Chris Harrison is apparently letting out a little sigh of relief that Andi Dorfman is starring on The Bachelorette's tenth season following Juan Pablo Galavis' fairly unpopular The Bachelor edition.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I mean, she's a breath of fresh air, obviously coming off the season with Juan Pablo and a tumultuous season -- controversial to say the least," Harrison told Parade of Dorfman, who memorably dumped Galavis after their overnight date because he had offended her.
"I think people saw this tough, strong side of her on Juan Pablo's season, and that was wonderful, she handled herself incredibly well. But from what I've seen, and what I love, is that she's vulnerable, she's sincere, she's self-deprecating, she's got a great sense of humor. I think that's what 'Bachelor Nation' is really going to embrace and so she's done a good job so far. We're still in the middle of production."
Harrison, the franchise's host, explained Dorfman is embracing the process much unlike Galavis allegedly had.
"Well, just for a Bachelor or Bachelorette to work, you have to give yourself up. I go back to Juan Pablo -- that's one of the things he had trouble with. He's very controlling and you really have to lose control, give yourself to the producers, give yourself to the process, and that's a tough thing to do because you're very vulnerable and you need to be open to be hurt," Harrison said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"This sounds cheesy, but to find love that's kind of how you have to be, you have to be really vulnerable. That's what Andi's doing a good job of right now and it's what Juan Pablo didn't do a good job of... She reminds me of the vice president from Veep [laughs], but she has this way about her that I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus does where you just want to be friends with her and you just want to be around her."
Harrison suggested her personality is multi-faceted.
"[Andi's] adorable and she's pretty, but not so pretty that she's intimidating. It's kind of that great mix, she's just a really friendly person to be around and incredibly smart. She handles her business very well," the host told Parade.
Although Galavis' season was full of bad surprises and got people talking, Harrison still insisted Dorfman's The Bachelorette edition will be more dramatic.
"Of course, yeah! And I don't just always say that every single season, but this will be the most dramatic season. It'll be tough to beat Juan Pablo -- that really was dramatic," he noted.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Inevitably, there's always something that's never happened before, and I never know what that's going to be. But you get somewhere into the season and you're like, 'Whelp, there you go, there's a situation I haven't seen in 27 seasons.' To get to the end result, which hopefully -- again, I don't know because we're not there -- there will be a proposal."
And even if Dorfman gets engaged at the end of her journey to find love, Harrison explained it's never a smooth-sailing ride getting to the finish line.
"There's going to be some bumps and bruises along the way. That's love and that's relationships, and I think our show does a good job of ferreting out people who aren't there for the right reasons and really forcing people to find chemistry and make it real. And making it real? Sometimes it’s not pretty," Harrison told Parade.
The Bachelorette host also claimed there's no surprising criteria involved when picking out the contestants.
"There's really not. I believe there's this misnomer out there that we look for the crazy person or these wild stories and we really don't. You're just looking for stories in general, you're looking for that sincere person. We had Juan Pablo on the show during The Bachelorette and we just thought he was a great fun-loving guy from Venezuela, he was a single dad, it made a great story! And then we made him our Bachelor because everybody loved the guy," Harrison explained.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There was no way to tell when you put him in this real-life situation what was going to come, and what you saw was real life warts and all. Sometimes it's not pretty. We really don't go out of our way to look for anything in particular other than a really good person and a good story. What will happen... trust me, it'll come."
The Bachelorette's tenth season is set to premiere Monday, May 19 at 9PM ET/PT on ABC.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski