Chris Harrison has admitted he couldn't believe Bachelor Pad's third-season champion Nick Peterson had the courage to drop his partner Rachel Truehart and claim the show's entire $250,000 grand prize for himself.

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"All I know is I've been doing this a long time and I thought I had seen just about everything, but obviously I was wrong. I was stunned Nick had the guts to actually pull the trigger and keep all the money for himself. The audience loved the move and went nuts when he revealed his decision. The look on the other cast members faces was priceless," the Bachelor Pad host wrote in his Entertainment Weekly blog.

Despite the obvious blow to Truehart's game, ego and wallet, Harrison said he kind of understood Peterson's perspective and why he decided to make the big move.

"Nobody, especially nobody in Rachel's alliance, gave a damn about Nick. Not only did they not care about him, but they didn't think he had a chance to make it to the finals. Nick was expendable and he was being used. Rachel, [Michael Stagliano], [Jaclyn Swartz] and [Ed Swiderski] were only keeping Nick around until it was time to put him out of his misery and vote him off the show," Harrison explained.

"As soon as he wasn't useful anymore he was going to go -- at least, that was the plan. Even while he was sitting on the stage, nobody in Rachel's alliance felt he deserved the money or even to be up there. The only problem with that thought is whether you think somebody 'deserves' it or not, he was there."

The host suggested it probably would've even been a silly decision -- or at least a completely selfless one -- to split the money with Truehart based upon the circumstances.

"So the question Nick faced was should he split the money with a woman he never had an alliance with, who didn't really respect him as far as the game goes, and didn't think he 'deserved' to be there, or should he keep the entire amount for himself?" said Harrison.

However, even if viewers are in favor of Peterson's bold choice to deprive Truehart of their winnings, Harrison noted they still have to feel sympathy for Truehart considering she had also been hurt and let down by Stagliano, her former partner and love interest in the game.

"No matter what you think of Nick's decision, you have to feel bad for Rachel. Whether she was used by Michael or not, I think we could all see she was falling in love with a guy that was just never going to have those same feelings for her," Harrison wrote.

"She was left heartbroken. She did a very good job of expressing her feelings for Michael and did the best she could to try and get some sort of answer. But let's face it, we've all been in that situation, and there is never an explanation that will make anybody feel better about it."
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.