Chris Harrison

It might just be the most dramatic episode of Tracks To Success we’ve ever seen!

Chris Harrison, host of the hit ABC reality series “The Bachelor”  and  “The Bachelorette” joins Kraig Kann for a fun chat about a career journey that’s taken him on a ride he never envisioned.  From childhood in Dallas, to college in Oklahoma, to local television and onto becoming the face of a franchise that has given him fame and fortune beyond his dreams. 

Chris and Kraig talk about the show itself, some of the most impressive bachelors and bachelorettes, while also reliving some career highlights and the break that landed him in the enviable position to travel the world and spend his time amidst people looking for love and roses.

* Which bachelor and bachelorette have impressed him the most?  What's the perfect date for him?  Did you know he was on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire or Sabrina The Teenage Witch?  It's a tell all with Chris Harrison and it's a podcast episode you don’t want to miss!  

Transcript

0 (4s):
Welcome to Tracks. To Success brought to you by presentation partners. This is the podcast that brings you inspiring people and they're inspiring stories. How did they find their way to the top and how can their path help you do the same? Here's your host network, broadcaster, executive and entrepreneur. Kraig Kann

1 (28s):
Right now on Tracks To Success you'll meet one of television's biggest scars, the host of his show that gives you one big star sifting through a house full of chosen stars on the way to do a finale. We think we might have figured out, but most often don't, you know, the show, but what about him? Did you know, he hosted a game show before these show to become a franchise of a network, created a nation of followers. He was born in Dallas, went to college on a soccer scholarship and found his way and did television, local sports caster, and Oklahoma first some horse racing, some home improvements, and then into the homes of millions on a series that took off in 2002 and seems to be anything but slowing down, you may think it's easy.

1 (1m 24s):
Traveling the world with bachelors and bachelorettes seeking. Long-lasting love. You may think it's easy being in a remote place, taping a series or placing Rose's on a table, finding a comfortable place cross from To people no longer comfortable sitting next to each other at all. We'll find out. And we'll go all the way back to see how he ultimately found his place among the most recognizable faces in all of Hollywood. His name is Chris Harrison is inspiring story. This edition of Tracks To Success starts now while I'm just going to say it.

1 (2m 7s):
This is one I've been looking forward to. I'm really excited about it, Chris, thank you so much for taking the time to spend time with me on Tracks To Success. Now I'm going to admit, I'm going to admit it. I'm a big fan of the series. I'm a big fan of you. And as the guy who has done a little bit of TV in my, in my lifetime, I can probably understand more than most. There's just a few challenges that go with your job on my fare.

2 (2m 30s):
Yeah. And it's one of those jobs that always looks more glamorous and easier than it is. But first and foremost, I'm glad you were a part of Bachelor nation.

1 (2m 39s):
I'm okay with it. I mean, you know, I don't have to defend myself, do I?

2 (2m 43s):
No, not anymore. I think early on, honestly, people did and they were, first of all, it was a reality TV is a little taboo back in the day. And then, you know, it's a, girl's w you know, the women loved the show. And, but then more people like, you know, Jimmy Kimmel and Howard stern, and some of these people started getting behind the show. And I think it made it say for guys to kind of get behind it as well and say, yeah, I like it. Yeah.

3 (3m 6s):
Well, the season that, that is now there, write that you taped before. I know it came with some challenges. In fact, I've heard all this stuff and lets be real. I'm guessing you might've needed a few of your own little Seagram's Rosa drinks to try to calm yourself down for what you went through. Is that, is that a fair assessment?

2 (3m 25s):
It was a, it, it was a beading on every level and, and actually I'm back in another bubble. I'm talking to you from another bubble right now from an undisclosed location where we were shooting The Bachelor because the Bachelor were at work so well this summer in it, it honestly Kraig took a Herculean effort just to get to the point where we were shooting that first night when the limos were pulling up, we all looked around and we're just saying, man, thank God we're here. I can't believe we're all working again. What it took to get to that moment and the hurdles and the obstacles and the unions and the people that were fighting. The, you know, the politicians that we are trying to not let us work. It was a, it was a really tough battle. So just getting to that season of The Bachelorette was a miracle.

