'The Bachelorette's Chris Soules: Nick Viall gloats and just handles situations poorly, not like a gentleman with tact

Chris Soules, a 32-year-old farmer from Arlington, IA, is still in the running to win The Bachelorette star Andi Dorfman's heart.


Chris has already had a one-on-one date with Andi. The couple first enjoyed a 1940's-themed visit to the Santa Anita horsetrack, had dinner, and then received a private concert from This Wild Life. Chris landed the first kiss of the season only to embark on multiple group dates afterwards. Andi has referred to Chris as one of the nicest, sweetest guys in the house.

During a Thursday conference call with reporters, Chris talked to Reality TV World about Nick Viall's personality and why he's rubbing the guys the wrong way, Josh Murray's character, whether he'd be willing to move from Iowa to be with Andi, and what went down with the couple of Andrew Poole controversies.

Check back with Reality TV World soon for more from Chris' interview.

Reality TV World: Many of the guys seemed to have an issue with Nick and all that frontrunner talk and what not. Chris Harrison said in his blog this week that he's unsure whether Nick is kind of an arrogant guy and bragged about his successes or whether the other guys were just jealous about the attention he was getting from Andi. Could you talk about the issue you personally had with Nick and maybe elaborate on what problems the other guys had?


Chris Soules: You know, I think Nick is a good guy and I see -- I understand where a lot of the guys are coming from, and I can't say that I don't have some similar feelings that maybe he handled things poorly.  Honestly, I felt like some situations throughout the process, he handled differently than other people. 

And in an environment like this, it's tough to know how you're going to handle it, quite honestly.  So, you can't -- it's hard to truly judge somebody as a person because it's such a different situation.  And you're being put in there with -- it started out as 25 and has been narrowed down -- I don't know where we're at now, nine. 

So, I can see where the guys are coming from.  And I honestly have felt like Nick has handled it differently than a lot of the guys, and sometimes you don't feel the same level of respect given from Nick to other guys. And I think the feelings aren't jealousy, for the most part. 

I think we all would be naive to really get too jealous of other guys because we all knew the situation we were being put in with Andi.  And we all have strong feelings for her and feel like we're all frontrunners in our own mind, I think, to a certain extent. 

To be openly saying that to the other guys, it's just, I don't think that's the right way to go about it when you're -- keep that to yourself if you feel that way, I guess.  It's kind of how I handle myself personally. 


So, I think it more comes down to a certain level of tact and way of being a gentleman towards other human beings that you're actually having to be around for a long period of time and going through a really difficult process together. 

And it's very difficult on all of us.  And so, emotions get involved, and that develops.  People can get upset and feel a little bit put off by how Nick has handled the situation.  That's how I personally feel.

Reality TV World: Andi seems to have a hard time trusting Josh Murray.  And even though he's only been on a single one-on-one date, he seems to be a pretty big personality and at the center of some stuff this season.  So, could you share your general thoughts about Josh with me?

Chris Soules:  I think Josh is a great guy.  I have a lot of respect for Josh.  And, you know, I think there's -- I don't know where the level of trust is or isn't with Andi and Josh.  But I think, personally, I think he's a very stand-up guy.  And I have a lot of respect for him.

Reality TV World: You mentioned in your intro clip before the season began that, obviously, you live in Iowa, a very rural area, and you work for your family farm.  Did you and Andi ever discuss the topic of relocation if you two were to end up together?  Would it actually be feasible for you to leave Iowa or did she say she might be willing to move there?  Also, did you ever envision that issue possibly standing in the way of her picking you in the end?


Chris Soules:  Yes, absolutely.  I mean, we've had some brief discussions so far.  And I know that as I continue to stay in the show -- or if I continue to stay in the show -- as our relationship becomes more involved and closer to, potentially, getting to that point where we're thinking in that direction really seriously of, "This could be forever," I know it's something on her mind [and] it's on mine.

You know, I want to have those conversations with her, even though we haven't had those conversations in depth at this point.  But right now, I'm just trying to get to know Andi and trying to find out if there's a connection there and trying to establish something that is worth having that discussion for. 

Because I think, in my mind and heart, I'd know that I can do those things, you know, I can compromise.  I'm willing to make those compromises, and, hopefully, she will be too.  But I want her to know that she has real feelings for me, and once we get to that point, that's when I think those conversations would happen.  So, at this point, we haven't had real in-depth conversations, but it's been brought up. 

But the time is valuable and time is short and has been short between us.  And so, I kind of think that we just haven't really gotten to that point where that has come up at this point.  But as we go forward, it's definitely something that I think is weighing heavily on both of our minds.

Reality TV World: We've seen Andi gushing a lot about how hot every guy is and the physical chemistry she has with many of the bachelors.  Watching the season back so far, do you think she's maybe a little too focused on looks or physical attraction?  And if so, does that surprise you or do you think that might actually get her into trouble later on?


Chris Soules:  I don't know.  You know, I think those are things, the feelings that she says.  But I also know Andi's smart enough that she's also [getting] really close to the -- into the men as to who they are and for who they are.  And I've watched, so far, how she's made eliminations. 

