Nick Viall's sincerity landed him as the next 'Bachelor' star, says Chris Harrison

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include commentary from Reality Steve.

Bachelor Nation erupted Tuesday night when ABC announced Nick Viall, a three-time contestant on the network's reality dating series, would be the next star of The Bachelor.

Reactions were a mix of excitement...

And disdain.

Most of the confusion came from Viall's already extensive career on the series. He was runner-up on Andy Dorfman's season of The Bachelorette and returned to crash the party on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season. Most recently, Viall was a contestant on the spin-off Bachelor in Paradise. But according host (and Dallasite) Chris Harrison, who spoke with Good Morning America Wednesday, Viall simply deserved the position.

"When we were discussing all of the candidates — Luke and Chase were definitely on the board — it just got down to that final question of, who's the most deserving? Who is the most sincere? Who have we watched time and time again really come on this show to find love and just come up short each and every time?" Harrison said.

"We all just kept coming back to Nick and it's just crazy enough to work," he said.

We're guessing this means Viall does not, in fact, find a soul mate during next week's season finale of Bachelor in Paradise. (Yes, he is still oddly in the running and coupled up at that.)

Reality Steve, the Frisco blogger who's made a career of spoiling the Bachelor franchise, was as shocked as the rest of America by the news. He's never seen the producers reach that far back in seasons to cast the lead.

"It's uncharacteristic in the sense that they didn't choose someone from the previous season, but not so in that they cast someone who the audience has a connection with and who has a backstory. So in that sense, I get it," he said by email. "But was I surprised? Absolutely."

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