Why Barbara Walters thinks Amal Clooney is fascinating

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Amal Clooney, formerly Amal Alamuddin, was crowned the most fascinating person of 2014 by Barbara Walters Sunday night — and from how it sounds, it's because of the man she married.

"This is Amal Alamuddin, George Clooney's beautiful bride. You could say hers was the wedding of the year. It was really one of the greatest achievements in human history," Barbara Walters said on "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2014."

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Yes, the new Mrs. Clooney beat out the likes of Taylor Swift, Neil Patrick Harris and even Oprah Winfrey to win Walters' most fascinating person of the year title.

And she now joins the likes of Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa, who have all been honored with the same title in the past.

But instead of focusing on her achievements as a top human rights lawyer, activist and author, Walters decided to note her marriage to perpetual bachelor George Clooney. And not everyone is happy about it.

Viewers flooded ABC's website with angry comments about the reasoning behind the decision, with some dubbing the announcement sexist and others claiming there were others more worthy of the title.

As a writer with The Washington Post put it, "Yes, in Walters' world, marrying Hollywood's most notorious bachelor puts you on par with Mother Teresa."

But others were just as quick to commend Mrs. Clooney on winning the title. After all, she has defended the likes of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the entire country of Cambodia in human rights cases.

Walters did eventually mention those big achievements, but not without bringing the conversation back to her looks and what a perfect match Amal is for George.

Walters has sat down with the people she's chosen for Most Fascinating Person of the Year in the past, but she did not interview Amal Clooney for this year's show. Amal has yet to comment on the announcement.