Chris Harrison is reflecting on his exit from the ‘Bachelor’ franchise and how being “cancelled” in 2021 was actually a “blessing,” as it led him to his latest gig as host and executive producer of ‘The Vow.’
As you may remember, it was reported in February that Chris would be making his return to reality TV as host of a new dating show for singles who are looking for a “traditional marriage-minded partnership built on commitment and shared values.” It was later announced that the series, titled ‘The Vow,’ will premiere in November on Fox Nation.
“Obviously it’s my first foray back into reality TV since I left that other franchise,” Chris said this week on an episode of ‘The George Janko Show.’ “ … The show, I don’t know if I could say the show is perfect, that’s kind of conceited, but it’s very good, and I can’t wait for everybody to see it.”
Chris is set to resume his reality TV hosting duties more than five years after leaving his hosting gig with the ‘Bachelor’ franchise– a position he held for nearly two decades.
As The Ashley previously reported, Chris left the ABC franchise in June 2021, though months before his official departure, he stepped back from his hosting responsibilities after coming to the defense of ‘Bachelor’ contestant Rachael Kirkconnell when pictures of her attending a southern plantation-themed party surfaced online. Chris defended Rachael in a now-infamous interview with former ‘Bachelorette’ Rachel Lindsay.
While he reportedly received an eight-figure payout after his exit, Chris revealed this week that the incident in 2021 affected much more than his career at the time.
“ … when I was, you know, being quote-unquote cancelled, I had all the guns that ABC and Warner Bros. had and they were firing them at my house, at my family, going after my wife, going after my kids, going after me, leaking stories to the press, staging paparazzi outside my house, etc.,” Chris claimed. “If you don’t have faith in your heart and know what’s important, that stuff can eat you alive. It can easily be bigger than you.”
Since exiting the ‘Bachelor’ franchise, Chris hasn’t shied away from speaking ill about his former employer, even claiming in 2023 that the franchise had become “very toxic.” Nearly three years later, he’s doubling down on that remark, while also insisting that the franchise was flawed from the start.
“There were a lot of issues with the show,” Chris claimed. “It was problematic … if you don’t have a strong foundation and you don’t have good leadership, those two things are pretty deadly. They’re really problematic.
“So, we didn’t have a great foundation to start with, we don’t have great leadership– they still don’t, I mean look at the mess they’re in now,” he continued, presumably referring to this. “And so, that lack of leadership led to the demise and to me, once again, having to answer to problems that others had created on the show.”
Chris went on to say that, while the timing of his departure “was not good,” it was necessary and ultimately the right move for him professionally.
“ … Things went south, and so it was just time,” he explained. “And that’s when we kind of came to the mutual parting of the ways and said, ‘You guys take your roses and go that way, I’m gonna go and I’m gonna go create ’The Vow’ in a few years, and it’s gonna be everything I want it to be. It’s gonna be about faith, it’s gonna be about love, it’s gonna be about being authentic and telling your story, and all the things I’ve always wanted to do.
“It’s weird to say that’s a blessing … it really is,” he added. “ … Maybe I needed to be humbled. I was humbled, I was very humbled.”
‘The Vow’ premieres November 11 on Fox Nation.
Watch a clip from Chris’s interview on ‘The George Janko Show’ below.
(Photos: Instagram; ABC)
