The Bachelorette's Luke Pell pushed the level of competition up several notches after his romantic one-on-one date with the show's star JoJo Fletcher, according to Chris Harrison.

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Fletcher, a 25-year-old real estate developer from Dallas, TX, and Pell, a 31-year-old war veteran from Burnet, TX, developed a strong connection this week that may be tough to beat going forward.

"On Monday we saw romantic dates with [Chase McNary] and [James Taylor], and [Tuesday] night we saw a truly breathtaking date with Luke at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania," The Bachelorette host wrote in his Yahoo! TV blog.

The date began with Fletcher and Pell dogsledding when it wasn't even snowing.

"JoJo and Luke proved that anything is possible. I know how much JoJo appreciated Luke being so open and honest about his past. He has been through a lot while defending our country and I, too, am grateful for his service," Harrison said.

Pell, who grew up in a small town and then played football at West Point, spent five years in the United States Army as a platoon leader and unfortunately lost his childhood friend in the line of duty while serving in Afghanistan.

The couple's date ended with a nice dinner and concert by Dan + Shay, which turned out to be "one of the biggest public events" the Bachelor franchise has ever had.

"There were so many screaming fans and I can tell you that everyone there seemed to be having an awesome time. Luke really became a frontrunner on that date and I'm sure we will be seeing much more of him in the coming weeks," Harrison wrote.

Harrison teased that while Season 12 has been "astonishing" so far, The Bachelorette is "only getting started."

"As you've seen, there is so much more drama coming your way, but as you saw this week, the romance is really ramping up as well," he said.



About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.