The Bachelorette's Chris Harrison: I'm Still Not Sure What to Make of Clint and J.J.'s Relationship

The Bachelorette | Photo Credits: ABC

The Bachelorette is "teasing" a more than bromantic relationship within the house, but host Chris Harrison says he really doesn't know what to make of the situation.

On Monday's episode, Kupah left for good, Tony cursed a lot and left on his own, some of the guys showed us a little more than we had bargained for and the others tried to teach sex education to kids. But when it became clear that Clint -- who we saw tell J.J. "villains gotta vill" -- wasn't there for Kaitlyn, it was time to give him the boot. Things took a different turn when Clint told cameras, "I knew in the back of my head she wasn't the right girl for me. But I love J.J. He has made my time in the house insanely enjoyable so I need to get a rose from Kaitlyn."

Of course, with some of these quotes as voiceovers we don't know exactly the sequence of how things were said. Regardless, it became clear he wanted to stay for more camera time and not because of his feelings for Kaitlyn. The episode then ended on a cliff-hanger with Kaitlyn saying, "Clint played me... Clint is one of the biggest douches in Bachelor history. He is going to go down in flames."

So what does Harrison say about the hinted romance between the two men? Plus: Was he surprised about Chris and Whitney's breakup? Read this week's interview.

First, I have to ask about Chris and Whitney's breakup. Are you surprised it happened so fast?
Chris Harrison: I didn't think it was that fast. Maybe it wasn't for us because it was Thanksgiving when they really started their relationship. But it's sad and unfortunate, and I'm sorry to hear it. I reached out to both of them, and they're both doing well and are disappointed.

The Bachelorette's Chris Harrison: Kupah took a ginormous dump on Kaitlyn's night

Will there be an interview like when Andi and Josh split? Harrison:
We haven't shot anything.

The episode picked up with Kupah's exit and the rose ceremony where Kaitlyn was crying - and it's only the second one!
Harrison:
Well this one was especially [hard] because Kupah had set things off so badly. She always had a tough time with the rose ceremonies and always felt conflicted, but I told her, "If you're having trouble now, it doesn't get any easier."

The group date, which featured the men sumo wrestling, must've been a sight.
Harrison: It was amazing, but our poor producers and camera guys. We had to raise our budget for digitizing the screen.

Did it surprise you how angry Tony got about having to fight?
Harrison:
Nothing that Tony did surprised me. There is a lot happening underneath the surface of that guy and I think he wraps it up in this zen, peaceful, wrapper. The great thing about this show is that you can fake it for a little while, but eventually you're found out. I'm not saying Tony faked it -- I think he believes he's this zen person -- but he's not; his real personality came through. People wonder why we do the dates we do, and they seem funny or superficial, but there are reasons to push people outside their comfort zone. Tony was pushed in this direction he didn't know how to handle it and his true self came out. Kaitlyn got to see who he is, she got to see the type of human being Kupah is, and those are not attractive people she's ever want to be with.

Chris Harrison on the Bachelorette vote and that scandalous super-tease!

Later, during the date, she called Clint out in front of the guys for checking out. Was that the right move?
Harrison: What you'll see with Kaitlyn is that she has a backbone and maybe sometimes she feels she doesn't deserve [to be The Bachelorette], but she'll stand up for herself and I like that about her. She's not a pushover, and I like that she did it in front of the guys because that sends a message.

Ben Z. had the one-on-one and he seems to be emerging as a front-runner.
Harrison: There are a few guys like Ben, Shawn and Jared slowly rising to the top. When I set that one-on-one date up we chose Ben for her because we knew they had such a good connection early on and I wanted her to get to know him more. He's that guy who you might judge because he's a trainer and big and strong and you'd think he'd bethat guy, but he's very sweet. The way he took care of her and the way she felt showed a lot. It was a very cool date.

The second group date, where the guys "taught" sex ed, was absolutely hilarious.
Harrison:
This date idea has been thrown around before and it never worked out or made sense. Since Kaitlyn is a practical joker we brought it to her and she said, 'Absolutely I'm all in.' As someone who has had that talk because I have children, a) I know how uncomfortable it is and b) Ben H. is the only person I think I would actually allow to talk to my kids. The rest of those guys I'm pretty sure don't know how things work and they don't know how to talk to kids. Most of them need to take sex ed class.

Finally, the guys got annoyed with Clint, but the show also hinted at a romance between him and J.J. which got some backlash.
Harrison:
First of all, the fact that we would allude to that I'm not sure why that would outrage people. Why is that a bad thing? I think what people are worried about is that it's sensational and that if the show didn't live up to the promo then that's not fair. I get if it wasn't in line with what we saw, but in my opinion it is. It's not just a simple bromance. I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's that big of a stretch the way they were talking and acting. I'm still not even sure what to make of it.

So will there be more about them next week?
Harrison:
You'll see a lot more. There's a massive betrayal [that has to do with] the Clint-J.J. relationship, the likes of which I don't know if we've seen in a long time. It's very explosive and I don't find Clint as much of the bad guy in the house that J.J. seems to be. We then hit the road next week and we'll be adding [Nick] so it's crazy from here on out.

The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.

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