Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and I heart
Speaker 1: radio podcast. Welcome to the most dramatic podcast ever. I
Speaker 1: am Chris Harrison alongside Lauren Zima. It's so good to
Speaker 1: have everybody here today. Because the show is about you.
Speaker 1: We are going to open the phone lines, take your calls.
Speaker 1: It's always one of our favorite episodes that we do
Speaker 1: when we get to interact with you because this show's
Speaker 1: about you. Well, I was we were about to sit
Speaker 1: down and do this episode. I mean, we're planning to
Speaker 1: do it, and then some major news did hit though, babe,
Speaker 1: and I have to say, it's making me wonder what
Speaker 1: kind of questions we might get today because I've had
Speaker 1: several people text me, call me ask if you were
Speaker 1: going to do a podcast about the news that broke
Speaker 1: this week, which is that the creator of The Bachelor,
Speaker 1: Mike Flice, your longtime boss of about twenty years, the
Speaker 1: man who hired you, has quote per the article, stepped down,
Speaker 1: stepped away from the show. So several people reaching out
Speaker 1: and asking is Chris gonna do like an emergency podcast
Speaker 1: on this But you know, obviously, you know, I've had
Speaker 1: like twenty four hours to process this news. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to ask for everybody out there, though, what was
Speaker 1: your first reaction? I actually what was giving me your
Speaker 1: first emotional or one word for when you first saw
Speaker 1: the headline? Surprising. I was surprised. It was news that
Speaker 1: filtered out early Tuesday morning. Obviously planned very carefully to
Speaker 1: come out after the finale on Monday night, early Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: This announcement comes out and very surprising. I would say,
Speaker 1: I had to sum it up in one word, it's
Speaker 1: very interesting. It's very interesting to me. Obviously, before you
Speaker 1: and I ever started dating, I covered the show as
Speaker 1: a journalist for three three I don't know, three four
Speaker 1: years before we started dating. And then we started dating,
Speaker 1: and I continued to written. We kind of kept things separate,
Speaker 1: you know. I wanted to cover it from a place
Speaker 1: of also joy, and so I would ask you to
Speaker 1: not tell me spoilers and not tell me things. But
Speaker 1: this is very it's very interesting. Maybe do you want
Speaker 1: to explain for everybody because this is kind of, on
Speaker 1: the one hand, huge news for the Bachelor world, but
Speaker 1: on the other hand, like I watched a lot of
Speaker 1: shows and I don't know who the creator of those
Speaker 1: shows might be, So do you want to explain for
Speaker 1: everybody who make places. Yeah, because it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, this is huge news, It is massive. Mike
Speaker 1: Flice created The Bachelor, it was his idea, it was
Speaker 1: his baby. He's the person who hired me, as Lauren
Speaker 1: said back in two thousand and one, that's who I
Speaker 1: met first. That's who I had several meetings with. That's
Speaker 1: who was on hand every day of the show, especially
Speaker 1: early on. His involvement ebbed and flowed throughout the years,
Speaker 1: but that's who's made every major decision casting who the
Speaker 1: Bachelor bacherette is, the direction of the show, the pulse
Speaker 1: of the show. That is what the creator and slash
Speaker 1: executive producer does. So that's who Mike Fleiss is or
Speaker 1: was to the show before he quote unquote stepped away
Speaker 1: as of Tuesday morning. And I say that because this
Speaker 1: is what I found confusing about this surprising announcement is
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what that means stepped away, Because as
Speaker 1: the creator of a show, you can be a lot
Speaker 1: of things. You can be active, you can be an
Speaker 1: executive producer and be there day to day, or you
Speaker 1: can just sit at home and collect mailbox money. There's
Speaker 1: nothing to step into or step away from? Right. Yeah again,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll put on my journalist hat here. And
Speaker 1: when I first read this article, the first sentences Mike
Speaker 1: Fleiss is stepping down in the I'm in the article
Speaker 1: Deadline Hollywood, which is where I think it first came out.
Speaker 1: Mike Fleiss is stepping down from the creative team of
Speaker 1: the Bachelor franchise after more than twenty years. Look, I'll
Speaker 1: be honest. My first reaction was l ol, I just
Speaker 1: don't buy it. I don't think that Mike is stepping down.
Speaker 1: I don't know why he would. It's the this franchise
Speaker 1: is from what I always understood his whole world. This
Speaker 1: is the show he's known for, and these are the
Speaker 1: only shows he does. And there's no reason. There's not
Speaker 1: a reason ever given in the article. And I don't
Speaker 1: know why it's something you would need to announce like
Speaker 1: stepping down. Why would you need to Why would what
Speaker 1: would be the points like there's no he's stepping down
Speaker 1: to do this or away from or there's no reason given,
Speaker 1: which is very strange to me. Maybe let me give
Speaker 1: some some backdrop on what Lauren saying that has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with this show and nothing to do with
Speaker 1: this person. Mark Burnett incredibly creative, brilliant man, creator of Survivor,
Speaker 1: if you didn't know, among many other things, The Apprentice
Speaker 1: and other great shows. He quote unquote stepped away from
Speaker 1: Survivor many moons ago. Jeff Probst and his crew took
Speaker 1: that show over a long time ago. There's no major
Speaker 1: announcements because Burnett's still it's still his baby, it's still
Speaker 1: his show. He's still the creator of the show. But
Speaker 1: he quote unquote stepped away. Would you compare if you're
Speaker 1: a parent and you announce I'm stepping away from parenting
Speaker 1: my Child's like, get it? It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 1: And there's one sentence in particular that I actually take
Speaker 1: issue with it this article having covered the show for
Speaker 1: many years quote. While he's remained associated with the franchise,
Speaker 1: Fleiss hasn't been involved in the day to day operations
Speaker 1: of each series in about a decade. First of all,
Speaker 1: if you just go look at his Twitter, Mike, that's
Speaker 1: either not true or Mike doesn't want you to think
Speaker 1: that's true. Because he would tweet photos from the set.
