Ex-‘Bachelor’ host Chris Harrison returns to TV thanks to Dr. Phil

TV

By Michael Starr

Perhaps Phil McGraw persuaded him with a red rose.

Former “The Bachelor”/”The Bachelorette” host Chris Harrison, who left the ABC warhorse franchise in 2021, is returning to TV with a new dating show and a morning show on Dr. Phil’s new Dallas, Texas, cable network, according to “Entertainment Tonight.”

Harrison, 52, has partnered with McGraw’s Merit Street Media network for his new deal, under which he will also contribute to McGraw’s new show “Dr. Phil Primetime.”

Harrison told “ET” that he thought “long and hard” about his new ventures.

“Call if 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 to be returning to television, but to be doing it here in a hometown crowd,” he explained.

Harrison said he began working with Merit Street Media first by contributing to “Dr. Phil Primetime,” doing “some very penetrating fieldwork having to do with some of these romance scams, these catfish-type things.”

McGraw, for his part, said that Harrison is “so good on camera … When he walked out for the first time, the audience went insane.”

McGraw, 73, told “ET” that Harrison’s new (unnamed) dating show “has dating elements in it, but this is so different and so novel.”

He added: “It is flipping the script in a way that I think people are gonna become addicted to it in a week. It is unbelievable.”

McGraw told Harrison in their first meeting on the new dating show to “think bigger and broader.”

He explained: “This is a blank slate.”

Harrison agreed to McGraw’s suggestion and said the new show will differ in variety and scope from “The Bachelor” franchise.

“People got to know and love me for two decades hosting ‘The Bachelor,’ so, yes, we are going to be creating a reality dating show,” he said. “For years and years I said, ‘This is the most dramatic show ever.’

“We want to create a show where those words actually ring true, so this dating show will be the most dramatic ever — that you can be sure of.”

As for his new morning show, Harrison will team up with his wife, former “ET” correspondent Lauren Zima.

 “Not only do I get to return to television, but I get to do it with the woman I love,” he said.

Zima said their relationship “is a big part” of the show.

“The morning show we’re pulling together is gonna be a place for us to play, to have fun,” she told “ET.” “What matters most to both of us has always been our audience, so we want to be able to connect with them.

“What’s more relatable than talking about our relationship and what’s going on in our lives?

“I also think the morning show is gonna be a place to be silly and to play,” Zima added. “We want to give people a light, fun, entertaining moment in their mornings in a time when a lot of what’s out there is tough.”

Harrison, who hosted “The Bachelor” for 19 years, left the ABC franchise under a veil of controversy in February 2021 after he was criticized for defending a past contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell, who was accused of racism after being shown in photos attending an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity party in 2018.

ABC announced his permanent exit four months later in June.

He later apologized.