Chris Harrison Exits ‘Bachelor’ Franchise; Rose Withers On 19-Year Run As Host After Racism Controversy - Deadline

Having fronted the Mike Fleiss-created The Bachelor and all its lucrative ABC spinoffs since 2002, Harrison will receive a rose of his own in the form of mid-range eight-figure payoff and promise to keep his mouth shut, I hear.

The confidential settlement with franchise producers and distributor Warner Horizon was finally reached after one more flurry of back and forth between the parties and Bachelor broadcaster ABC on Monday night.  A motivational undercurrent, so to speak, throughout was Harrison lawyer Bryan Freedman pledging to unleash the Shiva of lawsuits exposing a swath of The Bachelor’s alleged dirty laundry unless his Gersh-repped client emerged feeling the financial love.

Harrison was shoved aside from the franchise earlier this year after offering in an interview a pass and “compassion” to Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell over 2018 photos that surfaced of the Season 25 contestant participating in an Old South slave plantation-themed fraternity formal.

As the fallout from the interview and Kirkconnell’s racist barbed party rapidly grew, a strongly nudged and apologetic Harrison declared around Valentine’s Day that he would be “stepping aside” from the first season of The Bachelor to have a Black man at its core.