The Bachelorette's Chris Harrison: Viewers Are Going to Fall for Drew

The James drama finally came to a head on The Bachelorette Monday, leading to a big confrontation between the guys and, ultimately, his exit. After Drew's incredible one-on-one date with Desiree that earned him a rose, he decided to inform her about James' comments last week. Des later confronted James about everything, still kept him around after the group date, but then decided it was his time to go. Did Des make the right choice in cutting him? And should Drew have told Desiree about the drama in the first place? Plus: What record did the episode set? Host Chris Harrison explains all.

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Drew's one-on-one date was incredibly romantic. Were you surprised about how well it went?
Chris Harrison: I think people have found him attractive and interesting, but a bit of an enigma so we're finally revealing who he is and people are really going to fall for him. Until now, we were left to try to figure out if he was a superficial, perfect looking guy who's saying the right thing and now we see this guy has major depth and a lot of things going on, and it's all very impressive. Des was just blown away.

Was she shocked he got so physical?
Harrison: You could see her eyes get excited and think, "Oh, thank God." She really relished those moments of kissing and getting more physical and then when he really took her away and did the manly move of throwing her against the wall, she was like, "This is good."

Do you think Drew made the right move in telling Des about James after he got the rose?
Harrison: When he did it, if he was going to do it at all, was smart. I kind of thought that things went so well for him, why do it at all? But it's really hard to tell just how offended these guys are, and watching, it's hard to understand why. To the guys' defense, good for them for being so protective and being so into the process, but it's easy to think, "Really? Is it that big of a deal?"

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What do you think about the whole thing?
Harrison: When you hear the guys going off, you understand, like, "Yes, that wasn't cool." But when you hear James defending himself and talking to Des, you think he didn't do anything wrong. So you're not sure where the truth really lies and the more I look at it the more I think, "OK, did he say some of these things?" Probably. Would he have said it to Des? No. And he said it to Mikey, who was already checked out, bro-ing up and talking big, and I could see James either being serious or just trying to pacify Mikey, like, "Yeah, yeah, maybe I'll be The Bachelor." It's guy talk. Des was almost a little perturbed, like, "Why did you throw this on my plate?" I think the guys should've gone to James first and said, "Hey buddy, why did you say these things? We're a little offended." And if James had been more understanding, he could've said, "I was just talking crap with Mikey, not a big deal, I like Des a lot and I apologize." Then it would've been a moot point. Part of what made me believe James was how adamant he was and the emotion he got with Des. Is he that big of a salesman that he could bring up tears? I don't think he's that good of an actor.

The guys' confrontation was pretty heated!
Harrison: I was in the edit bay and I think there were a record number of bleeps. I saw the list that Standards and Practices gets and verbally read the list of everything that was said, and it was hysterical.

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Back to the group date, did you get to play soccer with everyone?
Harrison: I was there the whole day and I had two buddies I played soccer with in college, and we were on the field more than the guys were. There was so much drama we had to cut a lot out, but that guy Carlos, the professional, he reminded me of the yoga instructor from Couples Retreat. We had to cut him out because he was too sexy.

Zak's date was also great and I like him more and more each week.
Harrison: I said from Day 1 he's going to surprise you. He's a goofball in a very endearing way. I think they get along great together. I see a very different Des when she's around him. She smiles, and laughs and is carefree. She's happy around him. What an amazing turnaround.

She ultimately sent home James, Kasey and Juan Pablo. Did she make the right choices?
Harrison: It surprised me that three people were going home. We never show this, but the guys don't know how many are going home at each rose ceremony. They find out when they walk in the room and see how many roses are there. This time I was standing there when we started and you saw their eyes, like, "Half of us are going home." The number is really up to the Bachelor or Bachelorette. We need a certain number of people to carry on, but she could've cut more next week it's really up to her. Kasey was a guy she was never in that zone with. Juan Pablo was probably the only surprise because there was an attraction, but when you see the other relationships, they don't compare. And James just had to go. Whether he was sabotaged or not, it just wasn't going to work. Definitely wise choices.