Chris Harrison is breaking his silence about the drama surrounding Taylor Frankie Paul after her season of the Bachelorette was canceled earlier this year.
“I will say this: All of this just makes me more excited about my new show,” Harrison, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly at the ACC Golf Championship presented by American Century Investments in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, July 8.
The former Bachelor Nation host — who worked on the ABC series for 19 years before his 2021 exit — explained that the scandal involving Paul, 32, as the show’s lead made him glad to be doing his own thing. (ABC pulled Paul’s season in March after TMZ released footage of her throwing a chair at ex Dakota Mortensen in a 2023 incident.)
Harrison told Us he is currently focused on his passion project, revealing fans can look forward to seeing it in the coming months.
“My wife and I sold and created and executive produced a show that’s on Fox Nation. It’s coming out this fall,” Harrison explained. “It’s the dating love show I’ve always wanted to do.”
He confessed, “The more and more I see it, it’s not just that situation, it’s all the shows I’m watching. I’m just excited to bring something different.”
When asked whether he thinks ABC should air Paul’s season after pulling it in March, Harrison pleaded the fifth.
“Not my monkey, not my circus,” he told Us.
Harrison was the original host of The Bachelor, which premiered in 2002. He went on to host its slew of spinoffs, including The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and more for nearly two decades.
After Harrison came under fire in February 2021 for his apparent defense of season 25 winner Rachael Kirkconnell, who sparked controversy for her racially insensitive past, he stepped back from his hosting duties.
Harrison’s exit from Bachelor Nation became permanent that June, with Warner Horizon and ABC Entertainment telling Us in a statement, “Chris Harrison is stepping aside as host of The Bachelor franchise. We are thankful for his many contributions over the past 20 years and wish him all the best on his new journey.”
Controversy, however, continued to plague the franchise when Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Paul’s own troubled past came to light.
Paul made headlines in March — amid her promo tour for season 22 of The Bachelorette — after news broke that she and ex Mortensen, 33, had allegedly been involved in a domestic violence incident in late February.
Around the same time, video footage from a 2023 domestic violence altercation between the exes resurfaced. In the video, Paul threw a chair at Mortensen as a child could be heard crying in the background. (Paul shares daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 6, with ex-husband Tate Paul and son Ever, 2, with Mortensen.)
After the video went viral, ABC announced that Taylor’s season of the hit dating series would not air as planned.
Amid the fallout, the Draper Police Department, West Jordan Police Department and Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announced that it declined to file charges against Taylor in the February incident.
Mortensen and Taylor, however, have remained embroiled in a custody dispute over their son, after Mortensen received temporary custody of Ever in March.
In April, a judge ruled that Taylor and Mortensen must stay at least 100 feet from each other after granting them both protective orders. While Taylor initially received supervised visitation with Ever, by June the judge had granted her unsupervised visitation rights.
There have also been rumors that The Bachelorette will eventually air Taylor’s season as the heat surrounding her dies down.
Former Bachelor Nation producer Julie LaPlaca exclusively told Us on Tuesday, July 7, “I think viewers will see that season,” adding that “I feel like if and when it airs, it’ll probably do really well.”
Harrison, for his part, is focused on his own upcoming reality dating show and not worried about the future of Bachelor Nation.
“My wife and I got to create it from start to finish, and it’s very different. I didn’t create The Bachelor, I hosted it for a lot of years,” he told Us. “I got up the ranks where I was producing, but it wasn’t my baby. And so this is my baby.”
Harrison also shared that outside of working in TV he’s become a big lover of golf and was thrilled to be asked back to the American Century Championship for the third year.
“It’s like camp,” he told Us of the annual golf tournament, which features celebrity guests like Colin Jost and Travis Kelce.
Harrison added that he’s learned to love golf because of the “brotherhood” that comes with the sport.
“I remember sitting around, and hate to name drop, but I will, but sitting around last year with Colin Jost, Don Cheadle, and myself, and we’re just talking golf, like, nothing else mattered,” he recalled. “No one cared who anybody was. It was just like we just had this bond. It creates this great brotherhood and friendship.”
