Bachelor: Chris Harrison Received Eight-Figure Payout To Exit Series

Longtime host Chris Harrison has reportedly received an eight-figure settlement to officially exit The Bachelor franchise for good. Ever since Matt James’ season of The Bachelor was on the air and Chris Harrison attempted to defend Rachael Kirkconnell’s racist behavior from 2018, the host has been under fire for his remarks, which placed a significant amount of pressure on the producers to replace him. However, it wasn’t that simple for Bachelor Nation to “sideline” the longtime host.

After many, many months of tough negotiations between Chris Harrison and The Bachelor producers, the involved parties have finally reached a consensus for the host to peacefully exit the franchise for good. His interim replacement for the After The Final Rose special from Matt James’ season of The Bachelor was Emmanuel Acho, whereas the producers chose Bachelor Nation fan-favorites Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe to host Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette. Alas, Chris’ permanent replacement is still up in the air.

Nonetheless, it is now official that Chris Harrison will not be returning to host a season of The Bachelor or any of its spin-offs in the future. According to the original report from Deadline, the longtime host “will receive a rose of his own in the form of mid-range eight-figure payoff and promise to keep his mouth shut.” For context, an eight-figure amount could be anywhere in between $10,000,000 and $99,999,999. Considering that the report mentioned a “mid-range eight-figure payoff,” it looks like this settlement was somewhere around $50 million. Some fans are criticizing Chris for getting such a high payout after saying the things he said. However, other fans are also understanding that someone with that much power and access to a billion-dollar franchise would likely get this large sum of money in order to leave.

It is noteworthy that the Deadline report made reference to the payout being this large so that Chris Harrison would commit to “keep his mouth shut.” In recent weeks, a few stories had been coming out alleging that Chris was reportedly threatening to spill some insider info on the Bachelor Nation franchise as a whole, including its creator, producers, and network. There is no confirmation that he ever did say this, nor does anyone claim to know what Chris might’ve possibly said. However, it is a given that someone involved with a TV show for 20 years has had plenty of access to lots of behind-the-scenes details.

Chris Harrison’s days on The Bachelor are now officially over. As the franchise attempts to move on from this controversy, the fans are also trying to get used to looking at new faces on the show serving as the hosts. With that said, the show still has to officially name a new long-term host for the overall Bachelor Nation franchise.

The Bachelorette season 17 airs Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Sources: Deadline, Chris Harrison on Instagram

About The Author

Bernardo Sim
(1773 Articles Published)

Bernardo Sim writes about TV shows, queer culture, & Brazilian media. Born and raised in the Amazon, he now lives in South Florida. he/him

More From Bernardo Sim