And just knowing the guys internally and knowing Andi, to a certain extent, I think that she's making those decisions not only on looks.  I think she's -- I don't know what type of connections she's had with guys so far, but my gut feeling is that Andi is not only looking at looks, she's looking at each gentleman for who they are as a person first. 

And, obviously, looks are important.  But that's the fun thing to talk about, you know, it's fun to be excited about how somebody looks.  But then, all the other details are, I'm sure, very important to her. 

And I know that, in our conversations, we talked about things that are important, you know, in finding the right person you're going to spend the rest of your life with.  And I have -- my feeling is that those conversations have been had with a lot of the other guys as well.

Reality TV World: Andrew seemed to be at the center of a couple controversies this season -- with one being allegedly getting a waitress' phone number and the other being the offensive remark he allegedly whispered to one of the guys during the first Rose Ceremony about Marquel Martin. What was your take on Andrew and the fact he said in his final words he felt bullied by the other bachelors?


Chris Soules:  You know, I don't -- the fact that he felt bullied is -- I mean, that's how he felt.  And I can't argue that.  You know, he was in the middle of a few slightly controversial issues.  But, you know, I don't know if the comment was made or not made.  So if it wasn't, that's too bad that he was put in that position.

And at the beginning, early on in the show with the phone number, that was another tough situation.  I don't know.  I don't know why that -- the situation -- everybody deals with situations differently.  And that's kind of how he chose to deal with it.  You get dealt a hand and you play those cards the best you can, and that's kind of how he played his hand.

And I don't know if he really was bullied.  I mean, I think he's a strong guy and can stand up for himself.  I think he did it well, for the most part.  It's slightly questionable how he handled the phone number thing.  But it was a tough situation to be put in, to get cornered by two guys and then, once again, by Marquel. 

So whether he was bullied or not, that's how he felt, and that's unfortunate.  And I guess, honestly, I have respect for Andrew.  And it's too bad that he felt that way.  And maybe everybody could've handled things a little differently and it would have been better for everybody.  But I guess it's unfortunate he feels that way.  It's really all I can say about that, for the most part.

Reality TV World: It appeared like JJ O'Brien was actually the one who brought up both of those controversial issues to the other bachelors.  Do you think that's just kind of a coincidence or do you think it's fair to say JJ was kind of singling Andrew out for some reason?  Because some viewers are saying JJ seems like a little bit of a gossip since he never actually confronts Andi with these problems.

Chris Soules:  Right.  You know, I don't know.  And I don't know why it's -- I don't quite understand why JJ is always behind these things.  But, you know, if I was put in a similar situation, I don't know how I'd handle it, quite honestly. 


I'm glad I wasn't the one with that information or had or hadn't heard those comments.  I don't know if he's a gossip or not, but it kind of comes across that way.  But he's also doing what he feels best.

But JJ's a big guy.  We're also under an intense situation where you maybe handle things a little differently than you would in a normal environment, because you are dating the same person and a lot of emotions come up where you're gong to be more mindful and more outspoken about things, questions you have about individuals and bring those things up quicker. 

And, yes, I don't know. It would have been nice to see things handled better by everybody, I think, is probably the long and short [version] of the answer that I can give.  It's disappointing that those kind of things had to have been brought up in the fashion that they were, where it kind of put a damper on the night, on the last cocktail party. 

And after the group date, it kind of put a damper on things, and it would have been nice to see Nick handle it differently, with maybe a little more respect towards Andrew at certain points of the evening.

Reality TV World:  A lot of the guys seemed resentful earlier on in the season that Nick was the one to comfort Andi after she got into that disagreement with Eric Hill and he left the show.  But viewers had a hard time figuring out why they were so resentful, because what kept the rest of you from doing the same thing? .

Chris Soules:  You know, it's a very interesting situation that we were all in.  That was a tough situation that none of us knew what our abilities were and if we could or couldn't, and we just didn't know.  Because you're in a situation that's not, like, a completely normal situation where we all would have been able to run, and physically, we didn't know where she was at. We didn't know what was going on.


And that really, I think for me, and for a lot of the guys, it wasn't necessarily so much that, yes, he was able to go do that and we weren't.  I mean, I think we're all -- I'm realistic enough to know that, yes, I could have -- if I'd been fortunate enough to be able to have that time with her, I would have taken it.  And Nick was the guy that had that time.  So, good for him.

But I think the way that he handled it when he came back just kind of rubbed some of the guys the wrong way.  You know, [Tasos Hernandez], the guy hadn't had any time with -- or very little time with -- her and was looking to make an impression that evening. Because I don't think he had much time with her during the week. 

I think, yeah, that was the week of the basketball game where we barely got to spend any time with her.  And so, this was a little tougher situation for him.  And I think the way he handled it when he got back maybe could have been done a little bit differently -- maybe a little more -- being a little more humble and I think he came back more gloating. And that's what sort of rubbed some of the guys the wrong way.

I think it wasn't necessarily for everybody that he was the one that was able to get that time.  But it was the fact that he came back and made the guys feel a little bit insecure about themselves, to a certain extent, or we just didn't feel like he was being respectful to the guys around him.  Maybe that's the best way to put it.

Above is what Chris had to tell Reality TV World during a Thursday conference call with reporters. Check back with us soon for more from his interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski