'Bachelor' Star Nick Viall Reacts to Rachel Lindsay as the New Bachelorette, Discusses Corinne Olympios
Love is always in the air on The Bachelor, and for a Valentine’s Day episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bachelor Nick Viall sat down to talk about the many women in his life.
It was announced on Monday evening that former contestant Rachel Lindsay would be the new Bachelorette – the first black female to hold the title on the ABC competition series. Though DeGeneres praised the pick, she admitted she was surprised after Rachel and Nick had hit it off early on.
WATCH: ABC Reveals First Black Bachelorette in ‘Bachelor’ Franchise History: Rachel Lindsay!
“We did!” Nick agreed. “Rachel and I had an amazing amount of chemistry from the very first night. I’m very excited for her. I think she’s going to be an amazing Bachelorette.”
The host went on to speculate that because Rachel didn’t make it through that means Nick went with this season’s villain, Corinne Olympios.
“Ok,” Nick replied neutrally, not willing to give any secrets away.
When DeGeneres went on to note some of the negative backlash Corinne has received for her often-outlandish antics, Nick replied, “I mean, I get it. I’ve heard!” adding, “That’s Corinne!”
But the Bachelor Nation regular went on to note that though the show is accurate, it doesn’t tell the full story.
“I think the important thing to remember that while it’s real life for us and we feel real feelings, it’s also a TV show, and they’re just limited on time on what they can show,” he explained.
WATCH: 'The Bachelor': Corinne Turns on the 'Sex Charm,' But Does She Make the Final Four?
“So they just pick the crazy parts?” DeGeneres asked.
“They pick the interesting parts,” he said. “Surprisingly enough, Corinne and I had some great conversations so there’s a lot of reasons why Corinne has moved along. She has taken the time to focus on our relationship, which is hard to do for some of the women. She has always gone out of her way, like last night.”
In Monday’s episode, Corinne visited Nick in his room after he had another date, seemingly trying to seduce him.
“For me, nothing physical was going to happen because I had to focus on the other relationships. But I wanted to make sure that Corinne didn’t feel like she’d made a mistake,” he said.
WATCH: Meet Rachel Lindsay: 6 Things to Know About the First Black Bachelorette
Finally, DeGeneres got down to the question on everyone’s mind: “Are you in love?”
“Maybe,” Nick replied, smiling. “Or maybe not.”
For more Bachelor fun, watch the clip below!