Rachel Lindsay Breaks Down Her Infamous Interview With Former ‘Bachelor’ Host: Chris Harrison Wouldn’t ‘Take the Bait’
Rachel Lindsay has long been a fan favorite for The Bachelor franchise. As the Season 13 star of The Bachelorette, Lindsay rose to prominence for her outspoken nature and willingness to share details of her personal life with fans.
However, her conversation with Bachelor host Chris Harrison in the spring of 2021 really made her a pop-culture talking point. The heated interview made headlines everywhere and led to Harrison choosing to take a break from the franchise that made him a household name.
In a recent interview on the Everything Iconic podcast with host Danny Pellegrino, Lindsay opened up about the interview and how things went down with Harrison.
Chris Harrison’s interview with Rachel Lindsay on ‘Extra’
On February 9, 2021, Extra correspondent Lindsay sat down with Harrison for an interview. At one point, the 36-year-old asked Harrison for his thoughts regarding some racially charged photos of Rachael Kirkconnell at an “antebellum party,” which had recently made headlines.
As MSN reports, Harrison responded by telling Lindsay: “
I saw a picture of her at a sorority party five years ago, that’s it … My guess? These girls got dressed up and went to a party and had a great time, they were 18 years old. Now, does that make it OK? I don’t know Rachel, you tell me. Where is this lens were holding up and was that lens available and were we all looking through it in 2018? I don’t know.”
Although Harrison told Lindsay he wasn’t “defending” Kirkconnell’s actions, many took to social media to slam Harrison’s response. Lindsay herself took him to task during the interview. She told him the photos weren’t a “good look.”
Lindsay was just doing her job during the interview with Harrison
In the wake of the interview, Lindsay expressed her distaste for the reality franchise. Not long afterward, Harrison himself decided to step away from the Bachelor franchise. In a recent chat with Danny Pellegrino on his Everything Iconic podcast, Lindsay opened up about the interview.
“With Chris Harrison’s situation, the aftermath, it was beyond Bachelor Nation,” the Higher Learning co-host explained. “My name became affiliated with cancel culture. ‘Rachel Lindsay canceled Chris Harrison,’ which could not be farther from the truth. So that became too much, and it fueled the audience.”
Lindsay noted that the situation and the backlash became so “troubling” she decided she had no other choice than to step away from the franchise for good.
Pellegrino defended Lindsay, noting that she was very much just “doing her job” by interviewing Harrison in the moment. “I almost felt like people were acting or thinking — maybe without seeing the context of the clip — that you were doing a ‘gotcha moment’ or something. It wasn’t that at all,” Pellegrino said.
What did Rachel Lindsay say about Chris Harrison not ‘taking the bait’?
Later on during the podcast, Lindsay dished more on her infamous interview with Harrison. She admitted that she went into the interview with no thoughts of tricking him into condemning himself. Rather, the former reality star “asked the most topical question related to the franchise in that moment.”
“I just asked the question,” Lindsay explained. “He went on and on and on. Once he went on, I tried to help him, right? ‘Well, Chris, what if I was at that party? Who would I be dressing up as?’ [He] didn’t take the bait. Didn’t bite it.”
Although Harrison did apologize to Lindsay for the backlash the interview caused, it seems like things didn’t go much further between the two. In a November 2021 interview on Ellen Pompeo’s podcast, Lindsay noted she hadn’t spoken personally with Harrison since their talk aired.
For fans of The Bachelor franchise, the incident is still one of the most scandalous occurrences in recent years. Harrison had served as host of the popular reality dating show for nearly 20 years when he exited.
