The 'Bachelor' host responds to Kraus' claims about why he wasn't 'The Bachelor.'
Chris Harrison is reacting to Peter Kraus' recent comments about why he turned down being the Bachelor -- and addressing his claim that the show did not want to honor his request for relationship counseling.
During his appearance on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti's Almost Famous podcast last month, Kraus said he requested "relationship counseling for myself and the top four or five girls during the process so we could work things out on a deep level." He also wanted ongoing support for him and his final pick after filming had ended.
"Well, they do get that," Harrison tells ET's Lauren Zima. "Everybody has access to that."
Kraus was notably in the running for the Bachelor gig after Rachel Lindsay's 2017 season of The Bachelorette (Arie Luyendyk Jr. ended up getting the coveted role). Kraus told Higgins and Iaconetti that aside from his concerns with counseling, there were other factors that prevented him from saying "yes" to being the Bachelor, like money, having a possible new love interest in his life, and not feeling confident he could propose at the end of the show.
According to Harrison, Kraus may not have even been at the point of contract negotiations to have made such requests.
"It is normal for us to have multiple candidates coming in," he says. "First of all, we have to find who is available and who is really sincere, and we bring them in for interviews. There is a vetting process that goes all the way up to the top of the network, so there is a lot that goes into it, instead of 'Hey, Peter, you want to be the Bachelor? Great, come on!'"
"Not to put a big pin in this big balloon, but that would have been the start of where we would have gone. That would not have been the final step," he adds.
"I have heard a lot of people say they turned it down or they did this," Harrison shares. "Great, good on you. I am all behind you -- whatever floats your boat."
While The Bachelor didn't work out for Kraus, fans may be seeing him back on their TV screens soon. The upcoming series, The Bachelor: The Most Unforgettable -- Ever!, will look back at some of the franchise's most memorable moments, including Lindsay's season.
"The quarantine has definitely spurred this thing on, and [Bachelor creator] Mike Fliess and I started talking immediately and thought, 'What could we do? Everybody wants content and then there was this clamoring for old seasons of The Bachelor,'" Harrison said. "A lot of people missed some huge, pivotal seasons, so let's go back... [and] make it fun and interesting and very different."
The Bachelor: The Most Unforgettable -- Ever! premieres Monday, June 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart currently airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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