Chris Harrison criticizes the “Bachelor” franchise as “very toxic” two years after leaving his hosting job over allegations of racism.
“What I went through was tumultuous. I don’t wish it on anybody,” he recalled while speaking to Bachelor Nation alum Jason Tartick on the “Trading Secrets” podcast Monday.
“It was horrifying on a lot of levels and something that I pray to God my worst enemy never goes through.”
Harrison, 52, continued, “But, with that said, I knew I had to remove myself from what became a very toxic situation.”
He even hypothesized that things could have been “figured” out between him and ABC without him exiting the show.
“But I had to remove myself from that toxic situation. And so I’m proud of that decision,” he added.
“I knew I had to remove myself from what became a very toxic situation,” he recalled on ABC
“That’s a relationship I don’t need to be in anymore because it wasn’t healthy,” he added. ABC
“I’m proud that I handled it the way I did and I still look at [the show] as a blessing because it changed my life on so many levels,” he went on.
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“Financially, of course. It changed my life. It changed my kids’ lives.”
He even joked that he was able to build his home on the “tears” of contestants like Tartick.
Harrison, however, said he appreciates the show and how it changed his life in so many ways, including financially. Getty Images
On a serious note, he added, “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, who recently married entertainment host Lauren Zima in the Austin, Texas, home he mentioned, left the “Bachelor” franchise as an executive producer and host following backlash to his February 2021 interview with former “Bachelorette” lead Rachel Lindsay.
Harrison was fired from the “Bachelor” franchise in June 2021 after being accused of racism during an interview with former “Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
During their interview, he defended Season 25 winner Rachael Kirkconnell after pictures surfaced of her at a plantation-themed college formal in 2018.
“We all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion,” he told Lindsay, who became the first black lead of “The Bachelorette” in 2017.
Despite Lindsay explaining that it was “not a good look ever” to attend such a party,
