/Getty

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“I was like, ‘I hate that guy!'” Jones said, adding that her sister convinced her to meet the reality star. “My sister’s like, ‘if you don’t go, you will forever regret it.'”

“So I agreed to go on a date with him, or to drinks or whatever, and as I met him I was rounding the corner and I saw him and he has a very distinct walk, and I had this instinct to, like, run up to him and wrap my legs around his waist, do you know, like they do [on the show]?” Jones said, adding, “I stopped myself.”

© Charley Gallay/Getty January Jones | Charley Gallay/Getty

The Last Man on Earth star said that their first date “was good.”

“All I did was grill him about the show,” she said, adding, “we went on a couple dates.”

Jones said that while Viall was often cast as a villain on the Bachelor shows, he was different in person than how he was portrayed on TV.

“The thing that attracted me to Nick was he seemed like — I mean he was cast as the ‘villain’ — but he was actually, he had a bit of a brain, you know, so there was something else there,” she said.

© Allen Berezovsky/FilmMagic Nick Viall | Allen Berezovsky/FilmMagic

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Though their dating relationship was short-lived, Jones said that she did get some “juicy inside stuff” about the Bachelor — and it seems like they’ve stayed friends.

“When they come out of the limo and they have these little schticks or whatever, producers are handing them to them,” she said, referring to the first night contestants arrive at the Bachelor Mansion. “And then I just felt bad for the people who get, like, the dolphin costume.”

In 2018, when whispers of a possible romance first surfaced, the actress dismissed the idea that they were dating.

“He’s a friend of mine. He’s super sweet,” Jones told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “No, I’m single. But, he’s a friend of mine and tells me lots of inside scoops.”

However, the pair are now officially pals with Jones being a big supporter of Viall.

Last week, Jones appeared on Viall’s podcast, The Viall Files, to recap the premiere episode of the latest season that stars Peter Weber as the Bachelor. The actress seemed to reference their previous dates in their conversation, as she mentioned that Viall had previously told her behind-the-scenes things about the show.