Chris Harrison Speaks Out On The 'Bachelor In Paradise' Misconduct Allegations

Shortly after production started on the fourth season, news spread that Bachelor In Paradise production had been shut down due to a producer complaint of “alleged misconduct” between Corinne and DeMario. Some of it has been played out in tabloids and on the Internet, but now, ABC finally has a chance to present what actually happened down in Mexico. Chris Harrison’s Bachelor In Paradise allegations statement statement was short, but it got the conversation going.

Let’s backtrack for a second — after claims were made by a producer that alleged sexual misconduct occurred between DeMario Jackson and Corinne Olympios, production was temporarily shut down. DeMario repeatedly denied the accusations, and both Warner Bros. and Corinne's lawyers — who each conducted independent investigations — concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct. Corinne then released a statement saying she was satisfied with the outcome, and filming resumed.

Harrison got to the point fairly quickly:

"I can't tell you how happy I am to see everybody back here in Paradise... I hope everybody is ready to get back into Paradise and hopefully get back to the business of finding love. That's what this is all about. But before I can officially declare Paradise back open, I think it's very important that we sit down and have a serious talk, all of us, about what happened, what didn't happen, and what we all need to do to start this show together ... Warner Bros. hired an outside firm to look into everything that supposedly happened here. They looked at all the video footage, sent people down here to interview all of you, [and] our staff. They concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct by cast on this set."

But instead of ending it there, he opened up the discussion to involve all of the cast members (minus Demario and Corinne). The group discussed what is and is not consent; whether or not race played a part in the situation; and, perhaps whether or not everyone who was already in Mexico wanted to be in Mexico. The answer to the latter was a resounding yes, because these are all people who really want to be on television. As for whether the conversation they had stuck or resonated out to viewers, we'll have to see.