Chris Harrison: Jillian needed me to “lead herself back where she always wanted to be and that was with Ed”

Chris Harrison’s comments–they are not “blogs,” no matter what Entertainment Weekly would like to pretend–tend to be pretty entertaining, because he appears to be emotionally invested in the search for love almost as much as the contestants are. That’s funny only because you’d think he’d be jaded after overseeing the start of a parade of failed relationships.

That’s clearly evident in his reaction to the finale and reunions. However, that reaction is also kind of creepy, whether he’s seeing Jillian get dressed or talking about how he’s both her friend and like her dad. Perhaps most disturbingly, he’s also kind of manipulative, insisting that he knows best that Ed was the right person for her even as she questions her own feelings.

As evidence, here are a bunch of his sentences out of context:

“…we also felt there was just something there between Jill and Reid, and had time not been a factor there’s no way she would have let him go in Maui. When I saw Jillian’s reaction when Reid walked out on that platform, our suspicions were confirmed. She still had serious feelings for this guy. What followed was about an hour of emotion and confusion.”

“Luckily Jillian had the poise to walk away and try and collect her thoughts. That’s when I asked the producers if I could go talk to her. Jillian and I have become very good friends over the last year and at that moment she needed a friend to talk to, somebody that wasn’t going to manipulate or lead her in a certain direction, just somebody that would listen and let her lead herself back where she always wanted to be and that was with Ed.”

“Something you didn’t see that made me laugh, and feel old, was when we were done Jillian said I reminded her of her dad. I told her her dad must be a smart man and I would take that as a compliment.”

“When you see them together, and I have several times, they are really perfect together.”

“But what I don’t understand is how you could possibly question what’s in Jillian’s heart. How you could possibly question a woman who’s happily in love with a man?”

“It was funny, the day of the proposal my wife and I walked over to Jillian’s suite, which was next door to ours. We walked in to find three people trying to help Jill zip up her dress.”

“I’m proud of Jillian and happy the way it all turned out.”