Bachelorette's Bentley Bother "Not Over," Says Host Chris Harrison

Reality show host dishes to Ryan Seacrest about the latest episode of the show

By Marianne Garvey Jun 07, 2011 7:35 PMTags
Ashley Hebert, The BacheloretteABC/CRAIG SJODIN

Ashley Hebert had been warned.

Former Bachelor contestant Michelle Money talked to her. The show producers talked to her. The host did, too. But the sweet Bachelorette refused to believe that shady contestant Bentley Williams could be up to anything but trying to win her heart.  

Now host Chris Harrison is revealing even more details about the horrid scene that went down on the reality show last night, telling Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS FM radio show that producers tried over and over to smarten Hebert up to Williams' slimy ways. But according to Harrison, she remained "gullible" and "naive" and ignored the warnings.

"We told her, 'You don't have to meet this guy, if you don't want to,'" Harrison said today on Seacrest's radio show.

Then Harrison dropped a bomb: The Bentley drama ain't over.

Say what?!

But first Harrison gave his take on the bad boy who broke Hebert's heart after just two weeks of filming.

"Bentley...before the show even started, Ashley got information that this guy wasn't coming for the right reasons," Harrison said. "Michelle Money, who was on Brad's season, gave her this intel and before the limos arrived she had this information...and every step of the way she said 'No no, I believe in him; I always see the good in people' and he snowed her."

Harrison said Williams' Jeckyll and Hyde act was good enough to fool Hebert because she knew nothing about what he was saying behind the scenes when she wasn't around during the boys' confessional tapings.

"Every time he was in front of her he did the whole song and dance, when he was behind the scenes he would basically tear her apart," Harrison said.

Seacrest, who called Williams " a jerk," asked if it was genuine naïveté on Hebert's part or if she really just misjudged Williams' character.

"I honestly think both," said Harrison. "She wasn't privy to everything—and we catch heat for that—but that's the way our show is. If all a contestant has to do is come to producers and we show her everything, that's not a show. It's not good and it completely taints her journey. So yeah, she was a little gullible, a little naive, there were so many red flags and she'll admit this."

But, says Harrison, Williams' also did "a good job" of manipulating the reality star and that the trickery all unfolded within a two-week period of time.

"This happened in a very short period of time...she was really just getting going with this guy and she fell really fast, so it was kind of an interesting chain of events that led to this last night," he said.

And still, after all he's seen, Harrison was shocked at the thoughts Williams was confessing as he's shown dumping Hebert to head home, using the excuse that his daughter, Cozy, was missing him. Producers felt so bad they tried to let her know his true intentions.

"We actually let Ashley in on more information that we ever have on a contestant. We really tried to let her know: This guy is not here for you...[but] the more you tell them, the more they're gonna run towards that person," Harrison said.

And although we see a smirking Williams jetting off in a car away from Hebert's house, there was that "dot dot dot" to-be-continued bag of BS he handed her before taking off.

"The Bentley thing is not over," Harrison warned. "Every chance he had to be a good guy, he didn't. Keeping her hanging on was kind of a cruel thing to do...There is no closure, so this isn't over yet. It really affects her mood in the next few weeks...She's in a huge funk and just dragging and it really starts to affect the entire show."

But no fear women across America—Harrison swears there's absolute zero chance we'll see Williams as the next Bachelor.

"I promise that will never happen," he said.

Score one for Hebert.