Chris Harrison Addresses Lack Of Diversity On ‘Bachelor’ Franchise

By Aynslee Darmon. Published: 7 May 2020 6:21 PM Last updated: 7 May 2020 6:22 PM

Chris Harrison is sharing his thoughts about the “Bachelor” franchise and its lack of diversity.

The longtime host joined SiriusXM’s Bevy Smith, who hosts “Bevelations” on Radio Andy, on Thursday and addressed a lot of the backlash the reality show has received during its years on air.

“Now we have diversity in age, but you guys have had a lot of problems with diversity when it comes to race. Come on, Chris, what’s the deal, babe?” Smith said to Harrison. “How can we get this fixed? … My mom loves, loves, loves the show, but whenever I watch I feel very much like … there’s no black and brown people that like go the distance really, so it’s disheartening.”

And Harrison agrees, while “The Bachelor”, “Bachelorette” and “Bachelor In Paradise” have made progress, they have a long way to go.

“Well, I think you just hit the nail on the head,” he said. “When you watch, you don’t see yourself represented, and I think that was what the issue was early on when we would ask people to come audition for the show and we were begging people to come audition for the show and we weren’t getting the numbers. And we had to stop and think: Why? Is it the chicken or the egg?”

He added, “So what we realized is if you don’t see yourself represented, no matter what it is — on TV or in a club or whatever — you’re probably not going to want to attend, you’re not going to feel comfortable. So we had to take that first step and have done better at casting and putting more diverse people on the show. Therefore, you see yourself represented more.”

Harrison later admitted, “It takes a long time to turn around a big boat, and we needed to take that step… I think we’ve done much better in the last few seasons for sure and we will continue to do that.”

“The Bachelorette”‘s upcoming season with Claire Crawley as the Bachelorette has been put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.