When Chris Harrison was ousted as the host of The Bachelor franchise back in 2021, someone had to fill in for him. Former contestant and fan favorite Kaitlyn Bristowe was an easy choice, as she was already affiliated with the franchise and familiar to viewers, but she said that Harrison, with whom she had a close friendship up until that point, stopped speaking to her after she was announced as co-host of The Bachelorette.
Harrison was booted from all Bachelor shows after he defended contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who had posted photos of herself attending a plantation-themed party in college, which led to a heated, tone-deaf interview with Black former Bachelorette contestant Rachel Lindsay where he doubled down on his defense.
Bristowe and former contestant Tayshia Adams were later tapped to co-host The Bachelorette together to replace Harrison. This week on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Bristowe explained that after Harrison left the show, “They offered me the position to come in and what they said was it was to mentor Katie [Thurston]. I wouldn’t be replacing Chris.”
She continued, “So then, all these articles started coming out saying Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams replacing Chris Harrison. So I messaged Chris, probably 10 times without him responding.”
I just wanted him to know I thought he was irreplaceable and didn’t want to step on any toes. What I said was ‘You’re irreplaceable. I don’t know what my role is. They said I was a mentor, but now I’m seeing articles about how I’m replacing you and that makes me feel icky,’” she said. “And then he didn’t write back…I was like okay, he hates me. We were best friends and now he hates me.”
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Bristowe said that she has seen Harrison in the time since her hosting gig (the two both attended the wedding of The Bachelorette‘s Wells Adams and actress Sarah Hyland), but when she confronted Harrison about their relationship, he told her, “Well, I’ve always been here.”
She said that she replied, “No you haven’t! You haven’t responded to me in forever!”
Bristowe hosted The Bachelorette for seasons 17 and 18, which featured Katie Thurston and Michelle Young, but was ultimately not asked to stay on as host, which was a disappointment to her.
“I loved it. I felt like that’s where I was supposed to be in life,” she said. “I thought I was going to do it for a long time.”
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