‘The Bachelorette’ finale spoilers: Chris Harrison on Brooks Forester, possible end

Given that we are still recovering from one of the most-dramatic episodes of “The Bachelorette” ever, it only makes sense that anyone and everyone would take advantage of the opportunity right now to do a mountain of press. This does of course include show host Chris Harrison, who suggested today in a new interview with ABC that he saw everything that was coming with Brooks Forester and his decision to leave Desiree Hartsock practically coming from a mile away.

Just take a look at his full comment, and then we will get into the nature of obligation and his role as a host:

“It’s tough because I care about Des and I knew for a fact that she was in love with the guy. And I knew he was going to crush her and just devastate her which is what happened. She was gutted when she found out. So my deal was to  figure out what this guy really was saying because he didn’t articulate it very well to me. And so several times if you heard I’m like, ‘Let’s make this clear. Are you not sure? Are you 100 percent sure? Do you need more time?’ I was just trying to vet the whole thing out before he made any rash decisions, because at the end of the day, I know we have a television show, but we are there to actually help Des. So if we needed to extend it, if we needed to figure something out, let’s do that. And ultimately, [he said], “I’m not in love with her, and I’m definitely not where she is, so I need to take myself out of this.”

Chris later said that it is not his job on the show to offer up personal opinions, and this was not a situation where Brooks was doing something to deliberately hurt her. Therefore, would it have been right to speak up sooner if he noticed a problem with Brooks? As tough as it is to say, he did the right thing by just serving as the psychiatrist for Desiree, and even for Brooks when he needed him.

Harrison promised that next week is not something that has a predestined end, as their show is not something like “Survivor” that is effectively a game show. What is interesting is that no one is asking, and no one on the show is saying, whether or not Brooks could come back. That’s still our #1 question, and what we are excited to see next.

If you want to see what Desiree specifically has to say about trying to move past this Brooks fiasco, you can do so over here.

Photo: ABC