Speaker 1: He would say at night one, here we go. He
Speaker 1: would tweet that he was making major announcements about the show.
Speaker 1: He would say, this news is coming up. He would say,
Speaker 1: are you watching? And I mean, it was always my
Speaker 1: understanding that he was like I'd heard from other journalists
Speaker 1: that he was in the control room on night one.
Speaker 1: There were some journalists who were sometimes brought into the
Speaker 1: control room. I never was I and that and that
Speaker 1: was very recent. That was in my time on the show.
Speaker 1: I think somebody did. Somebody did like a piece like
Speaker 1: reporting from the control room a few years ago. Who
Speaker 1: was it. Was it Christin Baldwin, Yes, and she was
Speaker 1: like live in the control room, and I think she
Speaker 1: talked about it. So if you're in the control room
Speaker 1: on night one, I don't that's you being pretty involved
Speaker 1: in the operations of the show. And I mean, I
Speaker 1: have met Mike a few times, but it's been at
Speaker 1: Bachelor things. He was when they started to do the
Speaker 1: those Bachelor live when they tried to do that live
Speaker 1: tour with Ben and Becca a few years ago, he
Speaker 1: was like there on the opening night. It was my
Speaker 1: understanding that Mike was still involved in a lot of
Speaker 1: the show, and to say he wasn't for a decade
Speaker 1: is wild to me. There are obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: things I know and I just can't say, but there
Speaker 1: are a lot of things that make you go. I
Speaker 1: can definitely say more will come out only that I know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what these people are working on, but
Speaker 1: I heard that there are multiple journalists working very hard
Speaker 1: on this story, and that I found very interesting. And again,
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about what those journalists are working on,
Speaker 1: but I did hear that that is happening, So there
Speaker 1: is a lot more to come. We will follow this
Speaker 1: story because obviously it is a big story that I
Speaker 1: don't think we'll just be swept under the rug because
Speaker 1: it came out Tuesday morning, the night after The Bats
Speaker 1: are finale. Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: who are these producers that are taking over? How do
Speaker 1: you feel about this, Kendall Producer Kendall. I love when
Speaker 1: Kendall jumpson because Kendall is such a long time fan
Speaker 1: of the show. Kendell, I'm glad that you brought that
Speaker 1: up because that stuck out to me too, actually, and
Speaker 1: I'd forgotten to mention it. So it says longtime executive
Speaker 1: producer Bennett Grabner, along with Claire Freeland and Jason Erlick.
Speaker 1: We'll be taking over as executive producers and showrunners for
Speaker 1: the franchise. Now. I know Bennett. I'd met Bennett several
Speaker 1: times covering the show over the years, and he's just
Speaker 1: been there a long time. That was not surprising to me.
Speaker 1: But having covered it and met meeting several of the
Speaker 1: producers year after year, I was really surprised by these
Speaker 1: other two names because I don't know them, and many
Speaker 1: other producers had come to mind for me. Who I
Speaker 1: would have thought the show would have promoted along with Bennett,
Speaker 1: people who've been putting their time in there, who are
Speaker 1: incredibly talented people. So, Babe, do you know Claire and Jason?
Speaker 1: I think it says Claire was from Bachelor Canada. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so Claire, I do not know she came from Bachelor Canada.
Speaker 1: Jason Erlich worked with me. He's an old friend. I've
Speaker 1: known Jason for many, many years. Famous uncle Kenn Erlick
Speaker 1: who did the Grammys and a lot of award shows
Speaker 1: for many years. Yeah they're related. Nepo baby, no different story,
Speaker 1: but yeah, Jay worked on the show for many years
Speaker 1: and then went off and then kind of came back
Speaker 1: and forth and jumped in a bunch of reality shows.
Speaker 1: And then obviously Bennett, as you said, you know Bennett.
Speaker 1: He's an old friend as well. Bennett's been with me
Speaker 1: on the show for decades. He came rose through the
Speaker 1: ranks and talented producer. And so yeah, those three are
Speaker 1: now according to this article in Charge, you know the
Speaker 1: Bennet of it all. Even Jason Erlick not there's most shocking.
Speaker 1: But I was a little surprised. There were a lot
Speaker 1: of people I worked with for decades who are unbelievably
Speaker 1: talented that I thought that their names would be on
Speaker 1: this list. Were even either executive producers or co executive
Speaker 1: producers that aren't there anymore. And that's that again surprises me. Again.
