Before stepping down from the show, Chris Harrison held the titles of host and rose ceremony master of the Bachelor Franchise for nearly 20 years. He is known for switching from The Bachelor to The Bachelorette to Bachelor in Paradise, and even momentarily hosting spinoffs like Bachelor Pad.
However, following season 25 of The Bachelor in 2021, Chris Harrison stepped down from the franchise as a whole due to controversy surrounding some of the contestants for the series’s first Black leading man, Matt James. During the run of the show, images of contestant and eventual winner Rachael Kirkconnel at an Antebellum Party in 2018 resurfaced. Someone also came forward accusing Kirkconnel of making fun of her for dating Black men.
Chris Harrison was later asked about this controversy by former contestant and the first Black Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay on Entertainment Tonight. When she told him that the resurfaced images weren’t “a good look,” Harrison said “Is it a good look in 2018 or is it not a good look in 2021?” which he received heavy backlash for from both Linday and the Bachelor Franchise audience. He stepped down a week later in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Since then, Harrison has been laying low and Jesse Palmer has taken his place as host. Harrison got engaged to Lauren Zima in 2021 and the pair appeared in a 2022 issue of Austin Lifestyle. He advertises on his website that he is available to officiate wedding ceremonies, send video messages to fans, and Host or Emcee events.
In early 2023, Harrison announced his new podcast with iHeartRadio entitled The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever, where he discusses love and life and offers relationship advice. He has already had several star-level guests, including Bachelor alumn Madison Prewett, Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess, and Love is Blind star Nick Thompson. New episodes of The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever are released several times a week anywhere you get your podcasts.
On top of his new career as a podcaster and family life with his fiancé and kids, Harrison also occasionally takes Instagram sponsorships, posting content with brands including Sunny D Vodka Seltzer.
Despite willingly or not-so-willingly getting the boot from The Bachelor Franchise, it appears that Chris Harrison is booked and busy. When he’s not podcasting, he’s officiating weddings or visiting his kids at Texas Christian University. Though he probably won’t be returning to the show anytime soon, Bachelor fans who missed him now have a way to tune back in.