Chris Harrison Blogs 'The Bachelor: The Women Tell All'
This was easily the most exciting and anticipated Women Tell All special we have had in years. This has been such an emotional season so there were a hundred different stories I was looking forward to exploring. It’s really fun when you have a season this good because the audience was on edge and excited.
We started off by once again showing some of The Bachelor viewing parties we crashed this season. This truly is one of my favorite things we do. Our ratings have been fantastic but I have to laugh at how antiquated the system is that calculates these ratings. There’s no possible way they can or will be able to account for how many people truly watch this show because so many of you watch in groups. It’s a bit like the Super Bowl in that there’s so many parties going on the numbers just aren’t close to being accurate. The good news is, even with the way they tabulate the ratings now, the numbers are still great.
Now, to the women. Britt may have ended up being the most fascinating and divisive person on this season. I know she felt sabotaged by the other girls, especially Carly, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. Did the “sabotage” by Carly and the others speed up the process and send her home a little earlier? Maybe so, but it wasn’t what ruined her chances with Chris. Chris and Britt were hot right from the start. Their relationship burned fast and bright, but it also flamed out just as fast.
Britt hopefully understands now that while Carly and the others didn’t help, it’s not what ruined her chances with Chris. Now that you’ve all seen and heard everything Britt and the other women have to say, what do you think? Is Britt sincere? Was she in love with Chris, or was she faking it? I’d also be really interested to know what all of you think about Carly’s behavior. Was she acting in Chris’s best interest when she told him about Britt? Or was it jealousy that reared its ugly head?
Related: 'The Bachelor: The Women Tell All' Recap: Big Girls Do Cry
Kelsey was obviously the most controversial woman on the show this season, but I’m not sure we learned a lot more in this interview. It’s obvious that Kelsey and the other women did not get along, and I’m not sure we’ll ever really know where things went wrong. More than anything, I think we all got a little bit of closure. I always leave the ultimate judgment up to you guys but I will say this about Kelsey: I don’t think you can judge a person on the way they grieve or show their emotion unless you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. I have no idea what it’s like to suffer like she has. Even though there were women on the panel that have had similar situations, everybody copes differently. So while we can judge her for many things, I’ll definitely refrain from any judgment concerning how she handled her husband’s death.
As serious as most of the interviews were on the Women Tell All, it was nice to take a break and spend a few minutes diving into the mind that is Ashley S. I’ll admit I can’t get enough of this girl and I could’ve talked to her for hours. She’s unlike any woman who’s ever been on this show and definitely marches to the beat of her own saxophone. A few things to note here: I appreciated the gift she brought, even though it was an onion. Mesa Verde is a National Park in Colorado, but Ashley was correct you can crawl through caves and caverns there. Lastly, I truly hope Ashley S. joins us this summer for Bachelor in Paradise. I honestly hope she just remembers to show up.
The interviews with Jade and Kaitlyn were very raw and emotional and you can really feel how much these women cared about Chris and wanted answers to some of their unanswered questions. As for Chris, it’s always a little awkward to come out and face the ladies but this night was different. To say Chris came out and sat in the hot seat is a gross understatement. From the moment he stepped on stage the emotions and tensions were running high. My plan was to start with Kaitlyn and work my way backwards down the row and give each girl a chance to talk.
But then I looked over and saw that Britt was already in tears, so I let her have the floor. The lengthy hug when she walked up was about seven seconds past awkward. I’m glad Chris cleared it up for her that Carly was not the reason she went home. I could tell Kaitlyn wasn’t happy with Chris and definitely wanted some closure. The tough thing here is it’s impossible for Chris to articulate why he sent her home. As Chris said, how do you explain why you broke up with a woman you had no real reason to break up with? I understand she felt confident at the rose ceremony, and so she really felt like she had the rug ripped out from under her. It was an extra emotional season because so many of these ladies truly fell in love with Chris.
Jade also had a little animosity towards Chris. It wasn’t as much about what he did on the show but more about what he said later in his blog. This is why I’ll never write a blog and if I do I’ll never let anybody read it. I really don’t think it had much to do with Jade’s photos. I talked to Chris a lot and he just wasn’t growing with Jade as much as he was for the other women. His other relationships were just so much further along.
Before I talk about next week’s finale I want to take a selfish moment and mention a project I’ve been working on for a couple years now. I wrote my first book. It’s a romance novel called The Perfect Letter. I’m very proud of it and was excited to not only announce it on the show but also reveal the cover. The book will be available in bookstores May 19 but can be pre-ordered online now. I hope you love this story as much as I did writing it. I can’t wait to hear your feedback. I want to say a special thank you to my family at ABC, Warner Horizon, and Next Entertainment for standing behind me and allowing me to talk about this book on the show. They absolutely didn’t have to let me do that but they did because that’s what family does, and I thank them all very much.
So next week this wild ride comes to an end as we head back to Iowa to write the final chapter in this story. Chris has narrowed it down to two great, but very different women: Becca and Whitney. It is an emotional, dramatic finale you don’t want to miss. So I’ll see you next Monday night for the very dramatic three-hour LIVE finale of this season.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
