Chris Harrison Breaks Down 'Wild' Rumors 'Bachelor' Peter Weber Ends Up With His Producer (Exclusive)
The 'Bachelor' host has heard a lot of theories in his almost 20 years with the franchise.
In his nearly two decades hosting The Bachelor, Chris Harrison has heard some crazy theories about season endings -- but perhaps nothing comes close to the rumors that this season's Bachelor, Peter Weber, ends up with his producer, Julie LaPlaca.
The theory sparked last month after fans noticed Weber spending a lot of time with LaPlaca. She spent New Year's Eve with the Bachelor and his family, and has appeared close with him in several photos. However, while Harrison has nothing but praise for the producer, he told ET's Lauren Zima on Roses & Rose that he thinks the fan chatter is "much ado about nothing."
"Julie is an amazing, talented producer. Far be it for me to ruin anything towards the end of the season. But... seems much ado about nothing to me," he said. "Unless I just don't know, which is possible."
Harrison joked that the Bachelor ending up with a producer is a "horrifying" idea, considering the goal of the show is for him to end up with one of his contestants.
"Clearly that’s not what we’re there to do. That’s not the story we’re trying to create," he explained. "I think it’s a wild story. But maybe it’s just crazy enough to be true!"
Rob Mills, ABC's Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, told ET earlier this month that the rumor of Weber falling in love with his producer is "crazy."
"Well, I hate to get in the way of a good rumor, so I’m not going to confirm or deny about whether he ends up with a producer!" he said. "I don’t know how we’d ever top that though! But, it is crazy. What we’ve seen about the finale over the years is that the 'finale' is really on that night when the show goes live. There’s a lot of craziness, it’s a roller coaster, but I would say even now the roller coaster hasn’t ended, and it won’t end until after After the Final Rose."
Weber still has three contestants in the running for his heart -- Madison, Hannah Ann and Victoria F. -- though his relationship with Madison appears to hang in the balance after her ultimatum. The Alabama native told Weber that she wouldn't be OK moving forward with him if he had slept with other women in the fantasy suite, causing him to admit to her on their date that he had gotten intimate. Madison also revealed in the same conversation that she was saving herself for marriage.
The 28-year-old pilot said on Monday's episode that he was in love with all three women, but by the end of the night, he was begging Madison not to "walk away" after his sex confession.
"He did [struggle this season] and, honestly, because I do love Peter -- he's a good man -- I could tell he was struggling early on," Harrison said. "He had this propensity to kick the can down the road, so to speak, and he had a really tough time making decisions."
"I know we've given him a hard time, but those rose ceremonies, those decisions were tough and so when we got to the end, I knew this was going to be difficult," he continued. "He's so emotional, and not only does he not want to hurt anybody, which is a normal human condition, but he wanted to make the right decision and he was really struggling because, as you can tell, he really was falling for three women."
Harrison said despite fans' doubt, it really is possible to fall in love with multiple people on the show.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it absolutely can happen on our show. It's an extraordinary situation where you can compartmentalize these relationships," he shared. "I know it's bizarre because none of us have this in our real lives, you shouldn't, [but] it's real, it can happen. I see it all the time."
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. See more in the video below.
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