The first rule of Bachelor Nation? Don't mess with Chris Harrison.
While the host is usually smiling and quick to offer advice to the contestants, he was all business in the Bachelor in Paradise premiere, making the executive decision to kick Chad Johnson off the show after the first night, which featured the Bachelorette villain getting drunk, threatening violence, and saying horrible things, particularly about Sarah Herron. He even went so far as to tell Chad he had turned Paradise into hell. (Admit it, you cheered.)
"I guess the ultimate decision to send him home was...I wasn't really scared for anybody, I don't think he was going to hurt anybody, although he threatens violence and says horrible things," Harrison told reporters on the set of Bachelor in Paradise in Mexico in June. "He was taking away from everybody's chances to actually make this work. He was just a black cloud hanging over everything. He had really been verbally abusive to some of the staff, some of our crew and was rude to me."
And Harrison admitted it really "pissed" him off when Chad didn't take responsibility for his behavior the next morning when he sat the cast down to address his inappropriate behavior. "It was a chance for him to be contrite...he was really glib and really arrogant and really pissed me off," Harrison explained. "He was a bit of a smartass...in the middle of it, I just made a decision, I'm like, 'You know what? I'm done. You're out.' Again, that's the beauty of the power I have here in Paradise. I see how you're making everybody feel, now you've pissed me off, I'm done. Get out of my house."
And the crowd (and crabs!) go wild.
Harrison went on to say he was surprised by Chad's behavior, especially because the first thing he did when he arrived in Mexico was apologize. "He came back to Paradise, the first thing he did was, 'Chris, I'm very sorry. I'm not that person. I'm back here to apologize to you, to the producers on my behavior, turning over a new leaf, I want this to work.'"
Ultimately, Harrison wanted Chad to "redeem himself" on Paradise, saying he believes in "second chances." Sadly, that didn't happen. "We gave him enough rope to hang himself, but he did." Still, Harrison said, "This is why I'm not angry at him, I'm not mad at him, I don't dislike him at all. There is a reason he behaves the way he does. I would go so far as to say it comes from some sort of hurt insecurity...there is an issue there. After he goes to a certain length, you see him get very sad and very sorrowful and very apologetic, and you can tell he doesn't like that, he doesn't want to be that person. That's the guy I wanted to come back."
After the BIP premiere aired, Chad took to Twitter to apologize to Sarah Herron, an apology she didn't really accept. "I do feel bad about that," Chad told E! News of what he said about Sarah during the premiere.
To hear more from Chris Harrison about the decision to send Chad home, and whether or not he truly thinks Chad is a bad guy, watch the rest of the interview with him above now.
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.