Speaker 1: I'm just speaking from my experience of covering the show. Look,
Speaker 1: I would sit on set for hours to explain you, guys,
Speaker 1: like I would go on what's called a set visit,
Speaker 1: and so that means you sit on the set and
Speaker 1: you wait for hours waiting for the contestants or the
Speaker 1: bachelor bachelorette to be available to do an interview. And
Speaker 1: during those hours of waiting for when they'd have a
Speaker 1: break in production, I would talk with the producers and
Speaker 1: make small talk with them and get to know them
Speaker 1: a little bit. And again, many of them are just
Speaker 1: lovely and talented. Some incredible female producers there by the way.
Speaker 1: And I would hear a lot from producers frustrations that
Speaker 1: they were not getting the chance to move up, that
Speaker 1: they were not getting their talent fostered, that they were
Speaker 1: not getting opportunity on the show. So that popped into
Speaker 1: my mind a little bit when I saw that these
Speaker 1: other two names, again, I just knew. I mean, I
Speaker 1: covered the show for like six seven years, and there
Speaker 1: are so many other producers who I thought would have
Speaker 1: been in that trio with Bennett, and so I was
Speaker 1: just a little bit surprised by this. And I don't
Speaker 1: really understand why, what it means, or where it comes from.
Speaker 1: It's another strange point of note in this article to me,
Speaker 1: so very mysterious. I think what it leads you to
Speaker 1: believe is that there is more to this story, more
Speaker 1: to this than what was kind of quietly put out
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, the day after the finale. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot more to talk about when it comes to this.
Speaker 1: I know there's journalists and other people looking into this
Speaker 1: that think there is more smoke where this fire's burning.
Speaker 1: So we'll see, We're gonna wait and see. We'll continue
Speaker 1: to follow it up with you, Chris. We actually had
Speaker 1: a direct message. That's a great question, and I'm actually
Speaker 1: curious what the answer is. Did Mike Fleiss hire you?
Speaker 1: And how did he find you? Yeah, it was he
Speaker 1: actually did. Being the creator of the show, he was
Speaker 1: you know, there were others involved, obviously from the network
Speaker 1: in the studio, but yes, he was the first meeting
Speaker 1: I had, and he was essentially the person that had
Speaker 1: to give the final say, just like he does on
Speaker 1: who the Bachelor Bacherette's going to be, etc. So yeah,
Speaker 1: he hired me. And it was really a funny story
Speaker 1: because I did less to get this job as the
Speaker 1: Bachelor host than pretty much any job I had ever
Speaker 1: had in my life. There were you know, usually you'll
Speaker 1: have to go in and read or you'll audition, but
Speaker 1: there was just this show that was rumored about for
Speaker 1: quite some time, like six to eight months, and I
Speaker 1: had an agent. My agent said, there is this reality
Speaker 1: show and again this is early days, so that didn't
Speaker 1: even mean much. And it's this kind of relationship show
Speaker 1: about dating and it seemed very odd, very weird, and
Speaker 1: all I knew it was from the guy who did
Speaker 1: it Who wants to Marry a Millionaire or whatever that
Speaker 1: old Rick Rockwell Darvia Congress show that was on Fox.
Speaker 1: And when the list there was, you know, there's always
Speaker 1: a list in Hollywood. This list got narrowed down, narrowed down, narrowdown.
Speaker 1: I ended up on the final four, and they said
Speaker 1: they would like to meet with you. I went in
Speaker 1: and met with Mike and some other executives and the
Speaker 1: meeting was horrible. I mean it was a disaster. Mike
Speaker 1: and I hated each other. It was like oil and water.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, it was, I mean the worst meeting hate
Speaker 1: someone in a meeting. What happened? We just we just
Speaker 1: didn't get along, honestly. So, my son Josh had just
Speaker 1: been born. He was like six weeks old. I was
Speaker 1: so tired. I think I probably had spit up on
Speaker 1: my jacket. I was just a mess, and so on me.
Speaker 1: I did not put my best face forward. They were
Speaker 1: looking for. What I heard was the guy next door
Speaker 1: kind of that just married, you know, a dad, someone
Speaker 1: who wasn't threatening. Yeah, you know it was interesting. I
Speaker 1: remember you told me they really wanted someone who was married. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and another thing that was in my favor, they wanted
Speaker 1: a no name. A lot of times, what they'll do
Speaker 1: with shows is, oh, we really want a name that'll
Speaker 1: help sell and help promote the show, and so you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, bring in Jimmy Kimmel, will bring in
Speaker 1: Jerry Seinfeld or whatever, so that'll help. And they wanted
Speaker 1: an unknown. They didn't want anybody to steal the limelight
Speaker 1: from who the Bachelor bacherette was. Thankfully that played right
Speaker 1: into my hands because I was an absolute nobody. When
Speaker 1: it makes sense they wanted someone married because you're going
Speaker 1: to be around possiful of women. Yeah, they didn't want it.
Speaker 1: I want questions raised or but I did hear later
Speaker 1: it's funny that first season because nobody knew the concept.
Speaker 1: No one knew what the heck was going on, and
Speaker 1: we didn't even really understand how to set up Night one.
Speaker 1: When everyone got out of the limo, there was Alex Michelle,
Speaker 1: the first bachelor, and I stood like twenty feet behind him,
Speaker 1: and I heard later, you know, to us, he was obvious,
Speaker 1: but the women, they had no clue. So they got
Speaker 1: out of the limo and the women said, well, I
Speaker 1: don't know who the bachelor, which one is the guy?
