Not so fast! Chris Harrison is shooting down claims that former Bachelorette contestant Peter Kraus made about the beloved franchise, including that he rejected the Bachelor title.
“It is normal for us to have multiple candidates coming in. First of all, we have to find who is available and who is really sincere, and we bring them in for interviews,” the longtime franchise host, 48, told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, May 5. “There is a vetting process that goes all the way up to the top of the network, so there is a lot that goes into it, instead of ‘Hey, Peter, you want to be the Bachelor? Great, come on!’”
Harrison added, “Not to put a big pin in this big balloon, but that would have been the start of where we would have gone. That would not have been the final step. I have heard a lot of people say they turned it down or they did this. Great, good on you. I am all behind you — whatever floats your boat.”
The former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host’s comments come after Kraus, 35, opened up about what allegedly led him to turn down the Bachelor role. Last month, the personal trainer claimed on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti’s “Almost Famous” podcast that he requested “relationship counseling for myself and the top four or five girls during the process so we could work things out on a deep level.” Kraus said he also asked for the counseling to continue after filming concluded.
Harrison, however, told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday that “everybody has access” to participating in therapy sessions.
Kraus competed for Rachel Lindsay’s heart on The Bachelorette’s 13th season in 2017. He ended the show as the runner-up to Bryan Abasolo, whom the 35-year-old Ghosted host wed in August 2019.
In a surprise move, Bachelor producers picked Arie Luyendyk Jr. — who previously appeared on season 8 of The Bachelorette in 2012 — as the season 22 lead.
During Kraus’ “Almost Famous” appearance on April 23, he claimed to have turned down Bachelor producers three times before having a “formal” discussion about the matter in Los Angeles.
“I told [the producers] I had started to talk to someone and they said, ‘Are you guys in a relationship?’ I said, ‘No,’ and they said, ‘Would you be willing to leave that or exit that? I wasn’t sure,” he explained. “It was really hard for me.”
Kraus said that he “couldn’t promise” that he would end his season engaged, adding: “I didn’t want to be forced to do it if I said yes to the show.”
