TCA: Chris Harrison Voices His Picks for the Next Bachelor

Chris Harrison is The Bachelor(ette)'s consummate good guy, a host who officiates each rose ceremony with palpable sympathy. Movieline caught up with him on the eve of tonight's Bachelorette finale and grilled him about Jake Pavelka, his emotional connection with the contestants, and whether he prefers The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.

You blog extensively about the show. When you started The Bachelor, did you ever think you'd become emotionally involved enough to write at length about each episode?

Well, to age myself, when we started the show there was no such thing as a blog. This is eight years ago. There was no texting, there was no -- that's Shaquille O'Neal. Hey, good to see you -- there was no texting or sexting or Twittering and blogging, so it's crazy. So it's totally changed, but I love it. It's kind of cathartic. It puts me into the show as a viewer, because I used to not really watch the show [when it aired] -- I was there, I knew what happened. But now I watch what the viewer sees, and that's the view I take when I blog about it.

Does blogging help remind you of crazy instances you forget? I imagine they pile up.

It's not as much that I forget, it's the emotions it stirs up. Like watching Frank back, watching all that unfold -- I'm always the guy who kind of handles the situation on the show, the middleman. I usually don't say how I feel. The blog allows me to tell you, "This is how I was really feeling when I was doing that interview." Or "When I was with Jake and Vienna, this is how I really felt." For Jake and Vienna, against many skeptics, I didn't take sides -- I was just trying to let everyone see exactly what happened.

Vienna didn't really scare me during the interview, but Jake came unhinged. How did his behavior strike you during their breakup special. Were you surprised at any of it?

I wasn't shocked. I was shocked at how the whole thing disintegrated, the relationship and that interview. That interview was so dysfunctional on so many levels that it's hard to blame either one. People ask me whose side I take, and I'm like, "Neither one!" I'm like, "They broke up! It's a break-up! There's no side." This couple that was in love in St. Lucia broke up and I know both of them, and so it sucks. It hurt me that they broke up. I don't even get that -- I don't go into that interview and think, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this, find out whose fault it is." I don't think that's how you can approach the conversation.

Now: Who should be the next bachelor? I think there is one correct answer.

Oh, really. Who?

Kirk all the way.

Mmm, he's definitely in the running. Kirk, Roberto, Chris, a lot of women have talked about Craig R. Probably Kirk, Roberto, Chris, and Craig R. They'd probably be top four.

Lastly, which is better, The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? There is also a correct answer here.

That's like asking to pick my son or my daughter! If I had to do one, they both have such positives -- but if I had to do one the rest of my life, I'd probably do The Bachelor. I think the women altogether, the group of 25 bachelorettes, they give you more. They give you more story, they give you more drama. and they give you more interest. They drive the story more. So, selfishly for ratings, I'd pick The Bachelor.

But The Bachelor doesn't give you people like Kasey.

Right, that's the thing. There are so many things I love about The Bachelorette. Instead of getting rid of one, I'd probably just kill myself.