Speaker 1: Which dude is it? Yeah? Which one am I supposed
Speaker 1: to be excited about. So that's how it kind of started.
Speaker 1: And then later obviously I was nowhere to be seen
Speaker 1: on the arrivals and all that stuff. We clearly got
Speaker 1: the hint. But that's how it all started. When. But
Speaker 1: so in that meeting, what went wrong? It was just
Speaker 1: we were like oil and water. Realized we were you know,
Speaker 1: I was, you know, buttoned up and my suit and tie,
Speaker 1: you know, hair combed, combed over and you know, typical
Speaker 1: ready for a job interview. And Mike Flice is kind
Speaker 1: of this large man that wears sunglasses indoors and wears
Speaker 1: flip flops and yeah, very la. And so I see
Speaker 1: you were like Texas, We're a college shirt and he
Speaker 1: was like, lam in my flip flop. Yeah. At that
Speaker 1: point in my life, I was fresh off the boat
Speaker 1: from Oklahoma City. So I'm coming out of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: where I'm a newscaster, sportscaster, and I meet this very
Speaker 1: La guy, and I don't get this city. I don't
Speaker 1: get to Hollywood. That's not me it's not my family,
Speaker 1: it's not my life. So we just didn't click at all.
Speaker 1: But bizarrely, I got a call several weeks later that says,
Speaker 1: they want to meet you again, And I said, why
Speaker 1: to continue this joke? Like are they punking me? They
Speaker 1: just want to see how much worse I can be.
Speaker 1: But I went in and flies came out and he
Speaker 1: yelled across the room. He's like, Harrison, you were horrible
Speaker 1: at our first meeting, but I hear you're a good guy.
Speaker 1: Let's do this again. And despite our differences, we hit
Speaker 1: it off and I got the job and the show
Speaker 1: began that spring. That was like in October whatever, November
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, heading into the holidays. And then
Speaker 1: that spring of two thousand and two is when we
Speaker 1: started shooting the show and we started the Bachelor franchise.
Speaker 1: But that's how it all began. And so yeah, he
Speaker 1: was he was there from day one. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to the phone lines. Julie's calling in from Sacramento, California. Julie,
Speaker 1: what's on your mind today? Well, I'm wondering your thoughts.
Speaker 1: I've watched this show from the very very beginning, and
Speaker 1: this was the one season that I chose not to
Speaker 1: watch it. I couldn't even record it. Oh wow, why what? What?
Speaker 1: What made you change like that? What made you turn away?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just bored. I'm bored with that
Speaker 1: super predictable, you know. I mean, I just feel like
Speaker 1: I could write the script. Well that's I guess if
Speaker 1: you feel like if if you feel like there is
Speaker 1: a script and there's a format that's repeating itself over
Speaker 1: and over and over, then yeah, that that you know
Speaker 1: is something and you know, look there there is something
Speaker 1: to that of the ratings, you know, being down there.
Speaker 1: This season was again the lowest rated season. Monday Night's
Speaker 1: finale was by far the lowest rated finale in the
Speaker 1: history of the show. And there was something to know
Speaker 1: going in and talking to the bachelors or bachelrettes and
Speaker 1: I would say, Okay, we're getting ready to travel or
Speaker 1: we're doing this, and there was nothing that they didn't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, these people, as you just said, Julie, you
Speaker 1: grew up. You're going to date yourself because you've been
Speaker 1: watching you said from the beginning. That's twenty one years,
Speaker 1: so you've been around as long as I have. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's formulaic and things haven't changed that much in those
Speaker 1: two decades, and so the audience, you're not dumb. You
Speaker 1: know what's going on with reality TV, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: when you know what's coming next week and you've seen
Speaker 1: it and done it before, it's hard to watch over
Speaker 1: and over. Well, I think what you were alluding to,
Speaker 1: Babe by Julie, how are you? I think what maybe
Speaker 1: you were alluding to, though, is the idea, like you
Speaker 1: just mentioned, when you would go in and people would
Speaker 1: know what was coming. I do. It's interesting. A couple
Speaker 1: of years ago we started talking as I was covering
Speaker 1: the show about how you know, and I think everybody
Speaker 1: felt there's this problem with people wanting to come on
Speaker 1: the show just to be influencers, Like they know they're
Speaker 1: going to come on the show and they're going to
Speaker 1: get a certain following out of it, and so that
Speaker 1: takes away that genuine desire for love and makes it
Speaker 1: all seem fakeer and kind of gets them in their
Speaker 1: heads on the way they're being on the show. I
Speaker 1: think now what you have. An addition to that issue
Speaker 1: is that people auditioning for the show have grown up
Speaker 1: watching the show, so they know the formula inside and out.
