No one’s had a better seat in Desiree’s journey to Bachelorette heaven than host Chris Harrison. He chatted with the media about the heartbreaking moment he witnessed pretty much firsthand when Brooks dumped Desiree so late in the game, which he said was a “one-of-a-kind” situation from the last 11 years of this franchise.
On His Thoughts Overall About Desiree and Brooks
Chris pointed out the verbs (or adjectives as the two called it) that Desiree and Brooks created for each other. She told him that she was running and was close to the finish line. But even before that, it was pretty obvious she wanted him to be her guy.
“I think anybody could’ve seen that Des was falling for this guy and Brooks had been around her enough to know — unless he completely misread every single sign she had ever put out. It was pretty simple to see that she had fallen for him,” Chris said.
“I do think she felt Brooks would be the guy, and obviously when he pulled himself out, it crushed her. The interesting part too is that Drew and Chris have no idea that any of this went down. That’s the problem we have to solve on Monday.”
On What He Could Gauge With Brooks and His Feelings:
“I’m not sure what Brooks’ issues were or are — they could be as simple as Des isn’t the one or the fact that he has a history of not quite being able to commit. I’m not sure where that stems from — his childhood or what in his life. I really couldn’t pinpoint that,” Chris said.
“He had a really tough time articulating to me what he was thinking and what he wanted to do, and I found that really peculiar. I didn’t mean to beat him up, but honestly I could not for the life of me understand what the heck he was trying to say to me. I thought, ‘My god if he was acting like this with me, how bad is he going to be with Des?’ “
On Whether it Would’ve Made a Difference if Desiree had told Brooks She Loved Him:
“I don’t, I really don’t. I think his mind was made up. I feel like he did a really good job in trying to be a good guy during the breakup, which is impossible. There’s nothing you can say or do that makes you look cool or good,” Chris said.
“The fact that he left the show doesn’t mean he hates her or whatever. He really cared about her — maybe loved her to a certain degree; he just knew he wasn’t the point he knew he wanted to be with this woman. It only hurts more when a girl looks at you at that point [after breaking up] and says, ‘I love you.’
“He’s not a bad guy. He didn’t do this with malice or ill intent or come on here to screw her over and be the bad guy. He was very sincere and very sweet. You could tell when I talked to him he was very torn about Des.”
On Whether There Was Fear That Desiree Would Walk Out After Getting Dumped:
Chris said absolutely there was fear, but that’s the beauty of the show. He compared it to other reality shows like American Idol and Survivor where you know the outcome will always be good: There will always be a winner so it’ll always have a happy ending. But with a show like The Bachelorette, while you hope for the happy ending, it’s not guaranteed.
“I knew after I left Brooks what he was going to do and the first thing I said to the producers was, ‘We might be done. We might not have anything in the final episode,’ ” Chris said.
“Other than the fact that we have to play this out, there’s still a lot of questions out there, and there still might not be much of anything next week other than her saying goodbye and having her talk to the two other guys. That was definitely a fear.
On the Fact that the Drama Brought In Ratings:
Chris said that ratings and drama-wise, they’re done by the time they get to the finale. At that point, the show is done with the drama and just setting up a happy ending and a great proposal, like Sean and Catherine last season, and that itself was going to be good enough for the ratings.
But then something happened that no one was prepared for.
“This one was a bit of a curve ball that was more of a hindrance and more a pain for us as producers rather than the thought of, ‘This is going to be great drama,’ just because we were kind of in that home stretch and thought this was going to be a great season with a great ending and were home free,” Chris said.
“The entire show was kind of dumped upside down in that final two weeks of shooting.”
On Desiree’s Current State of Mind a Few Months Later:
Chris said the last time he saw Desiree was “The Men Tell All” episode and that she’s doing well.
“The great thing about Des — and I’m assuming this comes from her background and the way she grew up — she’s a survivor. She is strong. She’s bounced back and she seems happy.”
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