2 (4m 6s):
And then what happened on that season was unlike anything we'd ever dealt with. So it was absolutely a crazy summer.

3 (4m 14s):
You know what though? You say it all the time, man. You're like, it's unlike anything we've ever seen on the series. I mean, that's one of your key lines. Everybody knows that's coming. Folks stay tuned. You've never seen anything like this before

2 (4m 27s):
The most dramatic ever go to this, this season, wasn't really about the hyperbole. It was more about a grind and an absolute beating and an emotional cause. You know, we were all just going through such an emotional time anyway, in 2020 during the pandemic and, and what do we do with our kids and our lives. And by the way, we need you to leave those lives for seven to 10 weeks to come shoot this show and your family can't come with you. You can't see your family. You can't do anything other than stay in the confines of this particular resort. Oh, by the way, it's in Palm Springs in the summer, it's a 125 degrees. Good luck.

3 (5m 4s):
I've played golf there in August. It is a 120 degrees. So

2 (5m 8s):
Yeah. And I stuck it out and played golf. So we were on a golf course. And so I could play in, in the quote unquote bubble and they would leave me a golf cart. I would have to get out at five 45 in the morning. So I went out 15 minutes before or the first tee time. So it would be sure not to C or be around anybody. I would play golf. And then I would get, you know, to be back at eight, eight 30 in the morning because it was so damn hot. You had to get out of there. Yeah,

3 (5m 30s):
That's cool. We're going to get to golf in a little bit a by the way, let, let, let's get back to the brand question. I want to ask a real quick, cause this is a perfect time about you've got a drink, like a Seagram's I actually wore this shirt truth. Be told just to give you a little rosy color into this whole thing and, and, and make him proud of the thing you got out there. How did that come about?

2 (5m 49s):
Yeah. There's a couple of really cool things. I'm a part of, and Seagram's tropical. Rosa is one of them. The folks that Seagram's did an amazing collaboration, this woman, Cynthia Bailey, she's one of the Housewives of Atlanta and an awesome woman. And it went so well. This collaboration, they thought, let's try this again with somebody else. And we happened to have a mutual friend. His friend was in a meeting where Seagram's was talking about doing a collaboration. They mentioned the Bachelor and my friends said, Oh, I know Chris. How about we call him? And they were like, you can do that. And they called and I said, man, what a natural collaboration, what an easy fit that is. Everybody loves doing, you know, on a Monday night, Tuesday night, whenever we're on sitting back having a glass of wine, a pint of chunky monkey.

2 (6m 34s):
And you judge, you watch the show together. And so it just seemed like such a great, easy fit for the audience and giving them what they already desire. Yeah.

3 (6m 43s):
Okay. Let, let's be up front on something. So many people have actually said to me, Hey, I got a question for you. You got to ask this, you got to ask that. So I'm going to give you a one of them right now. A lot of my friends want to know, when are you going to have the show for the over forties or over fifties? Because I guarantee the ratings will be through the roof.

2 (7m 6s):
Well, funny you say that we were supposed to have already done it. It was, I dunno if you heard it, but it was in the, it was in the loop. It was in our production schedule. Last spring, we were supposed to shoot this thing called summer games. We did the winter games during the winter Olympics. It's counter-programming to the Olympics. The Olympics were supposed to happen this summer. And so we we're going to do a thing called the summer games and put it on against the Olympics for the two weeks that the Olympics are on the BBC. We have this on ABC and then we do Bachelor in paradise. And then later in the summer, we were going to do a senior version of the Bachelor. It was actually going to be older than forties. It was going to be, I think, 55 or 60 and above. And obviously with COVID the pandemic, we definitely had to shelf that as everybody is in that, you know, danger zone of, of age.

2 (7m 52s):
And so it was actually on the docket. We were producing it. We were putting it together. When everything got shut down, hopefully we're going to get back to it. Probably the next calendar year is my hope. There we go.