Speaker 1: It's like when you you know, when you've like prepared
Speaker 1: and studied for a test, you know, they just know
Speaker 1: what's coming. They're like, oh, here's where hometowns are going
Speaker 1: to happen, or here's where the travel is going to
Speaker 1: get announced now, And I wonder if that's contributing to
Speaker 1: the boringness of it. But Julie, what do you think
Speaker 1: what's turning you off about it at this point? Well, okay,
Speaker 1: here's I mean, let's again dating myself, so twenty one years,
Speaker 1: I'm almost fifty four, so I mean I feel like
Speaker 1: an old lady. I'm watching girls that would be my
Speaker 1: daughter's age, So that could be part of it too,
Speaker 1: that it's just not interesting anymore at my age. That's
Speaker 1: a demographic change, right, Well, Julie, whatever. First of all,
Speaker 1: I think fifty four is you're a young as young
Speaker 1: spring chicken to me. But I mean because I'm look,
Speaker 1: I'm in the same boat as you, not from the
Speaker 1: aspect of watching somebody who's twenty five. But I from
Speaker 1: the very beginning of covering the show, I always struggled with, like, actually,
Speaker 1: if you go back, babe, the very first Bachelor was
Speaker 1: in his early thirties, right, he was like thirty one,
Speaker 1: thirty two. Yeah, I believe Alex was. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he was thirty thirty one. I think this bachelor's twenty six. Maybe.
Speaker 1: I've struggled for years with covering. I know it's not
Speaker 1: that many years of a difference, but there is something
Speaker 1: very different about where you're at and how ready you
Speaker 1: really are to get engaged at like twenty people. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying person a person, it could be different, but overall,
Speaker 1: I've struggled for years with twenty four, twenty five year
Speaker 1: olds versus thirty two thirty three year olds. I think
Speaker 1: are in a very different place, and I do think
Speaker 1: that genuineness has been missing from how young the contestants
Speaker 1: on the show have continued to get over the years. Julie,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your call, and I'm sorry
Speaker 1: you lost one of the great loves of your life
Speaker 1: in this show. I'm glad we were there for you
Speaker 1: for so many years, but it is it's tough when
Speaker 1: you when you kind of wake up and realize this
Speaker 1: doesn't do it for me anymore, and then you got
Speaker 1: to go find that new thing. And so I hope
Speaker 1: you I hope you find the new loves. Thanks Julie. Elsie,
Speaker 1: you had a good point you brought up to me
Speaker 1: the other day because you mentioned something that just struck
Speaker 1: with me about the influencers and people that came on
Speaker 1: the show, and you noticed how that's changed dramatically as
Speaker 1: far as their impressions and their involvedment. Oh yeah, this
Speaker 1: was well, we were just talking about. I look, I'll
Speaker 1: be honest, I haven't watched the show since you left.
Speaker 1: I had not looked up anybody on social media from
Speaker 1: the show in a why And I was just curious
Speaker 1: because I did see the headline this week that it
Speaker 1: was once again, I mean honestly, every season since you've left,
Speaker 1: it's been the lowest rated show, the new lowest ratings
Speaker 1: that there's been. And then I saw a headline when
Speaker 1: they announced Mike Flice's leaving. There was some headline like
Speaker 1: is this the beginning of the end for the Bachelor?
Speaker 1: And I was just curious, and I went and looked
Speaker 1: at the instagrams of the leaving bachelor and the leaving
Speaker 1: the exiting woman then he picked and the new Bachelorette. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I looked at the new Bachelorette and the guy the
Speaker 1: Bachelor leaving the show, I think when I looked, had
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty thousand Instagram followers, And that spoke
Speaker 1: volumes to me because it used to be a million.
Speaker 1: It used to be one. You would leave the show
Speaker 1: as the lead with about a million followers, typically pretty
Speaker 1: much a week after we announced you were the Bachelor
Speaker 1: of the Bachelorette, you'd be at almost a million already
Speaker 1: before your season for guys who guys get much less
Speaker 1: following than women do, the vecherettes blow up even more.
Speaker 1: But I mean one hundred and forty thousand followers that
Speaker 1: and then I thought, you know, maybe I'm maybe the
Speaker 1: following is happening on TikTok now. And then I went
Speaker 1: on looked on TikTok, and I could be wrong if
Speaker 1: I was looking at the wrong account, but I think
Speaker 1: he had five thousand followers on TikTok. Five thousand. Like
Speaker 1: that's wild to me, because I do think that probably
Speaker 1: what the show has been saying over the years the
Speaker 1: past year or so is like, well, the ratings are down,
Speaker 1: but like the streaming numbers are up, but if people
Speaker 1: are watching it on streaming and still loving it, then
Speaker 1: they would still be going and following these people on
Speaker 1: social media and that is not happening. Yeah, it makes
Speaker 1: you kind of go back to a point we made
Speaker 1: weeks ago, which is the social relevance is just not there.
Speaker 1: But you know who is there? Abby from Cleveland, Ohio
Speaker 1: is here with us on the line, Abbe, what's going on? Hi, guys?
Speaker 1: I love you guys both so much. I literally have
Speaker 1: The Bachelor and in the background, but I have it
Speaker 1: on mute because honestly, I kind of want to echo
Speaker 1: what you guys were saying about, like how this season
Speaker 1: just hasn't been as great. I definitely like feel the
Speaker 1: same way like I feel like it hasn't been I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's not the same since Chris left. I
Speaker 1: think that's pretty obvious. But yeah, it's just not been
Speaker 1: like as good in my opinion. Well, it's interesting, is
Speaker 1: there something in particular? Abby? Well, so I love that
Speaker 1: it's now your background. It's like CNN at the airport.
Speaker 1: It's just on a TV, just playing. But you know,
Speaker 1: I saw you know, stories written and social media, you know,
Speaker 1: saying that this was a snooze fest and people were
Speaker 1: bored by it. But I'm curious because I don't watch.
