Chris Harrison says he’s ‘proud’ of the way he made his exit from The Bachelor amid ‘a very toxic situation’

Chris Harrison says he’s satisfied with the way he left The Bachelor after nearly two decades hosting the ABC reality romance.

The TV personality, 52, appearing Monday on the Trading Secrets podcast, said he was proud of the way he handled things in parting with the series in 2021.

The Dallas native, who hosted the ABC series from from 2002 to 2021, left amid a controversy after he came to the defense of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell after pictures of her at a plantation-themed sorority event surfaced.

‘I knew I had to remove myself from what became a very toxic situation, and I did, and that was a very difficult situation,’ he told the podcast’s host, The Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick. ‘I’m proud of that decision.’

Harrison told Tartick, 35, that the ‘show was a blessing’ in his life, and changed things for him ‘on so many levels,’ including ‘financially.’

Harrison said that his exit from the series ‘was hard at first, obviously,’ as it wasn’t a case where he ‘felt great about everything’ amid the ‘tumultuous’ circumstances.

‘I don’t wish it on anybody,’ Harrison said of the controversy preceding his exit from the series, which he described as ‘horrifying on a lot of levels.’

Amidst the scandal nearly two years ago, Harrison initially stepped back from the series, said he was sorry and went on a temporary hiatus. He officially exited the series in June of 2021. 

Harrison said that a number of his friends he met during the time with the show were present at his November nuptials to Lauren Zima, 36.

He added of the series: ‘I hold those things dear. It was a blessing. It changed my life, but at the same time, I can also be grateful that I’m gone. That’s a relationship I don’t need to be in anymore because it wasn’t healthy.’

Harrison said that his exit from the series – he was replaced by Jesse Palmer in September of 2021 – opened the door for other similarly-themed shows to try and recoup the portion of audience the show might have lost in parting ways with its longtime host.

‘Once I left, people started taking their shots at the champ, and they’ve succeeded, and now there’s competition, and now there are shows in the zeitgeist, they’re being talked about, they’re getting press that we used to get,’ he said. 

Harrison continued: ‘Again, it’s hard to survive when you don’t have those eyeballs anymore because people will talk about another show.’

The Dallas native hosted the ABC series from from 2002 to 2021. Pictured in 2020

Harrison said that while he’s happy with how things turned out in hindsight, he wasn’t emotionally prepared at the time for the severance. Pictured in 2020

Harrison said that while he’s happy with how things turned out in hindsight, he wasn’t emotionally prepared at the time for the severance.

‘I had to mourn the loss of something that I didn’t intend to exit then,’ Harrison said. ‘I would have probably soon, but not then, like that.

‘And so there was mourning a loss there and I had to realize, like when I left my marriage, take your time and don’t just jump back into the next relationship. That’s not the Band-Aid that’s gonna heal that wound.’