Chris Harrison agrees: ‘The Bachelorette’ is off to ‘slow’ start

It’s no secret that I haven’t been the biggest fan of “The Bachelorette” so far this season.

But guess who else is on my team? As it turns out: Chris Harrison.

“It’s a little slow, huh?” the host told me on Wednesday. (We connected via telephone because he was promoting At First Sight, a dating app he just launched with show creator Mike Fleiss. More on that here.)

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Ratings have reflected that sentiment, dipping to series lows in the coveted demographic of viewers ages 18 to 49 over the last couple of weeks.

“We premiered on Memorial Day this year and have had to compete with ‘The Voice,’ so it’s been a bit of a combination of bad things,” Harrison said. “I don’t know why Des and these guys haven’t captured people yet, but things definitely will pick up soon, so I hope people will give us the benefit of the doubt.”

K, but for real: What’s wrong with Des? Is she too boring? Fake? Why aren’t viewers connecting with her? Harrison said he’s perplexed, calling Des genuine and sweet, but then surmising that perhaps she doesn’t have the “edge” fans often gravitate toward.

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I suggested Harrison speak to the powers that be and implore them to mix it up next season -- casting someone new instead of a reject from a previous show.

“That’s not the foregone conclusion people think it is,” he explained. “I just spent a lot of time with Mike [Fleiss] talking about new people, but you have to find someone dynamic and amazing. If you say we have a banker from Missouri and there’s no emotional investment, it’s a hard sell. It wouldn’t have to be someone famous -- but they would have to really blow us away.”

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