Speaker 1: I haven't watched since I left. Is there something in
Speaker 1: particular you feel has changed? Is there a tangible just
Speaker 1: reason why it has now means less to you? I
Speaker 1: think I honestly have a hard time like pinpointing. But
Speaker 1: I think the last season I really enjoyed was probably
Speaker 1: Um Pilot Pizza. That was great television. Yes, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know like what it is in particular, but
Speaker 1: it just it's dropped off for me a little bit,
Speaker 1: like I don't know, And I really think it has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with you, Chris, like leaving, but
Speaker 1: maybe just maybe it's bar Yeah, we all miss Bart,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe she was the key to this whole show.
Speaker 1: I think you I think I would agree with you, Abby,
Speaker 1: But yeah, those couple of seasons there was a run
Speaker 1: there with like Hannah, Colton and Peter where there were
Speaker 1: some major moments. You just had TV moments, Colton jumping
Speaker 1: the fence, Barb, Hannah and Luke and her moving that
Speaker 1: pedestal away from him at the Rose ceremony, Like those
Speaker 1: moments so stick in my mind, and that was really
Speaker 1: good television. I just love that. I'll never forget stating
Speaker 1: there and Hannah just picking up the entire rose pedestal, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, was it very light and while like
Speaker 1: I'm taking my ball and going home. Yes, that was brilliant.
Speaker 1: But yeah, those were epic seasons. Do you have a question?
Speaker 1: My question for you, Chris was what season of The
Speaker 1: Bachelor was your favorite to work on? Well, the way
Speaker 1: you kind of articulated that question is very interesting. My
Speaker 1: favorite to work on is a great question, because it's
Speaker 1: not my favorite season per se. The one I enjoyed
Speaker 1: working on the most, honestly, would have to do with
Speaker 1: my kids. Most of the major events on The Bachelor
Speaker 1: I can relate to my children. My son was born
Speaker 1: when I got the job, and my daughter was born.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget it was right around Tristan and Ryan's
Speaker 1: wedding and Meredith season of The Bachelorette was wrapping up,
Speaker 1: and so I remember my kids being born on this show,
Speaker 1: growing up on this show, traveling with me. They lived
Speaker 1: with me in Paris, they lived with me in Italy,
Speaker 1: and so those of the season's early days, when you know,
Speaker 1: it was more about walking down to the Trucadero and
Speaker 1: getting as my kids called a crape, a chocolate taco
Speaker 1: and sitting there and watching the Eiffel Tower light up
Speaker 1: at night. And so those are the nights and the
Speaker 1: seasons that meant the most to me, and I guess
Speaker 1: I would go further. There are seasons where I just
Speaker 1: met dear, dear friends, people that are now a part
Speaker 1: of my life, our life as Elzie sitting here, like
Speaker 1: Andrew Firestone, Bob Guiney, Trista, Joejoe like. There's people that
Speaker 1: came into my life, Ben Higgins, you know, and I'm
Speaker 1: forgetting many. But those are all special seasons to me
Speaker 1: that I really enjoyed working on. Some you know, weren't
Speaker 1: as fun as others, but it's work, just like everybody
Speaker 1: else's job. There were some seasons that were tougher than
Speaker 1: others to get through. Yeah, absolutely, I love hearing that.
Speaker 1: That's so cool that your kids got to travel and
Speaker 1: everything too. That's awesome it was, and to watch them
Speaker 1: grow up under that was pretty good. And by the way,
Speaker 1: thanks to all the teachers out there, because I, you know,
Speaker 1: would allow us to say, hey, by the way, we're
Speaker 1: leaving this week again, can you just send the homework
Speaker 1: with us? And so we got a lot of support
Speaker 1: back home. But Abby, I appreciate Collin and thank you
Speaker 1: for listening. And I hope you find love either in
Speaker 1: this show or a new show soon. Yeah, I hope.
Speaker 1: So thanks Abby. We're gonna go to Katie in Ben Higgins'
Speaker 1: home state of Indiana. She's up next. Hey Katie, Hi,
Speaker 1: Oh thanks, I'll just take you quick. Um, it's nice
Speaker 1: to be on the found you guys. Cool. I love
Speaker 1: looking to your podcast. Um. I just had a question,
Speaker 1: would you ever consider going back to the Bachelor now
Speaker 1: that there are new producers involved? Great question, Katie, great question.
Speaker 1: I said this before when the rumors came out that
Speaker 1: were swirling several weeks ago about ABC or whoever the
Speaker 1: network talking about bringing me back or asking me to
Speaker 1: come back, and I said at that time, never say never.
Speaker 1: But I also said at that time there were some
Speaker 1: things that would have to happen. And it's not just financially.
Speaker 1: There are things that would have to change and things
Speaker 1: that would have to happen. I can say one of
Speaker 1: those things has happened. One of those things, one of
Speaker 1: the biggest hurdles, has now happened. Now does that mean
Speaker 1: I want to go back or would not necessarily? I
Speaker 1: love my time on the show, and I liken it
Speaker 1: to a relationship. It's not necessarily a great idea to
Speaker 1: go back into a relationship because you just remember the
Speaker 1: fun great things about it. There were some bad things
Speaker 1: that you obviously got away from that were toxic and bad,
Speaker 1: or there wouldn't have been a breakup in the first place.
