Bachelor host Chris Harrison is firing back at ousted contestant Rozlyn Papa after she implied on Monday's Women Tell All special that he is a cheater.
On the special, Harrison, 38, grilled Papa, a 29-year-old model/make-up artist who was kicked off the ABC reality show after several cast members claimed she had an "inappropriate" relationship with producer Ryan Callahan.
Three different women claimed they each had proof: One said she saw Papa and Callahan making out; another said she saw her touch his thigh one time and a third said she heard Papa remark that she wanted Callahan to tuck her in bed.
Despite the three eye witness accounts, Papa swore on her child's life that nothing sexual happened between her and the producer. Harrison told her how many were sad that Callahan was fired because people on the show considered him a friend. Papa then snapped, "That's news to him, especially when you were hitting on his wife in New Zealand. He thought that was crazy."
"I won't dignify that with a response," Harrison cooly replied before telling Papa, "I hope you will become a better person through this."
Harrison tells Entertainment Weekly that the reason he didn't immediately respond to Papa's accusation was because "that's exactly what she would have wanted from me. It was a desperate attempt by a very desperate woman to create a diversion and deflect the spotlight from herself…."
Harrison – a married father of two – added that it was tacky of Papa (a single mother) to bring his innocent family into the matter.
"…Beyond the fact that it's just flat out not true, that comment was well beyond the line of decency and speaks volumes to the kind of person Rozlyn is," he said. "My wife, who I've been with since I was 18 and have been married to for over 16 years, was in the audience that night and got as big a laugh out of Rozlyn's comment as I did."
