Fans were just as surprised as The Bachelor star Peter Weber was when his ex Hannah Brown stepped out of a limo outside Bachelor Mansion in the trailer for season 24, but host Chris Harrison says the former couple needed closure.
“I think it’s something that needed to be dealt with, the relationship,” Harrison, 48, told E! News in an interview published on Monday, December 16. “I think it’s a relationship that didn’t have a clean, clear break. I think there were and maybe are feelings there, and some underlying feelings that maybe they thought they had both dealt with. But I knew once they saw each other, they probably hadn’t really dealt with them all, so I think it’s a hurdle that we needed to clear before we moved forward.”
In the trailer, Brown, 25, and Weber, 28, seem to rekindle the romance they started during her season of The Bachelorette earlier this year, when they memorably had sex four times in a windmill. “I know there’s still something there, and I would do anything for a relationship,” Brown tells the pilot in the trailer. He responds, “What would you say if I asked you to come be part of the house?”
A press release for the ABC dating competition hypes up Brown and Weber’s reunion: “What she shares with him will leave them both as confused as ever. Do the two of them still have feelings for one another and share the same sizzling passion? Will Hannah join the group of women in the Bachelor mansion and continue to date Peter?”
As previously reported, the former pageant queen was competing on Dancing With the Stars season 28 during the filming of Weber’s Bachelor season. In his interview, however, Harrison underlined the importance of Brown’s appearance at Bachelor Mansion.
“I think it was important that she was a part of this, because she was a big part of Peter’s life,” he explained. “I think they did love each other very much on her season, and I think that was a very tough decision for Hannah to make not to end up with Peter, and one that she’s probably thought a lot about, and I think it was something that needed to be done, and a conversation that needed to be had.”
The Bachelor season 24 premieres on ABC Monday, January 6, at 8 p.m. ET.
