Nick Viall is calling BS on his old buddy Chris Harrison’s claims that Nick was “gunning for his job” when he was fired as host of The Bachelor franchise.
“So, he said I was gunning for his job? But he didn’t list me as one of the people who reached out?” Nick asked his cohosts on the latest episode of The Viall Files. US Weekly has all the details.
Though he claims to have a friendly realtionship with Nick, Chris said didn’t think he was right for the job. “Nick wasn’t really strongly against me or said anything,” he admitted. “But, you know, I think Nick was one of those among many who probably saw the blood in the water and saw the opportunity of a job that would be really phenomenal,” Chris said. “And I had no doubt he wanted that job. But we saw each other at Wells and Sarah [Hyland]’s wedding and gave each other big hugs.”
Nick claimed to be “really disappointed” to hear Chris’s comments about him. “I am not mad — I am just disappointed,” he continued, sounding like my dad. “I think Chris [should] take more accountability for what [he] did. And again, I have never been like Chris’s bestie. I am just disappointed. I am pretty sure Sean Lowe would have taken the job if he was offered it,” Nick added.
The Season 21 Bachelor’s reaction comes just days after Chris suggested that Nick was trying to get his job in the aftermath of the longtime host’s 2021 termination. Though Nick did apply for the job, he wasn’t the only member of Bachelor Nation to try out. Apparently there was a long list of former cast members who submitted applications, including Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams.
RELATED: Wells Adams Is Bummed He Wasn’t Asked To Host The Bachelor Following Chris Harrison’s Exit
“I knew about certain cast members who were calling in. And the funny thing is, the people who were calling in I knew had no chance to get the job,” the Dallas native shared on his The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever.
The former host still believes, along with much of Bachelor Nation, that Wells should have gotten the job. He’s still serving up drinks and advice to lovelorn contestants on BIP. Ultimately ex-NFL player and Season 5 Bachelor Jesse Palmer got the gig.
Chris said, “Wells has always been a very good man and a good friend of mine. Wells was in a very difficult situation, because obviously he was still kind of connected to the show and he was doing stuff on Paradise, but he was one of the first to reach out to me and just say, ‘Look, I’m staying out of this. I love you and respect you.’”
RELATED: Chris Harrison Admits He Thinks About Bachelor Controversy “Every Day”
“I thought, to be completely candid, that Wells was going to get the job . . . I even told him, I said, ‘Hey, man, I won’t speak out publicly, because I don’t think that will help you at all. In fact, it would do a lot more harm than good,’” Chris explained. “‘But I really hope you get the job. I think you’d be great at it.’”
As Bachelor Nation fans know, Chris was let go from the show he’d hosted for 19 years during Matt James’s season of The Bachelor. In a joint interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, Chris had been asked to comment on racially insensitive photos of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell wearing an antebellum-style dress as part of an “Old South Antebellum” party in college. Controversy ensued when Chris went off on a rant that included comments about the “woke police.” He was suspended from hosting duties for the rest of that season. His permanent termination was announced a few months later, when Jesse was hired to replace him.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK CHRIS’S COMMENTS ABOUT NICK SMELLING “BLOOD IN THE WATER” WERE UNCALLED FOR? WHO WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO SEE AS REPLACEMENT HOST FOR CHRIS HARRISON?
[Photo Credit: Presley Ann/Getty Images for MTV]