3 (8m 3s):
We broken some official news. I can't wait to see that. I think it will be terrific. All right. I want to dive into your career story. That's what this is all about and your track to this. But I do need to ask you this. When you sit around Chris and you have some time to yourself, nobody's there. You can be in a bubble or not in a bubble. How often do you kind of just look around in a quiet moment and say, you gotta be kidding me. I am a part of this. This is me on the face of a series D you pinch yourself.

2 (8m 36s):
There is not a time I don't. And I don't know. Look, I'm almost a 50 year old man. I've been doing this since I was wiped 20 to 23 years old, not the bachelor, but just in television and pretty much started in college. And so I've been doing this for quite some time, almost 30 years. And there's never a moment where I don't think what the hell, you know, when, when is someone going to tap me on the shoulder and say, sir, we figured out who you are. We realize you don't belong here, get your stuff and go. And by the way, I will collect my stuff and I will laugh my way out of the room and say, I got away with it because it died. I never don't feel so blessed. So grateful that I've had this career it's to be able to do what I love.

2 (9m 18s):
And unless I could have been a professional golfer, a professional soccer player, which is probably what I wanted to do as a kid, but to truly do what I love when I found this in college and to have it turned out like this, to be in the top 1% of what you do in the world, you know, you know, it's, you, you, you, it is humbling. It is. If you are really truly doing this and you're not a want to be, and you're not chasing somebody, you truly realize how humbling it is.

3 (9m 42s):
Yeah. It's got to be, let's go back. Okay. Let's let's chart the journey and your career. We see you on TV now. And we know you're in a bubble and, and doing interviews like this, but what about as a kid you were born and raised in Dallas, right? Where are you? The outgoing kid? Where are you? The quiet kid? What was Chris Harrison life?

2 (10m 3s):
Mmm, kind of a, you know, rough and tumble, tick, typical Texas kid hunting and fishing. I had an older brother and you know, my, my parents' just kind of a typical middle of North. Dallas played a lot of sports and that was my love. I loved sports. You name it. We were playing in it, whatever season it was. That's what we were doing. Football, basketball, soccer, but soccer was my love. I quickly realized at a very early age. And I think it's when you're good at something and you see Success all the sudden that becomes your passion. And, and I saw early success in soccer and that truly became the love of my life. And by the time I got to high school, that's all I wanted to do. I wasn't a great student.

2 (10m 43s):
Sadly, my brother was, I was not. And so really soccer was what I wanted to do. It's what I want it to get to college and do. And that was my goal in life, was to get to college and played college ball. And luckily was able to do that. But that's, you know, a pretty typical upbringing, no show business, nobody I know that was ever in the business of my family whatsoever. There was no inkling. I mean, I had a television, but I never thought about being in a television ever, which is interesting. But yeah, I was, I will say I was a fairly charismatic, outgoing guy that loved to be on stage.

3 (11m 20s):
Would you tell a little kids now or kids that were your age back then a chase, your dream. Don't worry about the books. I'm not, I'm not saying to ditch academics, but you said you weren't great at it, but look at you and, and that's so many people, what would you tell kids?

2 (11m 34s):
Well, what I do it, well, I have two kids. I have a son who was a freshman at TCU and I have a junior, my daughter's a junior in high school and they are great students. They are so much smarter and better human beings than I am. But I actually do tell my daughter who gets straight A's and that this is probably terrible parenting. I did. I say, look, I'm so proud of you for the effort that you're putting in to get these grades, but I am so much more concerned and proud of the woman that you are, the person that you are. And I will always be grateful for that more than getting straight A's that's that all that is great. And what grades do is it opens doors and creates opportunities. And that's what I tell my kids. Now we tell any kid, I didn't have a lot of opportunities that I went to Oklahoma city university, which is a great school, wonderful institution of higher learning.

2 (12m 20s):
And it served me well, but I didn't have a lot of choices because of my grades. I had this, my kids who have straight A's have this to eat From they haven't seen any buffet. They can go to any school in the country because they're that smart. And so I just say, look, grades are good. They give you options. And I love options in life.

3 (12m 38s):
Who were your influencers when you were a kid? Was it, was it your parents? Was there somebody else that pushed you or anything that stands out about your childhood that says, you know, that was my defining moment.

