‘The Bachelor’ Host Chris Harrison: Gay Bachelor Probably Not Good For Business


Should the next bachelor on The Bachelor be gay?

Chris Harrison, the host of the ABC reality series The Bachelor since 2002, seems to have some reservations about featuring a gay bachelor on a subsequent season.

In an interview in which he was asked about the current bachelor’s controversial comments, Harrison stressed that he is a 100 percent marriage equality supporter, but that business is business what comes to ratings-driven television content:

The question is: Is it a good business decision? I just spoke at U.S.C. the other night, and I explained it like this: Look, if you’ve been making pizzas for 12 years and you’ve made millions of dollars and everybody loves your pizzas and someone comes and says, ‘Hey, you should make hamburgers.’ Why? I have a great business model, and I don’t know if hamburgers are going to sell… Is our job to break barriers, or is it a business? That’s not for me to answer.”

As alluded to above, you may recall that this season’s bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, got into hot water when he claimed in an interview that a gay or bisexual bachelor on the show would be “too perverted.”

He subsequently apologized to anyone he may have offended, suggesting that his comments were taken out of context. He also noted that English is his second language, “and, because of this, sometimes I use the wrong words to express myself. What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept. The show is very racy as it is and I don’t let my 5 year old daughter watch it. Once again, I’m sorry for how my words were taken. I would never disrespect anyone.”

In a slight digression, Harrison — who also has hosted The Bachelorette since 2003 — revealed that unlike the norm for reality television, this season’s Bachelor installment involved minimal boozing. Juan Pablo is a teetotaler (or at least didn’t drink during the entire filming) and successfully encouraged the women to avoid drinking as well, explained Harrison.

The Bachelor 2014 season finale will air on March 10 during which Juan Pablo will supposedly decide between Clare Crawley and Nikki Ferrell.

Are you a fan of Chris Harrison and The Bachelor? Apart from other considerations such as inclusiveness, do you think a gay Bachelor would be good for ratings?

[Image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com]

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