Chris Harrison Returning to TV With New Reality Dating Series and Morning Show (Exclusive)
Chris Harrison is coming back to TV. ET can exclusively reveal that the former Bachelor franchise host has signed on with Dr. Phil's Merit Street Media, where he will host both a morning show and a dating show, and contribute to Dr. Phil Primetime.
ET spoke to Harrison about his new venture, which he said he thought "long and hard about" after exiting The Bachelor franchise in the wake of controversy.
"Call it divine intervention, karma, kismet, whatever it is, the fact that Dr. Phil created this network in my own backyard here in Dallas, it means the world to me to, not only be returning to television, but to be doing it here in a hometown crowd," Harrison said.
Harrison began working with Merit Street Media by contributing to Dr. Phil Primetime, where he did "some very penetrating field work having to do with some of these romance scams, these catfish type things."
"He's so good on camera," Dr. Phil told ET's Kevin Frazier of Harrison. "When he walked out for the first time, the audience went insane."
Then will come the relationship show, which Dr. Phil said is going to be "so novel, so different."
"It has dating elements in it, but this is so different and so novel," he said. "It is flipping the script in a way that I think people are gonna become addicted to it in a week. It is unbelievable."
Harrison was on board to return to the world of reality TV dating, though Dr. Phil told him in their first meeting, "If you want to do a relationship show, you can, but think bigger and broader. This is a blank slate."
"People got to know and love me for two decades hosting The Bachelor, so, yes, we are going to be creating a reality dating show," Harrison said. "For years and years I said, 'This is the most dramatic show ever.' We want to create a show where those words actually ring true, so this dating show will be the most dramatic ever -- that you can be sure of."
On top of that, Harrison is teaming up with his wife, former ET correspondent Lauren Zima, to host a morning show, with The Bachelor alum gushing, "Not only do I get to return to television, I get to do it with the woman I love."
"Our relationship is a big part of the morning show," Zima promised. "The morning show we're pulling together is gonna be a place for us to play, to have fun. What matters the most to both of us has always been our audience, so we want to be able to connect with them. What's more relatable than talking about our relationship and what's going on in our own lives?"
"I also think the morning show is gonna be a place to be silly and to play," she said. "We want to give people a light, fun, entertaining moment in their mornings in a time when a lot of what's out there is tough."
At the end of the day, Harrison and Zima's partnership with Dr. Phil just felt right.
"It's really exciting to be here," Zima said. "The studio, the energy here is so invigorating. To have someone who is such a master of his craft like Phil running a network, it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime."
Harrison agreed, telling ET, "What they're doing here is groundbreaking, innovative. It's going to be fun, of course it's going to be entertaining. We're doing television here, but I truly believe what this place stands for. [I'm] proud to be a part of it, and, above all else, we're doing it in our own backyard."
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