Chris Harrison on Chad Johnson's Disastrous 'Bachelor in Paradise' Stint: 'He Really Pissed Me Off'
Chad Johnson crashed and burned on Bachelor in Paradise Tuesday night.
This season's premiere brought back the infamous Bachelorette villain, and during the first night on set he drank, swore at fellow contestants, threatened them, made jokes about murder and ultimately passed out on the beach. In the morning, host Chris Harrison gathered the cast and told Chad he was being sent home. "This is my life," Johnson yelled. "This is my life! F*** you, Chris Harrison!"
Harrison spoke with reporters from the BIP set in Mexico. "It wasn't pretty," he said of Chad's first few days on the show. "It was a classic, just, Mount Vesuvius meltdown."
Still, the longtime host doesn't believe Johnson is fundamentally villainous. "Chad is not a bad person," he said. "People get labelled very easily in television, of course, on our show -- he's the villain, she's the villain -- whatever. I don't think life's that simple and one of the things I've learned about the show over 15 years is that it's not. There's that big gray area, and Chad is one of these people I find very interesting and compelling: why is he doing what he's doing?"
So, if Harrison could see past Johnson's aggressive behavior – why send him home? "He was really glib and really arrogant, and really pissed me off," Harrison admitted. "You know, have a little culpability in your actions -- and he didn't."
As for that "f*** you," Harrison was able to laugh it off: "In 15 years no one has really verbally undressed me, and luckily he used my full name!"
WATCH: EXCLUSIVE: Chad Johnson Says He Won't Be the Next 'Bachelor': Here's Why
So, does he hold any grudges? "I'm not mad at [Chad]," he said. "I don't dislike him at all … I believe in second chances, I think most of the people in our country and watching believe in second chances too, and I wanted him to redeem himself."
Plus, Chris and Chad have made up further since then -- at the Men Tell All taping on July 16, Chad apologized to Chris during a commercial break. But, more drama is seemingly ahead: Johnson's catastrophic stint on the show continues next week. "We gave him enough rope to hang himself and he did," Harrison said. "It was not good … He has some issues. I hope he deals with them. I hope he gets better."
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC.
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