B.J. Novak’s “Ryan Howard” era on The Office might’ve been plot-driven, but right now the storyline unfolding off-screen has everyone hooked.
On the Wednesday, June 11 episode of Boy Problems, Delaney Rowe dropped a hint that she’s “dating” again — and it sparked major “situationship” speculation. While the 29-year-old TikToker didn’t name names, fans quickly linked her comments to Novak, 45, following months of dating rumors and multiple public sightings of the two together.
“I’m dating… not fully boo’d up, but like I am dating and it is going OK,” Rowe told podcast host Liz Plank. “It’s a little dramatic right now… It’s not him. It’s me — I was the problem and I had to sort of reconcile with that recently.”
Without skipping a beat, Plank, 38, followed up: “What do you mean?”
The internet personality explained, “I was not sure and so I was sort of noncommittal for a long period of time when he was like very sure. And so now I am sure and he’s like, ‘I don’t really trust your intentions at this point.’”
Fans quickly dubbed it a “situationship” — that murky, modern middle ground between casual dating and full-on commitment. As therapist Sarah Kelleher, LCSW, explained to Cosmopolitan, a situationship “lives in the murky space between ‘just seeing each other’ and ‘being together,’ which can feel exciting, confusing, or both.”
Shortly after the podcast episode went live, the internet had plenty to say.
“I bet they have a Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak level of insane situationship lore,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“bj novak putting delaney rowe in situationship shackles….this man is so evil,” another said.
“Apparently it’s a situationship too BJ Novak is the final boss of situationship enforcers because of him with Mindy and now this 😭😭😭,” chimed in a third who responded to a post of Novak and the influencer.
“B.J. Novak in a situationship??? Likely place for him to be,” someone else pointed out, likely referencing his fictional relationship history on The Office.
Novak’s decades-long friendship with Mindy Kaling has drawn similar attention in the past. “I will freely admit: My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell,” Kaling told InStyle in 2015, per E! News. “He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend… I guess you could describe our relationship as a ‘romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments,’ but I don’t think Facebook would accept this as a new status.”
The former pair met while filming The Office in 2004 and dated on and off for several years.