Matt James filmed The Bachelor in the fall of 2020 despite the country being in a pandemic thanks to the coronavirus and the constant transmission of COVID-19.
Prior to filming, Matt, the women, and the crew had to stay in quarantine for weeks to ensure they all tested negative for COVID-19 several times.
We don’t know whether COVID-19 played a role in terms of additional stress on the set, but Chris revealed recently that the two had words.
He doesn’t go into details as to what happened, but it’s clear that they were not always in agreement throughout filming.
Matt James and Chris Harrison didn’t always see eye to eye on things
Apparently, the two weren’t best friends when filming the show. Chris revealed that they didn’t see always see things the same, possibly because of Chris’ experience on the show and Matt’s lack of experience.
“At times, we had words with each other,” Chris told US Weekly recently, adding that it wasn’t always negative.
“We also hugged and loved each other at times. He’s a terrific man. I loved going through this [with him].”
Since Matt had no experience in the Bachelor franchise prior to leading the season, Chris felt he had to guide him.
“I told him, ‘If you don’t go through that, you’re not doing it right.’ You know, you can’t fake your way through this. If it works, you’ve got to go through this,” Chris revealed, adding, “Night one, he tells me he feels pressure being the first black Bachelor. That’s real. He feels like I have to serve a community. I have to serve a family. I have to serve myself. There’s a lot of weight on his shoulders, and he owns that. He really leans into it, and I love it.”
Chris also revealed that he had to guide Matt through the entire process because he didn’t know how everything normally unfolded. He didn’t know what a rose ceremony was and he didn’t understand how everything was to happen, even though he was the lead.
Chris Harrison has teased that Matt James had a rude awakening during filming
We don’t know much about this season yet, but Chris has teased a few things. Back in late November, Chris revealed that Matt had a rude awakening while filming The Bachelor.
Matt revealed that he had never been in love before. This came as a big shock to Chris, who explained that it was his job to figure out how Matt could fall in love with one or more of the women on his season.
All we do know that someone shows up from a past season and that Matt sends her home the same day.
The Bachelor airs Mondays 8/7c on ABC.