Eric Hill's death has been a focus on this season of "The Bachelorette" from the start, but the late contestant's passing was again highlighted as it played out on Monday night's episode of the ABC reality show.
Audiences across the country watched Hill, a 31-year-old adventurous world traveler, vie for bachelorette Andi Dorfman's heart during the first few episodes of Season 10. He was ultimately eliminated in Week 4 after he and Dorfman got into a bit of an argument.
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News broke in April that
Hill had died in a tragic paragliding accident in Utah — something fans watched "Bachelorette" host Chris Harrison tell Dorfman and her four remaining suitors on Monday's hometown date episode.
"We knew he was hurt bad, but we just didn't know how bad," Harrison said. "We learned this morning that he passed away. Obviously I'm really sorry to be the one to have to tell you. But as soon as we found out, I definitely wanted every one of you guys to know as fast as we could."
Dorfman's tearful breakdown — she could be hard sobbing "I kicked him out ... I can't believe that was my last conversation with him" — brought even the show's crewmembers to tears as the cameramen set down their equipment to console the bachelorette and her men, Josh, Marcus, Nick, and Chris.
"It just puts it in perspective, like there's so much more to all this ... there's life," Dorfman said. "People have lives here, you know."
There's been some controversy as to how Hill's death has been covered on the reality show. For his part, Harrison said he's satisfied with how producers chose to approach it.
"There were those who didn't think we should shoot it at all and not include this news,"
he wrote on his weekly EW blog. "I vehemently disagreed. I thought we should not only shoot it, but felt we should include it on this show for you to see as well. I knew this was going to be a brutally sad moment for all of us, but that's why I felt so strongly we should show it."
Monday's episode also featured Dorfman's hometown dates with her final four, which ended with Marcus, a 25-year-old sports medicine manager from Dallas, being eliminated.
"The Bachelorette" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
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