Chris Harrison's final blog

I really liked that Chris Harrison started blogging this season. His blogs always stir up tons of posts and he takes the criticism in stride. He's become "The Bachelor's Wingman" and although I think his role is rather baffoonish (clinking the glass, announcing that it's the "final" rose, etc). Here's his final wrap up of The Bachelor Mess:




Not sure if it's safe to come back in here, but I wanted to come back today and give you my final thoughts now that everything is out in the open. I completely understand that many, if not most, of you are upset at what went down. It's not up to me to judge whether Jason was right or wrong in doing what he did. That's for you guys to decide and debate. I hate that he hurt Melissa like he did but I also see the other side. I spent time with him and Molly and have talked to both of them several times since we shot After the Final Rose part 1. I don't know if it makes it any easier for you to swallow but they are in love and are fighting like hell under an extreme amount of pressure to make this work. I told him that he must really love Molly to have done this. The easy thing for him to have done was break up with Melissa and just let it all go away, but that's not the choice he made and that's what we showed you.

I found it very interesting to hear what the bachelorettes who came back had to say. Most of them are very good friends with Melissa, but they saw firsthand what really happened this season. I can tell you now that we all thought it was Melissa from the start. I remember thinking that first night that it was going to be hard for us to hide the fact that Jason was so in love with her. Even the other women could tell it was Melissa. But they also said that they could see his feelings for Molly grow stronger toward the end. It will be debated for some time to come what was right and what was wrong, and I'm happy to hear all of your opinions. I really am. I find it fascinating to hear how you feel about all this. We all bring our own baggage into this discussion and that definitely helps shape our thoughts and feelings. I'm not here to apologize or excuse anything that Jason said or did, but let me say this publicly about everybody involved: I consider all three of them to be friends. I've talked to Melissa and know she's doing fine. You'll see her this week telling her story to Ellen and in the magazines. By the way, I will also be dishing on Ellen's show Wednesday. I wish Melissa the best and know that we'll keep in touch and that she'll be fine. I also consider Molly and Jason to be friends now and wish them nothing but the best. After taping the special Friday night, Jason, Molly, Jillian, my wife, and my friends all hung out in my dressing room and had a cold one. We talked about what was about to happen this week. Jason and Molly are well aware that many don't appreciate what happened and hold ill feelings toward them. They are going to have a lot of pressure on them and all they can do is just rely on each other and do the best they can. I wish you all could have hung out with us and just seen that these are real people going through life just like you and I are. It just so happens that what they do is magnified times a thousand because they are on TV.

There will be a lot said and written about this season of The Bachelor. For better or worse, it's one for the history books. I can't do much about the rumors and flat-out lies that are being told out there. I have been as honest and as detailed with you as I could possibly have been. I am sorry that this is hurting some of my friends but they are strong people and will come out on the other side of this just fine. I've never been a part of anything like this before and will be perfectly happy if it never happens again. Ratings aside and contrary to what some of you may believe, I didn't enjoy one bit of what happened. I would love to show you a great love story every time but that's not how life works, and in the end we may have indeed brought you a love story after all. Five years down the road, when Jason and Molly are married, I wonder if many of you will feel different about this.

Let me just wrap this up by saying, I'm very excited to announce Jillian as our next Bachelorette. I think it always speaks volumes about our show when the good people like Jillian decide to come back. I think it also helps that I showed her the script for next season, and although she's not happy about having octuplets, she does like the guy we picked for her so she's all good. Seriously, Jillian is the best. We couldn't have found a more down to earth, funny, thoughtful woman. I hope she finds what she's looking for but be warned – even if she does, we just learned it may not happen exactly how you like!

A quick thank you to the wonderful crew I work with on The Bachelor year in and year out. I love you all like family. My thanks to my new friends at EW. When I started this I had never blogged before and now that it's done it's safe to say I'll never do it again. Kidding...I'll be back blogging about Jillian when we premiere in May. Until then, thank you for watching.

For everyone who's been a part of this one, I'm Chris Harrison. Good Night!


The one line I STRONGLY object to is this one: "Five years down the road, when Jason and Molly are married, I wonder if many of you will feel different about this." Give it a rest, Chris, they have been dating SIX WEEKS. That would be, uh, a RECORD for Jason Mesnick. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves!!

Here's the link to Chris's blog: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/the_bachelor/index.html