‘7 Little Johnstons’: Jonah Has a Big Surprise for Girlfriend Ashley in Exclusive Sneak Peek

Jonah Johnston is channeling his inner romantic to pull off a sweet surprise for his girlfriend, Ashley. In a PopCulture.come exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday’s all-new episode of 7 Little Johnstons, the TLC star hopes to impress Ashley with a homemade barbecue dinner, ideally showing her that his new hobby of smoking meats has him surpassing even professional barbecue in North Carolina.

Promising Ashley a surprise that “ups the game,” Jonah rounds the corner with his beloved to show off a table set with everything they need for an authentic barbecue meal – from a red checkerboard tablecloth to a plate of delicious homemade food.  “Oh, wow. This is nice,” Ashley says in shock, as Jonah proudly states, “Yeah. [I] did it all. My hope is it’s better than Carolina style. … I’m biased, but…”

The romantic gesture was a pleasant one for Ashley, who tells the camera, “When I walked into the kitchen and saw that Jonah had prepared a lovely meal for us, I was very surprised. He didn’t really tell me kind of what the plans were so when I walked in and saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, this is nice.’”

As they dig into Jonah’s homemade barbecue, he encourages Ashley to ditch the silverware and eat with her hands, despite her concern that she’ll get “messy.” Jonah jokes, “That’s the whole point!” before instructing her to really pay attention to the taste of the meats and “let it sink in.”

After tucking into a barbecue feast, the verdict is in. “They’re good. I like them,” Ashley tells a relieved Jonah. “You did a good job.” The thrilled barbecue master responds, “Really?” as she reassures him, “Mm-hmm. And I’m not just saying that.” To the camera later, Ashley said their surprise barbecue date was just what she had been wanting Jonah to pull off.

“He has not done anything like that before, so you need to keep doing things like that,” she tells him. “I’ve cooked before for you,” Jonah protests, as Ashley explains, “But you know I like surprises. So you need to surprise me more.” Jonah reasons, “Yeah. I haven’t surprised her with a meal, but I have prepared-” as Ashley cuts him off, “No, he needs to surprise me more.”

7 Little Johnstons airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.