Entertainment

Eric Hill's Sister Says He's "Defying Death"

by Lia Beck

On Monday night, Eric Hill's made his last appearance on The Bachelorette when he left the show after getting into an argument with Andi Dorfman. But, as Chris Harrison explained in the post-show talk with Dorfman, it is not the last time his name will come up on The Bachelorette. On the show, Hill's death will not occur for a few more weeks which means Dorfman, Harrison, and the remaining contestants will carry on as normal for a couple more episodes until they hear the bad news. Of course, Hill's time on the show is the hardest not for his fellow cast members, but for his family. Eric Hill's sister wrote about The Bachelorette and her brother's time on the show and how, in a way, it's like Hill is "defying death."

As we know from his "Explorer" job title and stories on the show, Hill was an adventurous guy. He was on a mission called Go with Eric to visit all of the world's countries at the time of his death. In her piece, Hill's sister Karen Tracy expresses understanding that the show had to go on and says, "I have the unique opportunity to watch him live on, and watch the world get to know him."

Tracy sees her brother's time on the show as appropriate because it connects with how he always lived life to the fullest. She says, "In some ways, it's only fitting that he is defying death in this way. My brother always thought bigger and dreamed bigger than anyone I have ever known." She continues, "I get a little tearful, but I know Eric would want his audience to enjoy the journey with him, and seeing him makes me smile."

It's great to hear that Tracy approves of her brother's inclusion in the show. The Bachelorette had a tough decision to make when deciding how to proceed following Hill's death and the way his family feels about it is the most important thing. In his Bachelorette Blog for Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, Harrison explained how hard it was to figure out what was appropriate for the show; something that the show continues to deal with. He writes,

Something I explained during the interview that you need to understand while watching the show is Eric’s accident didn’t happen for a few more weeks. It wasn’t until Andi’s final hometown visit that we learned of the tragedy. I’m not exactly sure how or what we will do to handle this on the show. As I said above, we are making these decisions as we go. But my only promise is, as we have done up until this point, we will continue to do the best we can to be honorable and respectful.

In the eyes of Tracy, the show has done a good job up until this point and if that's any indication, when the time comes those scenes will likely be show respect to Hill and his family as well.

Image: Go with Eric/Facebook