ABC prepared viewers for Juan Pabloc Galavis as The Bachelor last night, airing a special countdown to tonight’s Season 18 premiere that took viewers behind the scenes with the hopeful husband.
Toward the end of the hour, however, the mood went from sexy to somber as Chris Harrison and company paid tribute to Gia Allemand.
The former contestant committed suicide last August.
Harrison opened the moving segment by introducing clips of Allemand talking about life and love.
“I just hope people remember my kind heart,” she said in the footage. “I have a kind heart for people. That’s what I hope people remember me for.”
She also said she wanted to have two children and to adopt a baby from China.
Later in the tribute, Allemand’s mom, Donna Micheletti, spok about the tragedy of her daughter doing the unthinkable at age 29.
“Gia took her own life, and it is heart-wrenching, and I wouldn’t want to see any other parent go through this,” Micheletti said through tears. “There is plenty of help for everyone. I just miss her…
“Gia was always full of such life, and she’d walk into a room and you’d feel her presence. She’d light up that room like sunshine.”
It was sad stuff, but also an appropriate, touching move by ABC.
Season 18 of The Bachelor officially kicks off tonight at 9/8c.