‘The Bachelor’: Josh Murray, Chase McNary, Chris Harrison react to Nick Viall announcement

Tonight on “After Paradise,” the show let loose a surprise that put most of Bachelor Nation into a state of shock: Nick Viall is the new star of “The Bachelor.” To think, this was a guy who was not even really on anyone’s radar for the gig, but the producers managed to let everyone think that it was Chase McNary vs. Luke Pell only to completely stun them at the last minute.

So was it always meant to be Nick in this role? That’s something we don’t quite know, but Chris Harrison is planning to offering up some more discussion on the subject on “Good Morning America” tomorrow. We understand that creator Mike Fleiss wanted to go in a different direction with “After Paradise” this season, but it felt 100% wrong that Harrison was not the person announcing the star of the next season.

Below, you can see a few other reactions from some various members of Bachelor Nation, but one thing that seems to be a near consensus is that Nick is very close to his fellow “Bachelor in Paradise” participants and that’s a good sign for his character. Not only that, but kudos to Josh Murray for a super-classy message at a time he could’ve thrown so much shade at him given their history. Chase McNary, one of the other guys in contention, commented saying that he was disappointed, buy happy for Nick.

Also, Jen Saviano may have created the best use ever for the “Amy Schumer with a huge glass of wig” gif, given that she was very recently with Nick on “Bachelor in Paradise” and clearly things did not work out between the two of them. (It is somewhat odd that ABC spoiled their own finale with this, no?)

You can head over here to get more news on “The Bachelor” and this announcement. Also, sign up here to book some further TV news on all we cover via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)