What Chris Harrison’s Move To Austin, Texas Means for ‘Bachelor’ Nation
Chris Harrison is a Bachelor Nation icon. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise wouldn’t be the same without him. But thanks to a recent decision to start building a home in Austin, Texas, Harrison has caused a stir amongst Bachelor fans. Will Harrison continue hosting the dating reality series, or is he done with Bachelor Nation for good?
Chris Harrison is building a home in Austin
Over the summer, when fans learned Harrison was stepping away for several episodes of The Bachelorette, rumors of his exit from the show swirled. Season 12 contestant JoJo Fletcher stepped in to replace Harrison, but only for a few episodes so he could see his son, Joshua, off to college.
Now, Bachelor Nation is buzzing once again about the prospect of Harrison leaving the show.
According to Page Six, Harrison is building a home in a “wealthy enclave of Austin, Texas” called Barton Creek. Since The Bachelor and Bachelorette are filmed at a mansion in Los Angeles, many fans were concerned by the distance between Harrison’s home and place of work.
Chris Harrison has big plans for ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ in 2021
Bachelor in Paradise didn’t film in 2020 thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But Harrison has high hopes the series will continue as normal in 2021 — regardless of his Texas home build.
Because the show didn’t shoot this year, Harrison told Us Weekly there is a “murderers’ row of choices of people.”
“Right now, the plan is we’re moving forward,” the host said. “Clearly, we are like the rest of the world. This vaccine is on the horizon, there is hope on the horizon and where there’s hope, there’s roses and there’s The Bachelor. We’re always right there.”
Chris Harrison has plans for a new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ in 2021, too
Matt James’ season of The Bachelor is scheduled to debut on Jan. 4, 2021. Harrison says their “dream scenario” is to film a new season of The Bachelorette and have it ready to go for when James’ season ends.
“That’s our normal schedule,” he said of the franchise. “We shot The Bachelor in the normal timeframe, we’re going to shoot Bachelorette in the normal timeframe — this winter/spring — and then that’ll lead us into hopefully the Bachelor in Paradise that we normally have in June.”
Harrison is hopeful the coronavirus vaccine will be “working” by then and Bachelor nation can get “back to normal.”
Is Chris Harrison leaving ‘Bachelor’ Nation?
At this time, it doesn’t seem like it. He has big plans for the Bachelor franchise in 2021. Plus, Harrison has been outspoken in the past about matters concerning the show. And since he hasn’t commented on leaving, it’s unlikely that his exit from the show is more than a rumor.
Harrison’s son goes to school in Fort Worth at the Texas Christian College. Plus, Harrison is originally from Dallas. He is likely having a home built in the Lone Star State because he has multiple connections to it.
And as former Bachelor Nick Viall pointed out, Harrison can do his job from anywhere.
“Pretty sure he can do his job if he lived on Mars,” Viall commented on Instagram. “Fear not Bachelor Nation. Daddy Harrison is going nowhere.”