Speaker 1: So again, I never you know, as my mom taught me,
Speaker 1: I'll never say never. But that has you know. Things
Speaker 1: things change in life, things can change. Well, you have
Speaker 1: been my favorite host, and when you asked, I was
Speaker 1: definitely sad, and I've watched a few season then, but
Speaker 1: I agree with everyone else. I think you've been the
Speaker 1: best post. Thank you, Katie. I appreciate it. And there
Speaker 1: there was one other part of your question that I
Speaker 1: will finish, um, because you mentioned about working for different
Speaker 1: producers because there are new producers. Well, two of them
Speaker 1: I actually know very well, and they're both I would
Speaker 1: consider friends of mine, and that is Jason and Bennett.
Speaker 1: Bennet and I have worked together for many years. We
Speaker 1: still talk and text and Um he's a good man
Speaker 1: and a good producer, and so is Jason and Um
Speaker 1: Jason actually met his wife on the show. His wife
Speaker 1: was a bachelorette on Doctor Travis Storks season and it
Speaker 1: was a contestant on the show, and they it was
Speaker 1: it didn't and by the way, nothing there was nothing nefarious.
Speaker 1: Let me just clean this up. Nothing nefarious. Nothing happened
Speaker 1: while they were on the show. It was much later
Speaker 1: that they reconnected and fell in love and got married,
Speaker 1: and they'd been married for quite some time. But you know,
Speaker 1: Jason and Bennett and I know, um the woman they
Speaker 1: brought down from Bachelor Canada, I don't know, but obviously
Speaker 1: they feel like she can do the job. So it
Speaker 1: really wouldn't be that strange. As far as going back
Speaker 1: to people, I don't know, but Katie, thank you. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. All right, Thank you guys so much. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys have a wonderful day. Thank you you too.
Speaker 1: God bless And let's go to Lisa, coming in from Tennessee.
Speaker 1: We've been all over the map today. Hi Lisa, what's
Speaker 1: your question? Hi guys, go first? Oh okay, so huge,
Speaker 1: huge fan of both y'all. Thank Jim oh. I love
Speaker 1: your accent. Lisa. We have what for the beginning from
Speaker 1: the first season and actually Chris since I'm always going
Speaker 1: to be fans. He called me one day and said,
Speaker 1: you know, you should meet him. I'm married, so she
Speaker 1: sometimes said a good fans. She's like, you should be
Speaker 1: on he loves to be a millionaire. You can't be
Speaker 1: on the bat Flare. So I was on with you.
Speaker 1: I was a contestant on your show, No Way, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I met you in the Beginner's Luck week. Do you
Speaker 1: remember that one that the contestants who had never been
Speaker 1: to Vega? I was. I say, so, we're talking Vegas
Speaker 1: because I shot. I shot in Connecticut one year, so
Speaker 1: you you were during the Vegas year and we had
Speaker 1: beginners Luckily. Yeah, where we did a I think it
Speaker 1: was a tie in with Caesar's or whoever it was,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, we brought people in put you up.
Speaker 1: Yeah I do remember that. That's that's amazing. How do
Speaker 1: you do, by the way, did? I did pretty well?
Speaker 1: But I see what I remember about you. You were
Speaker 1: just as nice and sweet in person as I thought
Speaker 1: you'd be. And I know how it sounds that I
Speaker 1: met other celebrities and that's not always the case. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you, that's why you know you were exactly you
Speaker 1: were the Chris Harrison that I saw The Bachelor, and
Speaker 1: I think, actually, I've been listening and you were talking
Speaker 1: about what the show's lacking. I remember our conversation. I
Speaker 1: remember you asking me questions in between us, you know,
Speaker 1: tasting the show, where I was from, what was my job,
Speaker 1: you know, the colleagues that I taught out at the time,
Speaker 1: and you were very focused and I think there's a
Speaker 1: lack of that. Nothing against Jessey, but I think when
Speaker 1: you talked to contestant, you were focused on them and
Speaker 1: very authentic, and I think that's what it is lacking.
Speaker 1: I really do thank you. Lisa's part of what you
Speaker 1: brought to But I do have a question for you.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, please um since you yeah, since you found
Speaker 1: love after divorce, as have I, because you know, the
Speaker 1: Bators different. Everybody out here looking for love is you know,
Speaker 1: in their twenties or thirties, you go out of viewers.
Speaker 1: Fortunately I found love too, so I'm happily married, just
Speaker 1: like you guys are going to be. But haven't said that?
Speaker 1: What advoss would you give for your viewers who are
Speaker 1: in their forties and haven't to navigate being single again?
Speaker 1: Because there's a completely different dating world as you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, when it's been you know, ten twenty years
Speaker 1: since you've been out there. For me, I guess my
Speaker 1: advice because this is what I did. Find your own
Speaker 1: lane and find your own speed, and it's not a
Speaker 1: one size fits all, and it's up to you to
Speaker 1: make it your priority. And I do think you have
Speaker 1: to treat it a bit a little bit like a job.
Speaker 1: If you're going to date, it has to be something
Speaker 1: that's important to you to go put yourself out there
Speaker 1: in whatever arena that is. If you want to try
Speaker 1: the apps, if you want to try it, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But maybe you're a different type of person and you
Speaker 1: want to just try and meet someone at church, or
Speaker 1: you want to meet someone in a church group or
Speaker 1: something different in that regard. So find your speed in
Speaker 1: your lane and go with that. Because it's what works
Speaker 1: for Lisa is not what's going to work for me.
