Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher's brothers made a bad impression on The Bachelor star Ben Higgins during her hometown date, so host Chris Harrison has revealed whether he believes that will impact Higgins' elimination decisions going forward.
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"I guess he can't be perfect and not everyone's going to love him, although, I think the brothers were out of line. I think they crossed the line. I think there was really some bad over-acting as well. I don't know if that came from [Ben Patton] being a part of the Ready For Love show or whatever it was," Harrison told reporters during a recent conference call.
"But there's no way you hate Ben and take that stance against him. Nobody. You can't dislike the guy like that. If you don't love the situation and you think your sister is in a precarious situation and you're looking out for her, that's one thing. But to be that aggressive towards Ben, I thought was completely uncalled for and out of line."
Harrison said Higgins "just didn't deserve" all that heat and the Bachelor had done "nothing" to lend himself to that criticism.
"So I thought it was a little overboard in my opinion," Harrison said, before explaining Higgins' reaction to the drama.
"He was just a little taken aback by it. He just wasn't expecting it. Things had gone so well with the other families... He's not a dumb guy. He knows this is like a circus coming to town, and this is a lot to prepare for... We pull into these hometowns and these folks haven't been a part of our production. They haven't been a part of the show, so you [can't] expect them to kind of understand."
Harrison told reporters that while viewers watch Higgins' journey on The Bachelor with these women for six weeks and hometown dates are a natural progression, the families can't watch the season unfold on TV the same way.
"[The families] have no idea where their daughter is and who Ben is, so he didn't expect a red carpet and a parade. But at the same time, I think it went from, 'We're just looking out for JoJo' to kind of questioning him and his morality and the kind of man he is, and I think that's what took him a little aback," Harrison said.
"It made him think, 'Wait, whoa.' But he took it in stride because I think, at the end, he really felt like, 'Look, they're just looking out for JoJo, they're doing their job, that's what brothers do.' It was totally my opinion in watching it that it was a little much. It was a little much. There was a little over-acting."
But Harrison noted that Higgins behaved like a "gentleman" and was able to move on from the whole fiasco.
"At the end of the day, you have to kind of respect the fact that the brothers were taking up [arms] for their sister, and that's not such a bad thing either," the host said.
Harrison asked Higgins after hometown dates whether Fletcher's family might play a role in which girl he chooses to cut and which girl he may end up with.
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"After hearing about it, I said, 'So, is JoJo the one that's going home?' He said, 'No! It doesn't affect me at all.' He's like, 'My thoughts and feelings are so much deeper than that, that really has no effect,' Harrison revealed.
"He said, 'Look, if JoJo's the girl that I propose to and get married to, I'm not going to be living with her brothers. Yes, we'll have to see them at holidays and it's better to get along, but in the long run, if I'm sincere and I love JoJo, they're going to get to know me and they'll love me and they'll be family.' He's like, 'I'm not worried about it.'"
Harrison therefore complimented Higgins by calling him "a bright guy."
"He can see the big picture," the host insisted, "and I was kind of proud of him, that he had that perspective. So it really didn't affect him at all and, you know, as you saw, he sent [Amanda Stanton] home instead."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
