As members of Bachelor Nation, we all hate to think about it, but there may one day come a time that Chris Harrison decides he’s done with The Bachelor. While that day is hopefully still a long way off, there’s always been chatter among fans about just who might have the chops to replace him — and, this week, The Bachelorette seemed to hint that former lead JoJo Fletcher could replace Chris Harrison should the long running host decide he will not accept another season's rose. As the beloved ABC host stepped away for a few days to take one of his kids to college, the reality star stepped in to pick up the slack when it came to giving Tayshia a pep talk and handing out a date card to the guys.
But does she really have what it takes to help lead the Bachelor and Bachelorette to love all while doing the producer’s dark bidding? It’s no secret that there’s quite a bit of off-screen scheming that goes into making reality shows like this one work. Chris Harrison’s job requires him to be both sensitive, empathetic, and absolutely devious, a curious combination of skills. While we know JoJo’s been through this show on the other side of production, let’s take a look at her performance this week to see if she’s up to the task.
Talking With Tayshia
JoJo’s first appearance in the episode came when she made a special visit to the Bachelorette herself. After a rough rose ceremony, Tayshia needed a little girl-talk, and her “very, very dear friend” was only too happy to step up to the plate. While this was the sort of chat we often see between a lead and former lead (see Deanna Pappas Stagliano visiting Clare Crawley just a few episodes back), Chris Harrison also has the occasional heart-to-heart with the stars of the show. Usually he’s there to serve more of a purpose than just helping the lead air out their emotions (i.e. pushing Clare to make the decision to go all in on Dale, giving Dale the heads’ up that this is proposal time), but JoJo seemed to be approaching the talk more as someone who’d been in Tayshia’s position.
“I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but I hate hurting people’s feelings,” JoJo told the other woman. “It’s really, really difficult, so you can’t overthink it. It is the hardest thing in the world to try and, like, understand and navigate, so, I mean, I get it. It’s normal.”
However, she did sprinkle in a little of that Chris Harrison magic that keeps leads and contestants alike on their toes as she reminded Tayshia to be wary of her worst fears. “It’s a huge decision,” she said as they talked about the Bachelorette falling for multiple people and already getting in her head about a possible proposal at the end of this process. “I know you don’t want to do that again. You don’t want to go through a marriage and have it not work out. So this is — I mean, it’s heavy. It’s big.”
Pros: When it came to inflicting a little emotional torture, JoJo hit her mark while still managing to come off as on Tayshia’s side, much the way Chris Harrison always seems to. She stuck the landing, and her technique was impeccable.
Cons: However, that whole hating hurting people’s feelings thing isn’t going to fly when so much of this show centers around sending romantic hopefuls home. We’ll have to wait and see if JoJo has the guts to power through it — or if maybe reality show contestants she’s not actively dating are the one exception to the rule.
Getting to Know the Guys
The former Bachelorette strutted her stuff into the guy’s common room when Chris Harrison broke the news that he was taking a few days off. The host explained that JoJo would be helping him out while he’s gone, and then he let her make her own introduction.
“Nice to meet you guys! I’m JoJo,” she said. “I don’t know if you know me, but I am a former Bachelorette. I have gone through this. I have been on your side. I’ve been on Tayshia’s side. It’s a whirlwind. There’s ups and there are downs, but, at the end of it, I found love. I’m really excited for you guys. I’m here to step in, so if you need me, Tayshia needs me, I’ll be around. I do have a date card! Here it is. Looking forward to getting to know you guys.”
She kept it short and sweet without getting too personal with anyone, and soon enough she and Chris were heading back out the door.
Pros: While JoJo promised that she’s there for emotional support, she didn’t talk to any of the contestants directly, keeping her distance. If she really does hate hurting people, she did a great job of building up a wall between them so that she can do it from afar. She also gave the guys a little hope that ~this process really can work.~ Wow. Beautiful.
Cons: She didn’t deliver any emotionally devastating words about how not everyone would get the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Tayshia this week! Where’s the torture, JoJo? A missed opportunity.
Hosting the Head-to-Head
We didn’t see JoJo again until way later in the episode, when she returned to “have a little bit of a chat” with all the men in the house. Immediately, she set the serious tone for the moment when she caught Noah grooming himself in the mirror to make sure he was a camera ready. “Are you checking yourself? How’s your hair look?” she asked without any playfulness in her voice. When Noah shot the question back to her, she simply answered, “I don’t know.”
That distraction aside, she was ready to get to the heart of the matter. “I know y’all were expecting to be heading to the cocktail party, but things have now changed,” she announced. “There will still be a cocktail party, just not right away. Tayshia is still concerned about the tension going on between you, Bennett, and Noah.”
She asked the two of them to fill her in on what’s going on so far — and looked completely unimpressed with what she heard. “Alright, well, listen, I obviously don’t know the ins and out of what’s going on, but I can tell you that Tayshia did tell me that, at this point, it just isn’t possible for her to keep both of you here. So she would like to see both of you together tonight before the cocktail party. And there will be a rose there. So one of you will stay, and, unfortunately, one of you will go home,” she told them. “The rest of you will be joining Tayshia later tonight, but for now, Bennett, Noah, it’s time for you guys to get ready, and, um, good luck. I’ll see you guys later, OK?”
For someone who was so open with her emotions during her own seasons of the show, as she fought to win Ben Higgins’ heart and then later fell for her current fiancé, Jordan Rodgers, she kept her poker face on throughout the confrontation and betrayed no hint of how things might go.
Pros: Frankly, JoJo killed it this time around. For someone who is sensitive to other people’s feelings, she had no problem leaving all the guys on edge about how the night would turn out. And for someone who doesn’t have much RBF to speak of, she sure put her bitch face to work as she stared down all of the men.
Cons: That whole moment with Noah’s hair may have come off a little more confrontation than how Chris Harrison would’ve handled it. While we get the sense that he’s usually laughing at the guys more than with them, he does love to have a playful moment. Remember when Ed showed up at his door at 3 in the morning and they wound up sharing a cocktail in his suite? Yeah, we doubt this boss-lady version of JoJo would’ve been so accommodating.
The True Test
However, we ultimately won’t know if she has what it takes until we see her at the rose ceremony. While JoJo has demonstrated her skill when it comes to being the bad cop on the show, we haven’t seen her play good cop too much just yet, at least not with the guys. We’re convinced that she might just have what it takes to do the torture with the contestants and the girl talk with the lead, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens when the roles are switched.
After all, if this season has shown us anything, it’s that Chris Harrison has to be both friend and enemy to everyone on set. You never know how the drama will go on this franchise, and the host has to be ready to see it through whatever situation arises.
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Images: ABC