Chris Harrison admits he played a major role in deciding to air footage of The Bachelorette's cast finding out about Eric Hill's death for the first time.

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"I heard the night before [Eric's death] that he probably wouldn't survive. When I went on The View [that day] he was still alive, but I found out before Act 3 he had passed away. I talked to Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie and said I didn't want to announce his passing on The View because I didn't think it was for me to do. I immediately went to the airport. We were scrambling because hometowns had just ended and the rose ceremony was the next day," Harrison told TV Guide in a recent interview.

Harrison told the cast how Hill had died in a tragic paragliding accident shortly following his stint on the show. The emotional moments were filmed and aired during Monday night's broadcast. The Bachelorette star Andi Dorfman as well as Marcus Grodd broke down and cried. Josh Murray, Nick Viall and Chris Soules also appeared to take the news hard. 

Harrison continued, "We thought, 'Do we have a rose ceremony? Do we tell them? Do we film it?' For logistics I said, 'Have everyone meet me at my house, and we'll shoot in my living room.' You saw a brief part of what happened at my house that night. After quite some time, there were no cameras rolling and we just sat around and cracked a bottle of wine, and it turned into a bit of a wake where we told stories about Eric so it was a good thing. [But] it was brutal."

Harrison explained he felt it was necessary to share that footage with viewers considering it left Dorfman and her remaining bachelors a bit scarred.

"Obviously the wound was raw and deepest this week, and we were still in the house. It affects [Andi] the rest of the way, but it eases up as time goes by. We will play it less and less now because it's less impactful and we don't want to draw it out because then you are [exploiting] it," Harrison said.

Dorfman still has Murray, Viall and Soules in the running for her heart after eliminating Grodd in Monday night's episode.

Harrison said Murray, a 29-year-old former professional baseball player from Atlanta, GA, showed a different side of himself during his hometown date in Tampa, FL.

"All of her fears about dating a former athlete were realized: He's consumed by sports, and his family has basically dedicated their life now to [his brother] Aaron and his pursuit of football. To sign up in that family is to sign up to travel and worship Aaron. I understand it, but that commitment and loyalty might be foreign to people who don't understand what it takes to make it into the [NFL]," Harrison told TV Guide, adding that it wasn't a surprise to him when Murray cried upon seeing his family gathered together.

"He's a big softie. I don't know if people understand how sweet he is, and the hometown went a long way in proving this guy is a family guy and his family means everything to him... This was a week or two before the draft and [Aaron] just finished his pro day. For Josh to leave in the middle of all of this to do The Bachelorette when he knew everything would take place while he was gone if he made it this far was really tough for him."

But Soules from Arlington, IA, took the cake when it came to having the best hometown date of the week. Although Dorfman claimed she's a bit of "a country girl," Harrison suggested she's very far away from meeting Soules' definition of the term.

"Going to the lake house and hunting and fishing every now and then is like saying I grew up in the country in Dallas, which is a pretty big city," Harrison said. "But Chris was the person who probably impressed her the most and Chris' family impressed the most. When she got home, she couldn't stop talking about them. His mom was so awesome, and her advice to Andi was so on point and honest. Andi appreciated it, and I thought it was a really good hometown date."

Still, "maybe she's not ready for" life on a farm, according to the show's host.

Harrison also apparently emphasizes with Viall, who became increasingly more unpopular with the guys as the season progressed.

"Maybe I just identified with Nick. I'm not saying I would've gone about it the same way, but I don't know how I'd act in a situation where I really like or even love this girl and she's still dating other guys," Harrison noted.

"I would want what Nick wanted, which is her to myself. I guess I empathize where he was coming from and never took it for such a horrible thing. The other guys were able to deal with it by 'bro-ing out' and for Nick, he doesn't get what they're doing and why they're so happy on a group date. So I think we saw the true Nick this week."

Harrison told TV Guide that he can't remember the last time a Final 3 on The Bachelorette was so completely in love and enthralled with the show's star.

"[The guys are] so head over heels and would drop everything to marry her right away. So this can only go one way, and that is good for somebody and bad for two other people. I don't think she anticipated everyone being this [in love] and having three good choices left. She has a tough choice to make, and her heart is going one way and her head another so it gets really confusing from here on out," he explained.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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