Chris Harrison On the 'Bachelor' Finale: 'More Juan Pablo Spoke, the Worse He Looked'

March 11, 2014— -- Chris Harrison and Juan Pablo Galavis had a heated exchange on last night's "After the Final Rose" -- and readers were split on who came out the hero and the villain. Though he repeatedly asked Juan Pablo about his future plans with Nikki Ferrell, the former soccer player demurred and refused to give any sort of indication of what we could expect for them.

"The more he spoke, the worse he looked," Harrison told ABC News today. "I felt bad for both of them."

But he didn't stop there. For the complete Q&A with the "Bachelor" host, see below.

Last night's episode was intense. Could you have predicted all that drama?

No. That was the weird part. Usually as the host and as a producer on the show we know exactly for the most part what we're going to get. The show has its beats: Sean sits down, and it'll be difficult with Lindsay but it's not a huge deal; and there's the coronation of he and Catherine. Last night, going into the show, I had no idea how it was going to go from start to finish. I really had no clue what I was going to get and it really started with the audience... not knowing what their reaction was going to be. It made for an exciting, fun night for me.

Let's start with Clare. For the most part, our readers applauded her for standing up for herself. Did you think she came across well?

I really liked Clare on the show and I found it surprising that she got such a negative rap during the show. That's something I didn't anticipate from our fans, so I was a little taken aback by that. But then last night she redeemed herself. I didn't think she needed to! People saw the real Clare -- a strong, confident, beautiful woman. She did a 180 with the audience. She definitely won everybody back and she stood up for herself and she felt like she did it too late, but I told her, "It's never too late. You did it when you needed to."

'Bachelor' Winner Nikki Ferrell to Haters: 'Be Ashamed of Yourselves'

There's really no other way to put this: Your conversation with Nikki and Juan Pablo was painful to watch. How awkward was it in person?

I wasn't harping on him so much to make him say "I love you," that's kind of irrelevant to me. It was just, things weren't adding up and it was just bizarre. Their body language was telling me one thing and his words were telling me another. It was him. She wasn't allowed or able to speak her mind. I almost felt sorry for her. She was uncomfortable. He was making her uncomfortable, and I assume, I'm hoping at least, it was just an orchestrated event by him to somehow and in some way, get back at me or the show, I don't know what his motivation was for what he pulled last night. That was the most puzzling thing. I really felt like I was sitting here, like Jerry Maguire, saying, "Help me help you. I'm trying to make you look better. Come up with an articulate thought about this woman next to you who has pledged her devotion to you." The more he spoke, the worse he looked. I felt bad for both of them.