Chris Harrison says Bachelor Pad contestant Ed Swiderski naturally but unintentionally adds fuel to every fire.
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"Ed makes every situation worse. He doesn't mean to, and you can't help but like Ed," Harrison told TV Guide in a recent interview, referencing how Swiderski announced to the whole house he wasn't romantically involved with his partner Jaclyn Swartz although he was sleeping with and spending most of his time with her.
During Monday night's episode, Swiderski told Swartz he had a relationship in the works back home with a woman whom he really cared for despite coming onto the show as a single man. Swartz was taken aback by the news, as she believed his flirty and sexual approach to the game was a telling sign he wasn't taken.
However, Swartz continued to pursue Swiderski and remain physically intimate with him following the awkward exchange in the middle of the couple's one-on-one date away from the house.
"Even Jaclyn loves Ed, and she knows in her heart and brain she should not. Every woman Ed has probably met realizes, 'I should not like this guy, no good will come from it.' Yet they fall for him. Even Jaclyn sitting there when he told her he's into another girl, she was still into it and couldn't help it. I guess he's addicting," Harrison explained.
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While Swiderski is "addicting," Harrison also apparently considers him intelligent, which is why the Bachelor Pad host was surprised when he and Swartz lost the week's Spelling Bee challenge to Chris Bukowski and Sarah Newlon.
"Ed is a well-educated man and Jaclyn is a smart woman so I really thought they would do well. Despite public appearance, those are two of the smarter people on the show," Harrison told TV Guide.
"The way we made them do it back and forth with somebody is not an easy way to spell. So, I'm going to give them a little bit of slack here. I don't know why I thought [Kalon McMahon] and [Lindzi Cox] would be so good, but I thought they would hang in there. And I did not foresee Chris and Sarah being such a force."
Although McMahon entered the game as America's villain after he disrespected The Bachelorette star Emily Maynard during her recent season, Harrison expressed how his feelings about the bachelor have drastically changed since taping began.
"I know Kalon is easy to dislike, but for some reason I don't. I find him pleasantly amusing and I think he's a lovable character. And he and Lindzi bring out the best in each other. I know he's in on the joke when he throws out these jewels sometimes," said Harrison, adding he "loved" McMahon's gesture to hop into Cox's limo upon their separate departures from Bachelor Pad.
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McMahon may have developed into a memorable character over the course of the season, but in Harrison's eyes, bachelor Nick Peterson has been pretty invisible in the game up until he paired up with Rachel Truehart -- who was an important member in the house's strongest alliance -- by default this week.
Peterson finally got some camera time when he decided to give Blakeley Shea and Tony Pieper a piece of his mind because he thought he was going to be voted off next despite an agreement they had reached.
"He doesn't say a word and then when he does, he hangs himself. I was like, 'Stop talking; you're safe!' The thing about Nick is he's been the odd man out. No one has given him the time of day. He's not part of the cool kids' club, and he's been this floater yet he sailed up. He's still here, he hasn't won a competition, hasn't had a legitimate partner and he hasn't had an alliance. It's amazing," Harrison explained.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski