The Bachelor host Chris Harrison isn't convinced Arie Luyendyk Jr. broke up with Becca Kufrin on-camera so she could become the next The Bachelorette star.

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Arie revealed Wednesday on Good Morning America that filming his dramatic split from Becca in early January was a setup so fans would sympathize with her and rally behind her, ultimately increasing her chances of becoming ABC's new Bachelorette.

But Chris isn't so sure that Arie's decision to call off his engagement to Becca on-camera was that well thought out.

"Well, then he was thinking far ahead of the game. That's a decision that the Bachelors are never involved in, so unless he was just being incredibly creative and thinking as a producer and trying to produce the show as well as break up with a girl and make the switch, which, if he did, I am incredibly impressed," Chris reasoned with E! News.

Arie ultimately dumped Becca for his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, whom he decided his heart truly belonged to.

Lauren welcomed Arie back into her life with open arms in January when he asked for a second chance, and then the pro racing driver and real estate agent proposed marriage to Lauren on Tuesday night's live After the Final Rose special.

Although Arie was clearly "conflicted" during those final days in Peru, Chris told E! News that he never guessed or anticipated Arie would come to regret choosing Becca at the end of his journey on the show.

"It seemed he had really come to terms with the fact that [Becca] was the woman for him and this was the woman his family really liked and he liked and would make a great wife. So that day there [in Peru] was never any doubt that I could see," Chris revealed.

"He was excited and happy and so was she. When I left Peru, all I heard was, 'They're doing great. They're off on the happy couple hideaway and they're doing fantastic.' And I'm like, 'Good. Another happy couple. All is good.' As of Peru, everything was perfect."

But Arie determined over the next six or eight weeks he had "made a mistake" in letting Lauren go. And then his excruciating breakup with Becca was taped in Los Angeles during what was supposed to be another "happy couple visit."

The emotional conversation aired as an uncut and unedited scene during the finale, and it was so hard to watch Becca sob into her hands and hyperventilate that Arie and ABC received a lot of backlash for choosing to air it.

"I felt the controversy and the drama behind it. I will never ever say that we're always right in what we do, but I definitely stand by showing what we showed and how we showed it. I really do," Chris told E! News.

"You know, it's funny that people often say, 'The show can be edited. It's scripted and you guys made him do this and made him do that.' And then when we show you completely uncut, unedited, no bells or whistles, everybody's really pissed off. I find the irony in that tragically funny."

The host added, "So you just want the cupcake with the sprinkles on top or do you want to know how it's made?"

Chris explained that as a producer, host and friend of the cast members, he believes the network had made the correct decision to expose it all.

"I think it was the right thing to do. I like the way it was shown. Not all the time, but particularly for this situation, I just thought, 'You know what, let's show this warts and all for all it is.' Relationships aren't always pretty. They're not always perfect," Chris said.

"It doesn't always work. And you can't just show the pretty parts. That's not how the world works, that's not how love works. So I'm okay with showing the nasty and the ugly and the sad sometimes because that's what makes the good stuff so good. It's what makes when it really works."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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