If anyone knows the grueling demands of The Bachelor filming schedule, it’s ever-present host Chris Harrison. So naturally, the handsome TV personality would be skeptical of recent rumors that one of the new Bachelorettes, Kaitlyn Bristowe, had a boyfriend the whole time she was competing for a rose from Chris Soules.
“Really? How would she have time for that,” he asked incredulously when Us Weekly caught up with him at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills on March 19. “Is it me?! Who came up with that story?”
No, Harrison and Bristowe are not actually dating. “No, I don’t think she had a secret boyfriend,” he said with a laugh. In actuality, Bristowe, along with fellow Bachelor finalist Britt Nilsson, was chosen to become the eleventh Bachelorette, and Harrison says both women would make excellent choices once the lucky lady is narrowed down to one.
“It’s going great! I think we couldn’t go wrong with both of the girls, both very different,” Harrison said before the event, a panel called WE tv Presents: The Evolution of Relationship Reality Shows. “Britt’s emotional and beautiful, and Kaitlyn’s beautiful and funny in a more sarcastic, bust your chops way. Two very different shows and it’s going to be great. And a really great group of guys too. It’s going to be a really good show.”
While Harrison and Bristowe might not be dating, the ABC host said he and many Bachelor and Bachelorette alums are still friends.
“Sean and Catherine [Lowe], if I’m in Dallas we’ll try and have dinner; I saw Trista and Ryan [Sutter] in Vail recently, if they’re in LA they’ll come and see me,” Harrison revealed to Us. “And Andrew Firestone is one of my best friends. I still go out and have barbecues with his family, and Bob Guiney, a ton of people. They’re family. It’s a really weird aspect, but it’s this extended family.”
Harrison even showed up at the Dancing With the Stars season 20 premiere to cheer on Soules, and said he was impressed by the newly engaged Bachelor‘s dancing skills with pro partner Witney Carson.
“He absolutely kicked ass! I had seen some video — he showed me some secret video earlier and I said, ‘Well you’re not terrible!’ But I really didn’t think he’d be that good,” Harrison confessed. “Even [Soules’ fiancee] Whitney Bischoff was like, ‘Wow! look at him!’ The best moment was sitting between Whitney and Chris’ mom — she was crying, she was pinching me, she was so excited! It was really cool.”
See Soules dance on DWTS Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, and see Harrison return to his hosting duties when The Bachelorette premieres on May 18.
