‘The Bachelor’ Host Chris Harrison Defends Decision To Film Breakup: ‘You Don’t Get to Just Tell Fairytales’

Chris Harrison, host of The Bachelor, is defending the shows filming of the dramatic finale breakup by saying, “You don’t get to just tell the fairytales.”

During the March 5 episode, Arie Luyendyk Jr. gave the final rose to Becca Kufrin and then subsequently proposed to her. However, the show also aired him breaking up with her weeks later and that proved to be highly controversial.

Many fans took to social media to criticized the show, with former Bachelor cast member Ben Higgins saying, “How did this breakup end up on camera? Seems like a private conversation. We don’t belong in this conversation…”

Harrison has now defended the producers’ choice to air the footage of the breakup.

“There was no way Arie was going to do this and look great. In my opinion, you don’t get to just tell the fairytales,” he said.

“That was wild,” he added, according to PEOPLE. “16 years of this and that was breathtaking. It’s going to take a little bit of time to process all of that even for myself.”

Kufrin also recently opened up about the breakup.

“It was embarrassing the way he broke up with me with the full cameras and crew around,” she told PEOPLE.

“There was a better and more tactful way to do it,” the 27-year-old added. “A breakup is hard enough, and to have it all filmed and have to re-watch it and know that people all across the country are watching you get your heart broken, it is embarrassing. It’s not fun. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It was like a slap in the face.”

She went on to reveal that the breakup happened while while they were on a weekend trip in Los Angeles, and took her completely by surprise.

“I never thought for a million years that once the going started to get tough that he would throw in the towel and jump ship and say, ‘Oh sorry, I changed my mind,’” Kufrin said. “I didn’t think we were at that point whatsoever.”

Much of the controversy surrounding the breakup also comes from the fact that Luyendyk Jr. revealed he was ending things with Kufrin because he still had feelings for the runner-up, Lauren Burnham.

“This is my journey, and this is about finding a lasting love and that road is not always the easiest,” he said in an interview, according to CNN. “It’s all about the ending and finding that person for yourself and that’s the important part. I’m very happy.”

ABC will air a live, two-hour After the Final Rose special on Tuesday at 8 PM ET.