If Chris Harrison is surprised, you know it’s surprising. The host of The Bachelor appeared on Good Morning America on Tuesday, March 6, following the shocking season finale when Arie Luyendyk, Jr. proposed to Becca Kufrin, then broke up with her a few weeks later after realizing he wanted to try things out with his runner-up Lauren Burnham.
Harrison, 46, explained that about six to eight weeks into their relationship, Arie, 36, and Becca, 27, were set to do a couples weekend in L.A. “That’s when he came to me and said, ‘I can’t fake this for another weekend. I know I really care about Lauren and I want to give this a shot.’ That’s when he made the choice,” the host explained.
That led to the decision to have the cameras follow Arie’s break up with Becca, airing — for the first time ever — a completely unedited scene, that was cringeworthy for most.
“I expect to catch some heat for this,” Harrison admitted during the interview, responding to so many members of Bachelor Nation calling out the network for having cameras present for the emotional time. “In my opinion, you don’t just get to tell the fairy tales. That’s not real life, that’s not how this works. That’s not how my life worked … But then there’s stuff like this, this real life that happens. I think it’s something we can all relate to and I think that’s probably what’s going to stir everybody up. It draws something inside of all of us that we can all—we’ve all been there.”
The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host did admit that the whole finale was a “wild” experience. “Sixteen years of this and that was breathtaking. It was a lot even for me. It’s a lot to take in,” he said. “It’s going to take a little bit of time to process all of that, even for myself.”
The live After the Final Rose special airs on ABC Tuesday, March 6, at 8 p.m. ET.
