Getty Images Chris Harrison gets harsh reaction to podcast from Rachel Lindsay.
Former “Bachelor” franchise host Chris Harrison has announced that he’s coming out with his very own podcast called “The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever.” The first episode is set to be released on January 9, 2023.
“I’m very excited to announce my new partnership with iHeartRadio launching a podcast network,” Harrison shared in an Instagram post. “More importantly, I’m excited to connect with all of you once again. I love you all, and have missed you very much. It’s time we talk!”
In a teaser from the first episode, Harrison opens up about his exit from “The Bachelor” franchise, how he got to that point, and the aftermath of it all.
“I have not spoken publicly for two years about this,” Harrison said. “I have a lot of thoughts and I think about this every day … of what I want to say and how important it is that I speak to everyone for the first time,” he added.
But there’s one person who isn’t too sure that Harrison’s podcast will be “Bachelor”-related, despite the name — and that same person has no interest in being a guest. Said person is former “Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay.
Here’s what you need to know:
Lindsay Doesn’t Think Harrison Will Talk About the Franchise
The end of Harrison’s reign as “Bachelor” franchise host came after he sat down for an interview with Lindsay on ExtraTV. Lindsay asked the host for his thoughts on “Bachelor” star Rachael Kirkconnell after photos of her at an “Old South” formal surfaced online.
“First and foremost, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Rachael about it. And this is again where we all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion because I have seen some stuff online, again, this judge, jury, executioner thing where people are just tearing this girl’s life apart,” Harrison said.
“It’s unbelievably alarming to watch this. I haven’t heard Rachael speak on this yet, and until I actually hear this woman have a chance to speak, who am I to say any of this? I saw a picture of her at a sorority party five years ago and that’s it, like, boom, like okay this girl is in this book now and she’s now in this group, and I’m like, ‘Really?'” he added.
This was the beginning of the end for Harrison, who received relentless criticism causing him to take a step back from his hosting duties. A few weeks later, he announced his departure from the series after more than 25 years.
And while Harrison admits he’s never publicly talked about what went down from his perspective, fans are expecting a lot to come out on his podcast. However, Lindsay isn’t quite convinced.
“I think he’s just playing off one of his most famous catchphrases. There won’t be ‘Bachelor’ talk, I would assume,” Lindsay said on the December 20, 2022, episode of the “Higher Learning” podcast.
Lindsay Won’t Appear on Harrison’s Podcast
Lindsay went on to say that she hasn’t had any contact with Harrison since everything went down. And she admitted that she wouldn’t be making an appearance on his podcast if she was asked.
“It’s been almost two years since that happened and the last time you had any communication with me was after I said, ‘We should just accept his apology after he was on Good Morning America and move on,'” she explained.
“People turned on Chris again or went harder on him. And he wrote me and said, you know, ‘I appreciate what you had to say. We should go have dinner.’ So that was over a month after the initial thing and so you never reached out to me in between when I was going through all that [the hate I was getting] on social media. But you, you know, you’re in the media telling everybody I’m your friend,” she added.
Lindsay made it clear that she has no interest in continuing a conversation from the past, especially not on Harrison’s new podcast.
“You’ve unfollowed me on social media at this point; moved on, new chapter. When you move on from that new chapter, I was not a part of it. I would imagine he signed some sort of NDA, so I think this will just be him for the first time saying how he felt with it, all the aftermath, losing that job [and] how it affected him,” she said.
“I think he’ll refer to it as ‘the interview,’ ‘when that happened.’ I don’t think he wants to touch that because then it’s going to elicit a response from me and then, you know, it goes back and forth,” she continued.
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