After the Final Rose comes Dancing! Bachelor Chris Soules updated Us Weekly and other reporters on his engagement to his fiancee Whitney Bischoff, and how he feels about her friendship with his runner-up Becca Tilley.

“I’m so glad they’re friends,” Soules, 33, told Us backstage at the Dancing With the Stars live broadcast on Monday, April 6. “It doesn’t surprise me because I was pretty close to some guys that were dating Andi [Dorfman] when I was on The Bachelorette. I’m just glad they were able to keep their friendship, because they’re great girls. That’s what that experience was about. Meeting some really great people and having those friendships is important.”

In fact, Bischoff and Tilley went out to dinner this past weekend. Soules told Us that his fiancee, despite refusing to watch the show, “knows enough.”

“She doesn’t live in a bubble. She hears, you know?” he explained. “I think you go through that, you have to be able to mentally… know that I’m going through those relationships differently. I’m not putting it in the English language very well. She’s very smart. They all get it and can look past.”

The Iowa-based farmer praised his fiancee for her conduct — and her confidence. “She’s tough,” he told Us. “That’s why I fell in love with her.”

As for his relationship with runner-up Tilley? “I mean, it’s not like we talk or communicate on a regular basis,” Soules noted. “The first time we actually got to talk was at The Final Rose. She’s a great person. Comes from a great foundation, a great family, and is happy, I’m sure, for Whitney and I. That’s why they’re able to have that friendship.”

While he films DWTS, Soules told Us that he’s thankful for Bischoff’s commitment to their relationship. “We get to spend a fair amount of time together, but I think mentally I’m not really there in a way that I will be able to be in the future,” he said. “It changes the dynamic a little, so she gets that and we’ve just got to communicate and work hard to have a relationship… It will be a lot easier once this is over with.”

He also said Bischoff was his biggest supporter. “She’s the best,” Soules gushed. “I take this extremely seriously and she’s nervous for me and every day [says,] ‘How’d it go? How do you feel? How did rehearsal go?’ Every night we’ll watch our performances.” The Chicago native has even stayed on the West Coast with her beau until DWTS wraps.

“She’s still working,” Soules noted. “They’ve given her a different kind of role at the facility where she works and where she’s handling more of the PR stuff and doing some public speaking for them and trying to promote the company she’s working for.”

While she’s in L.A., Bischoff has also bonded with another Witney in Soules’ life. “I ended up texting her and asked her to come to The Grove for a coffee,” Witney Carson, Soules’ DWTS partner, told Us. “I just wanted to get to know her and be friends with her, and just let her know she should just totally enjoy this experience while she’s there… We had a really good chat and she’s great, you know? I really, really like her and we’ll be hanging out more.”