by Gina Scarpa

 

Even when you know that someone is making a bad decision when it comes to love, sometimes, you just have to let them make that mistake and learn for themselves - even if it's tough to watch. On Monday night's upcoming episode of The Bachelorette, Ashley will learn the hard way just how bad Bentley was for her, despite all the warnings she received. Today, host Chris Harrison talked to RealityWanted and reporters in a conference call about the pair and how hard he tried to stop his friend from getting her heart broken on national television.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When did you realize that Bentley was going to be this much trouble? Initially, you only thought he was there to promote his business. Did you know how bad he was going to be?
A. Chris: I thought he was gonna be trouble Ashley told me he was going to be trouble. I'll go a little bit deeper because we talked that night and you saw some of it. What you didn't see was that I was pretty adamant about my feelings towards him. i try to walk that line but when you have information before the guy even gets out of the limo. She never heeded any of the warning signs. I think she was so anti-everything she had done on Brad's season where she was closed off and didn't trust her gut. She threw caution to the wind and did the exact opposite. We gave her the option. We said, "You don't have to meet this guy." She said, "No, I want to give him a shot." Every step, she had the option.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How hard was it to watch the end result of that relationship and see Ashley get her heart broken?
A. Chris: Really hard! I mean, she's a friend of mine! This is one of the things I find fascinating about the show. I'm no longer the host. I'm a friend and I'm about to watch someone have their heart broken. You've seen this before where you know the person they're dating or falling for is not good for them. The more you scream it, the mor they run ot them and defend them and defend their choices. That's what happened with Ashley. The more we told her and the more the producers tried to tell her, the more she defended him. I could only be there for it when it happened. At some point, you have to sit back and say, "Okay, I'm your friend and I'll be here for you. I can see thist rain a mile away."

 

Q. The thing that really got to me is that Bentley is a father. Here he was, being so disrespectful of women. Did he talk at all about how he would want other men to treat his daughter?
A. Chris: I didn't get to know Bentley that well but I really don't get to know them until the fourth week on. It all happened within the first couple weeks. I feel the same way. I have a son and a daughter. I can't fathom treating a woman that way. I really hope he comes to "The Men Tell All", not so I can rip him. I just really want to hear his explanation. I just want to ask him, "Can you imagine someone treating your daughter that way?" I don't know what his end game was or what his motivation was. We heard he wanted to promote his business but I don't know how that happened.

 

Q. The Bachelorette showed him saying, "It would be great if she tickled my [bleep]..." Don't you think that's going too far?
A. Chris: If it went too far, as far as any of our fans are concerned, I do apologize but this is what the guy was saying. In true context, you need to see what he's about and what his game was and how he was playing her. Ashley didn't get to see and hear a lot of that. When he was in front of that, he was saying all the right things. We wanted to show both sides.

 

Q. What else do you think is attracting her to Bentley?
A. Chris: It's funny because I talked to her... you'll see in the deliberation Monday night... this wasn't a deliberation. This was a friend walking in on someone who just had their heart ripped out. She never really could answer what it was. I could ask her now that she's had some time to heal. Was it a bad boy? Was it, "I wanna fix him"? Maybe it was a little bit of all of that. I don't know. I couldn't put a finger on it but I found it very perplexing myself. What are you seeing in this guy? He's bad news. He was so smooth that she never got to see the true side and true colors. Eventually, he was able to use that and kind of crush her.

 

Q. Bentley said he wanted to meet Emily and hoped it was her - why was he even picked?
A. Chris: Well, even if it was Emily or Chantal or Shawntel, there's no guarantee that he's gonna be the one or fall in love with her. He had just as much of an opportunity to fall for Ashley. He didn't say all of those derogatory things in casting. He obviously didn't say, "If it's Ashley, I'm gonna use her and destroy her." He wasn't that open and forthright in casting.

 

Q. Did you get to see any of his interviews during the casting process?
A. Chris: Honestly, because we're casting all of the time, I don't get involved in that. I never saw any of his stuff. I really didn't.

 

Q. Why not let Ashley see the footage sooner?
A. Chris: That's a good point. Maybe if this had gone any further, I don't know the steps I would've taken - or the producers. She was privy to some of the information. Some of the producers had told her, "This guy is not good for you." I had told her some things. Short of showing her all the derogatory stuff, she had a lot more information that Ali or Jillian had about Justin or Wes. When they had information, they kicked them off the show or were let go. Ashley had that information but she always wanted to believe the good in the guy.

 

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

 

(Image courtesy of ABC)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa