The 'Bachelor' franchise host is in the middle of taping Matt's cycle.
Chris Harrison is in the "middle of taping" Matt James' season of The Bachelor, and so far, so good. In an interview with ET's Lauren Zima, the Bachelor franchise host opened up about what fans can expect from the cycle -- and how it compares to Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette.
"It's the blue print and the formula we used to shoot Clare's season, and is working out perfectly," Chris shared. "I can tell you it's working, it's successful and -- knock on wood -- it'll continue to be successful."
"It's going great," added the host, who said he's gotten to know Matt well as they've started filming. "He is absolutely awesome. I can't wait for people to see his season of The Bachelor."
Like this season of The Bachelorette, Matt's season of The Bachelor is filming at one location -- though production has moved from La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania. Unlike Clare's season, it seems Matt will remain his cycle's sole lead.
ET learned in August that Clare exited her role as Bachelorette after falling for one of her men roughly two weeks into filming. She was replaced by Tayshia Adams -- though ABC and Warner Bros. played coy about the swap. Viewers got their first look at Tayshia on last week's episode of the dating show, and a new promo for Thursday's episode confirms there will, in fact, be a new Bachelorette.
"We thought this may take a turn pretty early on," Chris confessed of Clare's season. As he shared, there wasn't really a "lightbulb moment" that alerted producers to the fact they may have to make adjustments as Clare expressed her feelings for her frontrunner, Dale Moss -- it was a "culmination of things."
"We thought, 'Wow, this is really coming to a head quickly,'" he recalled. "I think our first thought was, 'Well, this will continue on and it'll ebb and flow like normal seasons,' but when we realized there was only ebb and no flow, we thought, 'We need to look at what we are gonna have to do.'"
While Clare's connection to Dale and upcoming Bachelorette departure has provided for plenty of drama onscreen, there's also a bit of it offscreen.
Clare's recent social media "likes" hint that she believes she was "forced out" of The Bachelorette -- which Chris said is definitely not the case.
"I would just say she has complete control," Chris said. "This season of The Bachelorette was completely about Clare. It's all about Clare, and she will decide where we go from here. It's totally, completely up to her."
Chris added that he's not "disappointed" or "mad" at Clare, no matter how her season ended or how it's playing out now.
"I definitely am not disappointed in Clare," he shared. "I'm not mad at Clare, none of this is a bad thing. If Clare's falling for somebody, and that's where this goes, then great. The whole purpose of this is to help Clare find love... If I do it in record time, that should go on my record. That should be a good thing."
See more in the video below. The Bachelorette airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Due to Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, this week's episode will air on Thursday, Nov. 5. Matt's season of The Bachelor will debut early next year.
See more in the video below.
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