Speaker 1: It's not what's going to work for Elz and Elza.
Speaker 1: You weren't married for twenty years, but you had to
Speaker 1: do the same thing. You had to get back out
Speaker 1: there in this modern age and you had to decide. Well,
Speaker 1: when you just said treat it like a job, I'm
Speaker 1: a theater kid, and I always made it made the
Speaker 1: analogy of you've got to like do rehearsals, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that I think it can be a really
Speaker 1: intimidating thing to start dating again. But I would just
Speaker 1: tell myself, look, what am I really going to lose
Speaker 1: if I go out on this date and it amounts
Speaker 1: to nothing, you know, nothing really like, Okay, I had
Speaker 1: a date, it didn't work out. It doesn't reflect on me.
Speaker 1: It just means we weren't a good match. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the time people take rejection personally it's
Speaker 1: very hard not to. But I looked at it as
Speaker 1: you're just trying to find the right Finn, and we
Speaker 1: weren't the right Finn, and that's okay, And you just
Speaker 1: kind of have to know you're going to have to
Speaker 1: get those reps in to find that right person. You
Speaker 1: are going to have rejection. You are going to have
Speaker 1: dates that go bad because you've got to get your
Speaker 1: rehearsals or your practices in before you find that new
Speaker 1: right person again. You think about how long you were married, Well,
Speaker 1: it's going to take a little while to get back
Speaker 1: in the dating pool again. So don't be discouraged and
Speaker 1: It's just as important to know what you don't like
Speaker 1: and what you don't want out of love and life
Speaker 1: as it is to know what you do want. And
Speaker 1: the only way you know what you don't like is
Speaker 1: to find out, and that's going on dates. And look,
Speaker 1: those bad dates, they made for good stories that I
Speaker 1: still tell to this day. And I'm sure many of
Speaker 1: those women tell stories about our first date and how
Speaker 1: bad it was. Well, Lisa, I appreciate the time. And
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm so glad you found love. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, and congrats. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see this wedding. And I'm so happy for you guys. Lisa,
Speaker 1: thank you. What a sweetheart. Thank you. From Tennessee, let's
Speaker 1: drop down to Florida. Sarah Sarah, Hi, you just might
Speaker 1: be the final call tonight, so the pressure is on. No, Sarah,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? I'm great? How are you phenomenal?
Speaker 1: I just have a smile on my face, honestly because
Speaker 1: I'm just talking to listeners and I enjoy this, Elsie
Speaker 1: and I love this. Oh, that's so wonderful. And your relationship,
Speaker 1: this seems so beautiful. You and Laurence seem so happy
Speaker 1: and I'm happy that you seem happy. I've been watching
Speaker 1: The Bachelor since the very beginning and you starting this
Speaker 1: podcast has been so therapeutic for me because I've been
Speaker 1: going through just sadness and withdrawal not watching you on
Speaker 1: the show, as I'm sure there are many fans who
Speaker 1: have felt that way. And Katie brushed John what I
Speaker 1: was going to ask you, you know, how do we
Speaker 1: get Chris to come back? And whether you even want
Speaker 1: to or not. You know, I can tell that you've
Speaker 1: made a peace with a lot of what's happened. But
Speaker 1: my question was going to be, as a fan base,
Speaker 1: is there anything that we could do to our love
Speaker 1: for Chris Harris? And first of all, Sarah, those are
Speaker 1: unbelievably kind words, and thank you. I have found peace
Speaker 1: and that is the best thing you can say about
Speaker 1: me and about this whole thing that's happened and going
Speaker 1: through this process as I am one piece and this
Speaker 1: podcast has been cathartic for me just as much as
Speaker 1: it has apparently for you, and being able to come
Speaker 1: out here and connect again and talk and it has
Speaker 1: kind of reignited the fire, and so to go maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit further on a question I answered earlier
Speaker 1: from Katie about coming back. You know, coming back doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean it has to be on the Bachelor or Bachelorette,
Speaker 1: and maybe there's a better way, Maybe there's a new way,
Speaker 1: and so I'll leave it at that for now. I
Speaker 1: want to thank everybody who took the time to call
Speaker 1: in today. Truly appreciate talking to you. That's what this
Speaker 1: whole show is all about. It's what the podcast is
Speaker 1: all about. As one of our callers said, just reconnecting,
Speaker 1: a chance for all of us to be together and
Speaker 1: speaking of this show obviously is for you. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious who would you like to hear and see on
Speaker 1: the show. If you have a suggestion of a guest
Speaker 1: that you would like me to bring on to interview
Speaker 1: to talk to, let me know, leave it the comments below.
Speaker 1: Go to our Instagram page at the Most Dramatic Pod
Speaker 1: Ever and let us know your thoughts and you can
Speaker 1: always leave your questions and comments there as well. Again,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We will continue to follow the
Speaker 1: big story out of The Bachelor as well, because I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot more to be said out of that.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, thank you for listening. And I'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next time because we have a lot
Speaker 1: more to talk about. Thanks for listening. Follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram at the most Dramatic pod Ever, and make sure
Speaker 1: to write us a review and leave us five stars.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you next time.