When Eric Hill, a contestant on the upcoming Bachelorette season, tragically passed away last week, people began to wonder how the show would handle his death. We worried they would throw together another Gia Allemand-style tribute and make it out like Hill's life was non-existent until he began his Bachelorette journey. Thankfully the show's host Chris Harrison is giving us hope that the issue will be dealt with respectfully.
Harrison revealed that the first step the show took was to allow the staff to mourn privately before turning to how to handle it professionally. "We all took a moment to step back and reflect and respect Eric and his family. We wanted to really take it all in and let ourselves mourn a little bit," Harrison told People. He then revealed that while the producers haven't yet decided how to go about compiling Hill's footage for the upcoming season, every decision they make "will be out of respect."
In addition to that, the show even went as far as to break their own rules to let the rest of the contestants know about Hill's death. Typically those vying for the Bachelor/Bachelorette's love are cut off from outside media during the taping of the show. But after learning of the sad news, the producers made an exception and let the still-filming cast know. "We never would have kept it from them," Harrison said. "He was a good friend of theirs. Absolutely, they know."
Usually, the producers take that rule very seriously. Contestants are not allowed books, music, etc. during the taping of the show to keep them focused only on what they're there for. (It also leads to more fights/drama to have the only stimulation be talking about their dates and such.)
For ABC to take that step and tell the cast anyway shows that they do understand when real-life situations should trump reality TV. Eric Hill did a lot of wonderful things in his life, and his memory deserves to be treated with that respect that Harrison insists it will.
Image: Eric Hill/Facebook
