Chris Harrison Admits Matt James Had Some ‘Mess-Ups’ While Filming ‘The Bachelor’

Most stars of The Bachelor get experience before their season. But Matt James is the first one in a long time to be totally new to the reality TV scene before doing his season. Chris Harrison talked about how that led to some awkward moments while filming.

Matt James skipped ‘The Bachelorette’ and became a star

RELATED: ‘The Bachelor’: Tyler Cameron Says Matt James Is Better for the Role and ‘Having Tough Conversations’

The casting of James created a lot of buzz for Clare Crawley’s season. That’s because he was good friends with Tyler Cameron, who was on The Bachelorette. It was later announced that he would no longer meet Crawley, and will be the star of The Bachelor.

“It’s an honor,” he said on Good Morning America. “I’m just going to lean into myself and how my mom raised me and hopefully when people invite me into their homes on Monday night they’re going to see that I’m not much different from them and they see that diverse love stories are beautiful.”

The future star listed off a few qualities he’s looking for in a woman. “Fortunate for me I’m looking for qualities that … my mom embodies,” he said. “Selfless, honest, caring, compassionate, and those are qualities found in women all shapes, sizes, and races. And it’s not a Black or white thing. So I’m hoping that when that limo pulls up there’s a lot of diversity and I see every type of woman coming out of that limo.”

He had ‘mess-ups’ while filming

Chris Harrison on ‘The Bachelorette’ | Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

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Now stars of The Bachelor tend to learn the ropes from being on The Bachelorette. But James skipped that major step. It sounds like filming was awkward because of that.

“There are some wonderful things to the naïveté and innocence to just coming in,” Harrison told Us Weekly. “But then there are little things that we had to really stop, and you know, [it’s] night one and he doesn’t know what to do.”

He continued, “Because he never came up to the mansion before, he never went to a rose ceremony. He doesn’t even know how to get a rose or give a rose. So he doesn’t know the vernacular, he doesn’t know what I’m going to do. We really had to walk him through and teach him; it was Bachelor 101. And it was trial by fire.”

That also meant there were “some mess-ups and some trip-ups”. Harrison claimed it played out in a cute way with James asking questions. He also teased that James found out what saying “I love you” means while filming. Soon fans will be able to see for themselves.

It sounds like filming of James’ season will have some awkward moments. But overall it’s going well and James might be having some real feelings for the contestants on the show. The new season will premiere on ABC on Jan. 4.