Make Decider a Preferred Source Where to Stream: The Bachelor Powered by Reelgood More On: chris harrison Chris Harrison Insists ‘The Vow’ Is “Not Some Crazy Dating Show” — But Still Delivers Drama ‘Bachelor’ Producers Admit The Show Has A Race Problem, Highlighting Their Treatment of Matt James: “We Let Matt Down” Yes, Jesse Palmer Was ‘The Bachelor’: Everything To Know About Jesse Palmer’s Season 5 Disgraced ‘Bachelor’ Host Chris Harrison To Create “The Most Dramatic” Dating Series “Ever” — With The Help Of Dr. Phil When it comes to The Bachelor, Chris Harrison is letting bygones be bygones — though it sounds like he won’t be counting himself in to watch the ABC show’s return in 2027.
When Harrison, who hosted the reality dating franchise for 19 years before his controversial exit in 2021 and is now tacking finding love through faith on FOX Nation’s The Vow, stopped by DECIDER’s studio, we asked him if he’ll be tuning in to the recently announced Season 30 of The Bachelor.
“Honestly, to be honest, I have not watched since I left the show,” Harrison admitted of The Bachelor. “You know, it’s one of those things, do you follow your ex on social media? I don’t recommend it. So I just didn’t. I moved on with my life.”
Harrison deemed his Bachelor hosting tenure a” blessed time in [his] life,” and one that he is “grateful” for, noting that he “still” has “friends” involved with the show and “wish[es] them well.”
“You know, there’s room for all of us in this dating pool and love,” he added. “And so, I never wish for anybody to lose their job and so, I hope they can right the ship over there. I know it’s messy right now.”
In 2021, Harrison left the Bachelor franchise after coming to the defense of Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who found herself embroiled in controversy after pictures she posted of herself at an antebellum plantation-themed party in college resurfaced. Per Deadline, Harrison’s comments claiming that people must have “a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion” for Kirkconnell came out of an Extra interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, who was the first Black lead of the Bachelor franchise. Meanwhile Kirkconnell competed on Matt James‘ season.
As for the “messy” state of affairs at The Bachelor franchise that Harrison is referring to, we also asked him for his thoughts on ABC’s decision to shelf The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul‘s Bachelorette season after a video recorded by her ex, Dakota Mortensen, was released by TMZ. The video sees Paul engage in a physical altercation with Mortensen, including putting him in a headlock and throwing chairs at him.
“It’s messy over there,” Harrison said. “I think the most fortunate thing is it’s not my mess [laughs]. And I was happy to create The Vow and go the direction we went with our show.”
However, he reiterated that he still has friends who still work for The Bachelor, and who “were some of the first people to reach out and wish me well.”
“This is a hard business and it is a business,” he continued. “And in this day and age, it’s really tough to get anything on the air. That’s why we’re so proud of what we’ve done at The Vow. But I hope they keep their jobs over there as well.”
With respect to why now felt like the right time for Harrison to return to hosting, he said, ” I don’t know if it was important to even come back to reality TV and dating, but it felt right.”
“The concept that we started working on, my wife and I and our team, with The Vow, all of a sudden really lit the fire and I got really excited about diving into this world,” he shared. “And I think more than ever—this world, our society—we need love, and I think there’s this big appetite and there’s kind of a big hole in the world for a great dating show to come in and really try to tell a genuine authentic love story. And hopefully that’s what The Vow will do.”