2 (12m 48s):
I always had people in my life, parents. I had an amazing family, a come from a big family on my mom and my dad's side, but they were big believers in chasing your dream, which is a cliche. But the main thing was never being afraid to fail. And this is something I carry with me. And I talk to them about a lot with college students and people joining the workforce or whatever you're doing. I find that people are so afraid to fail. They don't allow themselves to succeed. And there's this little thing my mom gave me years ago. It's just a little piece of lead. And he says, what would you attempt to do? If you knew you could not fail? And I wear that and think about it every day. And I, and it doesn't mean you won't fail.

2 (13m 30s):
I have failed more than I will ever succeed. We all do. We all strike out more than we hit home runs, but it's, it's never being afraid to fail and leaning into it and taking those chances and step it out of your comfort zone. And that's, I love that tight wire act and walk in without a rope. I love. That's why I love life TV. Yeah. You could fall on your face in front of us, you know, 10 million people. But the feeling that when you succeed, it's that there's nothing like it. And so, yeah, I had an amazing support system with my family and my brother, my parents, grandparents, to this day, I lean on them. They keep, you know, people always say, how do you stay grounded? It's them. It's, it's always my family. And it's the fact that I go home and they don't give a rat's ass.

2 (14m 13s):
What I do, you know, are you a good, are you a good man? Are you happy? Are you a faithful, you know, servant and, and a good person. That's all they care about. And that's what I care about. Yeah.

3 (14m 22s):
You know, what's interesting about that is if we're watching the series B at the Bachelor of the Bachelorette, you've got a bunch of people on there on night, one who are afraid of failure, right. They, they are definitely afraid of being sent home quick and not getting a Rose on the first night.

2 (14m 37s):
Well, it's, you know, there's a self sabotage there's things we do you see in any business and you see it a lot. Our show is a microcosm of what goes on in the real world. And yeah, you'll see people coming in on night one, and they will do things to blow up a situation. So they do irreparable harm. So you just, you can't come back from that and they do it on purpose. You know, people call it in, in sports, people call a choking, its, you know, missing a two foot pot or do you know, basically messing up something that you've done a million times in your life. If no one was watching, it wouldn't be a big deal, but now everybody's watching. So you blow it up. And, and, and that is a, it's a very interesting thing. We do it in our personal life, our love life. It's walking across the bar and, and just saying hello to the demand or the woman that you've made eyes with and taking a shot and not being the guy that wakes up in the next morning thinking what if, what if I walked across the bar?

2 (15m 27s):
I just said, hello. Yeah.

3 (15m 29s):
Yeah. And how many times I'll get back to your college days in a quick second, how many times Chris, in, in all of the shows and the series that you've done, you know, with The Bachelor Bachelorette and all of that stuff on the first night, if you actually kind of in your mind pegged it and been right in the end.

2 (15m 46s):
Okay. You know what to say? I should be a better prognosticator after 20 years. Usually I will say, you know, who's going to maybe make it to the final four, but not a lot of success where I'm like, that's her, you know, that's the one I'm, it's a little easier. I will say that it's a little bit of, a little easier for the bachelorettes. They tend to be more sincere, more serious, more in tuned with their, their feelings of early on. Where's the, guy's kind of, C the pretty girl on a night, one in and say, Oh, that's a pretty red dress, you know, shiny objects. And so a little easier for The Bachelorette but not great with a bachelor.

3 (16m 20s):
Yeah. All right. Back to college, you were a fraternity guy. I've lived that life to a, I was a self-serve chairman my junior year. And then, and then I ran us into debt and senior year I got, I got elected president to figure it out. What kind of guy, where are you in college? Where you're the party guy since you weren't so, you know, tied to the books or what?

2 (16m 38s):
No, you know, what's funny. I found myself in college, you know, I, I think I go to college and realized I'm on my own. Like if I fail, it's on me, you know, it's not on my parents anymore. And so I became a straight, a student and a really hard worker in college, I think, because I found my passion. I found what I wanted to do and it wasn't just studying just random things in high school. And so I really took off and I was a soccer player and was playing college soccer at OCU. And so I wasn't, I mean, yeah, I enjoy a good time. We'll have a cold beer as much as anybody and, and had a few too many on many nights, but I was pretty, you know, into being an athlete, being a soccer player. And I was a, I was a good student and yeah. You know, in the fraternity, I was pretty active as much as you could be.

