The Bachelor family has been left rocked by the sudden death of The Bachelorette contestant Eric Hill earlier this week, and creator Mike Fleiss has paid tribute to the 31-year-old.
Hill died on Wednesday (April 23) after a horrific paragliding accident in which his parachute reportedly collapsed and he collided with a hillside. He had been a contestant on the upcoming season of, The Bachelorette, and had been competing for the heart of Andi Dorfman.
While he had been eliminated from the ABC show, its creator Mike Fleiss spoke to E! News about the tragic death.
Bachelorette star Eric Hill has died after a paragliding accident (Eric Jonathan Hill/Facebook)
"We're all just devastated. He was such a vibrant, young dude. He was. It's tragic," he said. "He was such a young guy who lived life to the fullest. I couldn't believe it when I heard. I'm still in shock. We're all in shock. This transcends everything, certainly a television show."
The saying goes, that the show must go on, but the new season will be careful in the wake of Hill's death.
"We're going to try to be as sensitive as possible," he said. "It's a bizarre predicament that we never expected to be in, but our problems aren't important. It's about his family now. My heart goes out to them. I pray for them and my staff, they're just wrecked."
Hill reportedly went on the first one-on-one date with Andi before he got eliminated, which means that he will probably have to feature in the show.
All show participants are said to be banned from speaking out about their roles on the show, and Dorfman has not paid a public tribute to him.
Following the news of his death, the show's producers released a statement reacting to the news.
"We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic passing of our friend, Eric Hill. Eric inspired us every day with his passion, his courage and his adventurous spirit, and for that we are very thankful. On behalf of our cast, crew and producers, we send our love, our thoughts and our prayers to Eric's family during this difficult time."
The next season of "The Bachelorette" premieres later this month, on May 19.
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