Chris Harrison Set to Return to TV With New Reality Dating Series and Morning Show

Carly Thomas
·2 min read
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Former Bachelor host Chris Harrison has set his return to television with a new reality dating series and morning show.

Besides hosting the untitled weekday morning talk show with his wife, Lauren Zima, Harrison will contribute to Dr. Phil McGraw’s Dr. Phil Primetime.

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This is part of an overall deal that Harrison signed with McGraw’s Merit Street Media, a new streaming and broadcast network that launches on April 2 with Dr. Phil Primetime.

Not many details were released about the reality dating program, but Harrison is co-creating and hosting it. The show will be filmed at Merit Street’s headquarters studios in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Harrison told Entertainment Tonight that he thought “long and hard about” this new venture following his public exit from The Bachelor franchise.

“Call it divine intervention, karma, kismet, whatever it is, the fact that Dr. Phil created this network in my own backyard here in Dallas, it means the world to me to, not only be returning to television, but to be doing it here in a hometown crowd,” he said.

Harrison departed the ABC reality show in 2021 following backlash for an Extra interview he did with former Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay. In the interview, the host did not denounce allegations of past racism against season 25 contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who went on to win that season with the first-ever Black star of The Bachelor, Matt James.

Following the criticism, the host took an unplanned hiatus from the reality series and never returned amid the firestorm that ultimately led to his exit.

Years later, Harrison launched a podcast with iHeartRadio, The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever…With Chris Harrison, where he publicly spoke about his departure from the ABC franchise.

“The toughest thing for me was where to turn, what to do,” he said in the podcast’s first episode. “I was heartbroken. I was gutted. I was embarrassed. I was mad at myself. I was disappointed in myself.”

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