The longtime 'Bachelor' host also dished on whether Underwood will get past the 'cocktail joke' of his virginity.
Chris Harrison is ready to get this season of The Bachelor started.
ET's Katie Krause spoke with the longtime Bachelor host on the red carpet at KIIS FM's iHeart Radio Jingle Ball, presented by Capital One, in Los Angeles on Friday, where he opened up about Colton Underwood's upcoming season of the ABC dating show -- and revealed why he thinks it compares to Sean Lowe's.
"He was a really good Bachelor. He's a really good guy," Harrison said of Underwood. "I'm actually very eager and excited for everyone to finally get to know him. I think for The Bachelorette, and even for [Bachelor in] Paradise, you really didn't get a great sense of who he was. That's just how the show is. The show's not about him. It's about Becca [Kufrin], and then Paradise was kind of about everybody. So this show is obviously about his story and who he is."
Underwood made a splash on Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette, first when he shared his past relationship with one of her friends, Tia Booth, and then when he revealed that he's a virgin. His story somewhat compares to Lowe's (who was a born-again virgin on his Bachelor season, though didn't publicize it), but that's not what Harrison thinks the two most have in common.
"He kind of reminds me of Sean Lowe in that Sean was really popular, but no one really got to know him until it was his turn to be the Bachelor. And then everyone fell in love with him, and I think that's the way Colton's going to be. Everyone has this idea of who Colton is, but until you really dive into this season, you're not really going to know. And even the naysayers, everyone who was all upset, I think will fall in love with Colton," Harrison said.
And while Harrison previously joked to ET about having to give Underwood the birds and the bees talk ahead of his time in the fantasy suites, now that filming has wrapped, the host is ready to find a new theme for the season -- even if the show's promotional materials are still drawing attention to his V-card.
"I'm really excited, in all seriousness, to get by the whole cocktail joke version of him being a virgin and talking about his virginity and everyone's kind of laughing about it, and get to the reason of why he is the way he is, what he stands for, what it means to him and how he got to this point," he expressed.
"He's a very open, vulnerable guy this season, very emotional, so I was kind of proud of him. I give him a lot of credit, because it wasn't easy to do. It's not easy to come on as a man and say, 'Here I am, this is what happened, and this is why.' But he did this season," Harrison continued. "It's a great, great season and credit to him."
Underwood's emotions are definitely on display in the season's trailer, which shows an unprecedented moment in which the young Bachelor tearfully confesses to a producer that he's "scared." It's the first time a hug between a lead and a producer has been shown on camera.
"This season is pretty outrageous," Harrison said, when asked how unconventional things will get during Underwood's season. "There's twists and turns this season unlike anything we've ever had before, and that's just because of who Colton is, things that happen on the show, things that he brought out, the women. So it's a wild, emotional ride, for sure."
The Bachelor returns Monday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC -- join ET's Bachelor Nation Facebook group here.
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