A little more than two years after leaving The Bachelor franchise, Chris Harrison is opening up about his departure and his real thoughts on the show and its spin-offs.
During his recent appearance on Bachelor Nation alum Jason Tartick’s Trading Secrets podcast, Harrison opened up about his infamous departure. He then described the franchise as being a “very toxic situation.”
Entertainment Weekly reports that Chris Harrison had hosted The Bachelor and its spin-offs The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise for 19 years. He left the show after he defended The Bachelor season 25 contestant Rachael Kirkconnell for attending a “plantation-themed” sorority party in college. The comments he made sparked backlash in the worst kind of way.
Although he apologized profusely for his comments, Harrison ended up leaving the franchise. He was eventually replaced by The Bachelor alum and ABC’s Good Morning America contributor Jesse Palmer.
“What I went through was tumultuous,” Chris Harrison told Tartick. “I don’t wish it on anybody. It was horrifying on a lot of levels — and something that I pray to God my worst enemy never goes through. But, with that said, I knew I had to remove myself from what became a very toxic situation.”
Harrison also stated the situation was very difficult. He then explained he could have “probably” figured it out and stayed in the franchise. “We all could have figured it out, but I had to remove myself from that toxic situation,” he pointed out. “And so I’m proud of that decision.”
Chris Harrison said he was proud of how he handled the situation. “I still look at [the show] as a blessing because it changed my life on so many levels. Financially, of course. It changed my life. It changed my kids’ lives.”
Chris Harrison Praises ‘The Bachelor’ Franchise For All the Friends He’s Made and the Adventures He’s Been Apart Of
Meanwhile, Chris Harrison praised The Bachelor franchise for everything the show has given him, including the friends he’s made and the adventures he was a part of.
“I hold those things dear,” he explained. “It was a blessing. It changed my life, but at the same time, I can also be grateful that I’m gone. That’s a relationship I don’t need to be in anymore because it wasn’t healthy.”
In regards to the possibility of returning to the franchise, Chris Harrison denied any chance of him going back to giving out roses. He also added that the show has gone downhill since his departure.
“Once I left, people started taking their shots at the champ and they’ve succeeded and now there’s competition and now there are shows [that] are in the zeitgeist, they’re being talked about, they’re getting the press that we used to get,” he noted. “Again, it’s hard to survive when you don’t have those eyeballs anymore because people will talk about another show.”