Chris Harrison, host of The Bachelor, doesn’t feel that season 24 contestant Madison Prewett is all that different from The Bachelorette’s Luke Parker. During Monday night’s episode, Madison addressed her religious beliefs surrounding intimacy. While she expressed herself in a coherent and healthy way, her expectations weren’t all that different from those of Hannah Brown’s villain.
Luke P. was a contestant on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette. Although he rubbed many fans of the wrong way, Hannah clearly felt a connection with him. She brought him all the way to Fantasy Suite dates, where their relationship finally fell apart. When discussing the intimacy that’s often a crucial part of Fantasy Suites, Luke made it clear that he would be done with Hannah if she slept with anyone else. His comments were the last in a season-long stream of chauvinistic declarations and aggressive behavior. Finally, Hannah decided she was done, but Luke refused to back down. While the Bachelorette initially tried to tell Luke that what he was saying wasn’t okay, the contestant dug his heels in and continued to say that he could understand a “mistake,” but wouldn’t get it if Hannah chose to sleep with all the men. When Hannah angrily confessed that she did sleep with someone else and tried to send Luke him, he changed his tune and told her that they could work through things. Hannah, however, didn’t back down. She finally sent Luke home, much to the joy of the show’s many fans.
On last night’s episode of The Bachelor, Madison expressed similar beliefs to Peter. Although she stated that she didn’t want to give him an ultimatum, she also said that she would have a hard time moving forward if he were intimate with anyone else. While Madison is receiving praise for staying true to her morals, Chris Harrison believes she and Luke Parker aren’t that different. On a recent episode of Rachel Lindsay’s Bachelor Happy Hour podcast (via People), Harrison started by talking about Hannah’s relationship with Luke P. He said, “Say what you will about Luke P. last season, at least he was who he was from day one. Then it was up to Hannah to decide, ‘Is he misogynistic?’ Is he all those things that people realized later? But hey, he was like that from day one. He didn’t change.”
After covering the Luke Parker drama, Harrison drew his comparison between Luke and Madison. He said, “Well, is it the same? Is Peter going to be treated the same, and is Madison going to be villianized the same way Luke P. was? It’s not completely dissimilar.” While Harrison believes that Luke and Madison are cut from the same cloth, he also made it clear that he doesn’t have an issue with those beliefs. He stated that he explicitly told Luke that he didn’t have a problem with him, even though Bachelor Nation fans were tearing him apart. Harrison recognized that people were coming to Hannah’s defense, but went out of his way to tell Luke that he didn’t personally take issue with him or his beliefs.
Harrison brings up a good point: Is Madison’s behavior the same as Luke P.’s? There are certainly similarities. Both contestants’ beliefs are rooted in religion and purity culture. Both contestants expected their partners to align with their personal decisions. However, there is a crucial difference in the way the two contestants expressed themselves. Luke’s statements to Hannah were condescending, patronizing, and entitled. He made it clear that he was the better man for abstaining from intimacy, but that he’d been willing to settle for Hannah because he cared for so much. Madison, on the other hand, made it clear that this was a personal decision for her, and that she didn’t judge anyone who chose differently. The catch is that she wanted her partner to align with her on the most important values, which Peter Weber obviously doesn’t. Madison set a (perhaps unfair) expectation for Peter, but she never communicated that he was beneath her for making his own decisions, which is the crucial difference between her and Luke P.
Next: Which Bachelor Contestant Is Peter’s Mom Begging Him to Bring Home?
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8pm EST on ABC.
Source: People
