Chris Harrison is admitting to a “double standard” between the male and female contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. The longtime Bachelor Nation host addressed the controversy over a strip dodgeball game during Clare Crawley’s portion of this ongoing season during Thursday’s new episode of Better Together With Maria Menounos.
“Would we have played strip dodgeball with the women? No. Is that a double standard? Yes,” he answered when asked about the group date, which asked Crawley’s men to take their clothes off as they played the game. “Should there be double standards in the world? Maybe.”
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Crawley has also addressed the backlash, responding to a fan who tweeted last month, “It’s awful you had the guys take off their clothes if The bachelor asked the women do the same things all heck would break loose. You were wrong. Juan Pablo should have had you strip.” The reality star clapped back with a photo of former Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis’ and two of the women from his season stripped down on one of their group dates, writing, “You mean like this?” The Bachelor Winter Games alum also liked a tweet reading, “Hmmmm it’s almost like making contestants take their clothes off is a really tired production trick and wasn’t your idea at all.”
Crawley’s season has been like no other, as she fell head over heels for suitor Dale Moss immediately. Moss proposed after just two weeks together, and the two left the show early to begin their lives together, while Tayshia Adams was brought in as the new Bachelorette. Despite rumors that the two had communicated online ahead of the season, Harrison told Menounos he believed the hairstylist when she said she had only looked at his Instagram profile during the COVID-19 production shutdown.
“I think [Crawley] was cyber-stalking this guy and truly became infatuated with him online,” Harrison shared. “She had specific things she really liked about him from his Instagram. She had been in love with this guy for months, and as soon as he validated that with a warm smile and a nice smell, it was a ball game.”
Despite the naysayers who think Crawley and Moss moved too fast, the couple is looking forward to getting married and having kids after moving in together. “Everything since the show has been reaffirming of why I chose Dale,” Crawley told PEOPLE Wednesday. “He’s even better off-camera, in person, one-on-one at home. Dale is the yin to my yang. And this is the happiest I’ve ever been.”
