No rose left to present! Kaitlyn Bristowe opened up about her friendship with Chris Harrison — and why it stalled after she was supplied the internet hosting gig for season 17 of The Bachelorette.
“They offered me the position to come in and what the Bachelor franchise said was to mentor Katie [Thurston],” Bristowe, 37, mentioned in the course of the Tuesday, January 31, episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “[They said] I wouldn’t be replacing Chris. Then all these articles started coming out, saying, ‘Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe replacing Chris Harrison.’ And so I messaged Chris probably about 10 times without him responding. I just want him to know that I thought he was irreplaceable and I didn’t want to step on toes.”
The Canada native defined that she “didn’t know” what her “role” could be, however rumors swirling of her changing Harrison, 51, made her “feel icky” concerning the state of affairs. After operating into him at Wells Adams and Sarah Hyland’s nuptials in August 2022, the Dancing With the Stars alum realized that issues weren’t going to be the identical.
“Then I was like ‘OK, he hates me.’ And we were best friends and now he hates me,” she shared. “And then I saw him at Wells and Sarah’s wedding and I walked him to him and I was like, ‘I miss you,’ and he was like, ‘Well I’ve always been here.’ … So yeah, that was tough.”
Harrison, who hosted the relationship franchise for 19 years, exited in 2021 amid racism allegations. After the Texas native defended picture’s from Rachael Kirkconnell’s plantation-themed celebration, he was requested to step down from his function.
“I’ve had a truly incredible run as host of The Bachelor franchise and now I’m excited to start a new chapter,” Harrison wrote by way of Instagram on the time. “I’m so grateful to Bachelor Nation for all of the memories we’ve made together. While my two-decade journey is wrapping up, the friendships I’ve made will last a lifetime.”
Bristowe, for her half, reached out to Harrison to supply her help — whereas nonetheless staying true to herself.
“When this all went down, I reached out to Rachael and I reached out to Chris and I said, ‘What you did was wrong and you know that. I understand there’s so much more to it but what do you want me to do to support you while also standing up for what I believe in,’” she defined. “Then he called and we talked and he said he didn’t want anyone to really get involved. [He said,] ‘It’s hard and I understand that you have to like, say what you need to say.’”
However, when Bristowe and Tayshia, 32, took over the internet hosting gig for seasons 17 and 18 of The Bachelorette and have become frontrunners to take over the function completely, her friendship with Harrison hit a snag. (The “Off the Vine” podcast host in the end didn’t land the gig and mentioned the community needed a extra “consistent” host, selecting Jesse Palmer as a substitute.)
While Bristowe revealed that she “balled” her “eyes out” after the duo’s bond “just felt like it went down the toilet,” she added that she’s tried to not take the snub personally.
“I don’t think it was actually about me if I can remove my ego. I think he was going through so much in his life. He lost 20 lbs he was depressed,” she defined, noting that Harrison was “probably really crushed” about having to exit the sequence in such an abrupt method after eager to “go out on top.”
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