Jared Haibon Says Joe Amabile and Kendall Long Seemed ‘Very Happy’ a Week Before Their Split

Bachelor in Paradise stars Jared Haibon and Ashley Iaconetti were taken by surprise when Joe Amabile and Kendall Long decided to split.

Although Amabile — known by Bachelor Nation as “Grocery Store Joe” — and Long had their struggles, Haibon and Iaconetti didn’t see any signs of what was to come when they saw the pair a week before they called it quits.

“We saw them both the week before and they were very happy,” Haibon, 31, tells PEOPLE.

“I always knew that Joe was struggling out here in L.A. and anytime I talked to him, we would bond over that because I want to move back east and he wanted to move back to Chicago, but they were so happy,” he adds. “It seemed like that was more of a distant future, ‘Hey, where are we going to end up?’ type thing. But it was sad to hear when they broke up.”

Haibon went on to share that before the pair publicly announced their split last month, Long shared the news with him while appearing on his Help I Suck At Dating podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow Bachelor Nation stars Vanessa Grimaldi and Dean Unglert. The episode aired Jan. 13.

“Kendall was on Help I Suck at Dating and this was before they publicly announced their breakup, and she was like, ‘I don’t want to talk about it on the podcast, but Joe and I actually just broke up a couple of days ago,’ ” he explains. “It was really sad to hear and sad to hear that it really was because she wants to be here close to her family and he wants to be in Chicago close to his.”

Haibon and Iaconetti, who are working with Prizeo to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Los Angeles and give one lucky winner a chance to go on a double date with them, went on to note that while Amabile and Long did find love with each other, relationships are complicated.

“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” Haibon tells PEOPLE.

“I think that’s probably what happened with Kendall and Joe,” Iaconetti, 31, adds.

“Yeah, relationships need compromise. They need conversation. They need lifestyles to match up, goals to match up,” he adds. “Because being in a relationship, we all know it’s a choice at the end of the day. It’s you saying, ‘I choose to be with you.’ And that includes if I choose to be with you, that means I have to let some of my other lifestyles go.”

RELATED: Kendall Long ‘Did Not See’ Split with Joe Amabile Coming and Thought They Would ‘Get Married’

Earlier this month, Long, 27, revealed that she was also blindsided by her breakup with Amabile, 32.

“I did not see it coming,” Long said on her Down to Date podcast, going on to share that while they had decided to go their separate ways, “there’s still a lot of love and respect for each other.”

“Ultimately what happened was that Joe felt like he would have a better life in Chicago,” Long, who is from Los Angeles, said, explaining that before their split, she had told Amabile that “moving to Chicago wasn’t something that I wanted.”

Amabile and Long, who met during season 5 of BiP, announced their split in January after over a year of dating.

“We have decided mutually to go our separate ways. Joe has made the decision to move back to Chicago while Kendall will be remaining in her hometown of Los Angeles,” Long and Amabile told BachelorNation.com in a joint statement. “We both respect each others’ decision and still have a great deal of love for each other. We appreciate all the love and support everyone has given us throughout our relationship.”