‘The Bachelorette’: Host defends airing Andi Dorfman reaction to Eric Hill’s death
Last night, we went at “The Bachelorette” for the decision to both film and air the reactions of Andi Dorfman and the men to Eric Hill’s death. While we never felt like the cast or show host Chris Harrison were anything short of genuine, it felt like asking too much of them to be sitting there on camera hearing this news. It’s not what any of them signed up to do; rather, this is a sometimes-silly and often idealized show about love.
Harrison, as it turns out, was one of the biggest proponents of the show moving forward and showing the footage … even though he also admits that this was not a universal decision by any means. Speaking to TV Guide in a new interview, he explained this and much more:
“After watching it all back and seeing how it was edited together, I stand by it even more … There were people within the show that didn’t want us to shoot us talking to Andi and the guys and those that didn’t want it to be televised at all, but I vehemently disagreed and fought like crazy to shoot it and eventually use it.”
When the show first heard the news about Hill’s passing, Harrison says that it was very much a situation where they figured it out as they went along:
“We thought [at the time], ‘Let’s shoot it so we’ll have it, deal with it and go from there.’ We weren’t sure we’d ever use it anyway and were pretty sure we wouldn’t. [Creator] Mike Fleiss called me and said, ‘I’m sorry we shot this,’ and I said, ‘We had to.’ I 100 percent backed him up. I don’t think you get to pick and choose when you shoot things and when you turn the cameras off. This show is built on the fact that we show you everything and just because something is uncomfortable for me or the producers, we all of a sudden turn the cameras off? It seems hypocritical. … None of [the cast] came back and said, ‘Why did you do this?’ They knew this wasn’t a contrived moment.”
The one counter-argument that we would give here to what Harrison is saying is that more often the not, the cast is not going to come back and say anything. Why bite the hand that feeds you? There are only a few rebels like Juan Pablo Galavis out there.
In case you did miss it last night, click here for our full review of “The Bachelorette” now. Also, you can sign up today in the event you want to score some further news and updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: ABC