‘The Bachelor’: Chris Harrison on the 5 Women to Watch This Season

As not even the third time was a charm, Nick Viall, veteran suitor on two seasons of The Bachelorette and an installment of Bachelor in Paradise, hopes his fourth go at finding love on air might prove more fortuitous.

"I feel bad for the guy. He sincerely wants to find someone to spend life with, but he's been incredibly unlucky in love and has had his heart broken on national TV so many times," host Chris Harrison tells Yahoo TV. "People said he was an unconventional choice [for The Bachelor], but I would argue that in a lot of ways he is actually a conventional pick for the show. We typically look for someone who has been on the show, who we know very well, who is interesting to fans, and who has been unlucky in love but is still sincerely looking for it."

Related: See ‘The Bachelor’ Season 21 Photos

According to Harrison, the production team did everything in its power to ensure that Season 21 of The Bachelor ended happily, starting with assembling 30 amazing women to vie for Viall's affection. "I can't say enough about how great and diverse a group of women we put together for him. They are very strong, smart, and independent, business owners and lawyers and military."

By Harrison's account, the Los Angeles-based software salesman was grateful for their handiwork. "A lot of the bachelors and bachelorettes have a type. We have to break them down and get rid of that type in their head because that obviously hasn't been working for 30 years. They need to change course," he says. "The good thing with Nick was that he was pretty open-minded. He didn't say, 'I want blondes or brunettes only. 'But one thing he did say was that he is attracted to confidence. He likes a strong-willed, independent woman who knows what she wants in life and love."

Of course, just because Nick appreciates those personality traits doesn't mean there won't be fireworks between the contenders. Harrison teases, "This is not the recipe for a simple, easy house. When you have a bunch of strong, opinionated women who are used to getting their way and being successful and suddenly asking them to get in line and wait for their turn, it does not go over very well. Typically things start off nice and congenial, but then they decide they want their time and stop being polite."

As usual, before heading off to locales near and far, the season will kick off at the Southern California mansion with a night of limo arrivals — some awkward, some promising. "He was really impressed on night one, which made it very difficult for him to give that first impression rose," Harrison reports. "Another good thing about Nick having done the show so many times is that he understood the nervousness and pressure that the women were feeling, so he gave them a wide berth when it came to introducing themselves. He had a much higher tolerance for the arrivals, even for people who really went for it."

Fewer women employed wacky, bold introduction strategies, but there are several who Harrison promises will be memorable, including a woman who "took the horseback entrance to a new level. She saw a horse and raised it a couple of humps."

Another potential wife, who shows up in a costume, appears on the annual list of five women to watch that Harrison prepares exclusively for Yahoo. Click through to see which members of the supersized "diverse and eclectic group" for the "roller coaster season" made the cut this year.

The Bachelor premieres Monday, Jan. 2, at 8 p.m. on ABC.