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ABC's "The Bachelor" - Season 25

Source: Craig Sjodin / Getty

After an ill-fated interview on an entertainment magazine show, one of the leading faces of network reality television has broken up with the franchise that made him a household name.

Chris Harrison is no longer hosting any of the shows in the ‘Bachelor Nation’ universe, especially the two shows that kicked it off – ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette.’

This comes after taking time off from some of ABC and Warner Bros. most popular shows due to his defense of a recent ‘Bachelor’ contestant after she was featured in photos and social media posts that was racist and inappropriate.

Harrison is leaving the franchise “with an eight-figure payoff that was tensely negotiated” and made it “very difficult” for those involved to “get rid of him thanks to his intimate knowledge of the show’s dirty secrets.”

It sounds like the behind-the-scenes gossip is just as dramatic, maybe even more, as the scenes filmed on-camera.

From Uproxx:

Via Deadline:

The confidential settlement with franchise producers and distributor Warner Horizon was finally reached after one more flurry of back and forth between the parties and Bachelor broadcaster ABC on Monday night. A motivational undercurrent, so to speak, throughout was Harrison lawyer Bryan Freedman pledging to unleash the Shiva of lawsuits exposing a swath of The Bachelor’s alleged dirty laundry unless his Gersh-repped client emerged feeling the financial love.

The controversy for Harrison began back in February when he defended contestant Rachael Kirkconnell after it was revealed that she attended an antebellum-themed sorority party in 2018 and had posted images on social media that consisted of cultural appropriation. During an interview on Extra, Harrison tried to downplay Kirkconnell’s actions by arguing with Rachel Lindsay (Extra‘s first Black lead) that the incident happened over five years ago when it was barely three years old.

Harrison tried to apologize on his Twitter account:

After getting backlash over that apology, he issued another one on Instagram, where he announced he had stepped down from the ‘Bachelor’/’Bachelorette’ franchise:

Harrison last appeared on the finale of the most recent season of ‘The Bachelor,’ but did not host the ‘After The Rose’ special.

Now he is officially gone from the show despite promises he made that he would return to his hosting duties.

At least his relationship with the show lasted longer than most of the couples that came off the shows.

As for the franchise moving forward, the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ premiered on June 7 with Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe as co-hosts.  The next installment of ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ will reportedly have a rotation of hosts, including David Spade as rumored.

It is not known who will host the next season of ‘The Bachelor,’ which has not officially been renewed by ABC as of right now.

Whoever will accept the hosting rose will have to do a great job erasing any memories of Harrison.  Then again, it’s hard to truly erase someone from a relationship.

 

Click here to read more.

 

Article Courtesy of Uproxx

First Picture Courtesy of WENN and ABC

Second Picture Courtesy of Craig Sjodin and Getty Images

Video Courtesy of YouTube and Extra

Tweet and Third Picture Courtesy of Twitter and Uproxx

Fourth and Fifth Picture Courtesy of Instagram and Uproxx

‘Bachelor Nation’ No Longer Giving Chris Harrison a Rose  was originally published on wzakcleveland.com