2 (17m 20s):
It wasn't my life because I have the soccer team. I ended up being the pledge pop. And I actually, this year I was named The the Kappa Sigma man in a year, the international man of the year following Tito beverage from a Tito vodka. So a pretty, a pretty big shoes to fill. Yeah.

3 (17m 37s):
It is a pretty big shoes to fill. So you graduate. And then here we go with the T V career. And if I have this right, Chris, you started in Oklahoma city. Is that the first, I mean, the people that are listening and, and watching this right now, I'm just going to tell you, your first job in Oklahoma city doesn't really happen. All right. That's that's not how it works. John Anderson at ESPN is a buddy of mine went to college together. I know he ended up there, but I don't think that was his first gig. That's your first gig

2 (18m 7s):
Anderson Anderson. Who's a friend of mine was over in Tulsa. He was at the CVS for a, you go, okay. And I have a good John Anderson story later, but yeah, my first job, my first three jobs were actually in Oklahoma city. I going back, I was got into sports casting in college. The sports information director at school said, Hey, I want to start this sportscasting gig this class where you will call the basketball games at OCU on local cable Cox cable. And I need a student to kick this thing off. I think he would be great. I said, look, man, I've never done this before in my life. I don't know what you're talking about, but sure sounds fun. And so we would sneak into the mass comm department at night and put it in old Bobby Knight videotapes and turned down the sound and start calling basketball games.

2 (18m 55s):
And that's how I learned to be a sportscaster. And the next year I met this guy, bill Teagan's, who became my mentor, like a father figure and a wonderful friend of mine. He was the sports director at the local CBS affiliate. And I befriended him. He took me under his wing. I interned for him for like two and a half years. It was, he was pretty illegal. It was free labor. I wasn't supposed to be. What I would do is you get two internships in college. I signed up and used one quickly. Then I realized how to play the system. I kept signing up and I didn't want to waste my last one. So I would sign up, take my sheet into the people at the station. They would say, great, you're getting college credit. You can work for free. And then I would go back to school and I would drop the class and I would just continue to work.

2 (19m 38s):
And so I would just show up getting no credit and no pay, but I just loved it so much. And I knew it was what I wanted to do. And I was, I was an addict. I couldn't, I was a rat. You know, they talk about gym, rats and stats. I was a station rat. I couldn't be around enough. And the guys clearly knew what I was doing. They all took me under their wing and they would start to call me when they were a big stories. And this is still when I was in college and I would go out and they would do a stand up and then I would grab the bike and I would shoot exactly what they did. And they would go back to the station and in real voice over exactly what they did and put it on my resume tape. And that's how I kind of started. But there was this weird twist of fate where the station started a Saturday morning newscast for two hours and they needed a sportscaster.

2 (20m 24s):
It was zero pay. It was thankless from like four to six in the morning on Saturday mornings. And I still wasn't qualified, but they went through a bunch of people. And at the end of the day, I got this gig right out of college and the timing was perfect. I was in a perfect position. A lot of things have to fall into place. And obviously this mentor of mine who was the one, making a decision, gave me this shot and it changed my life. Wow.

3 (20m 48s):
That's cool. Being a station rat. I, I can relate and I know exactly what you're talking about and you make no money and, and you do it for the love of the job. That's what you do. And you have that passion for it and you've clearly never lost it. And it's interesting to hear that you would shift gears and B where you are right now. You did some horse racing too. I mean, I want to run through some of the things that that you've done. Okay. So you got this horse racing gig, but you need to tell me about HGTV comes calling game show, network Sabrina, the teenage witch you were having come on. Where does all this go? And how did we get away from Oklahoma city and be in a sports camp

2 (21m 26s):
Faster? Yeah. You know, you always say, you know, when you see an athlete like tiger woods or Serena Williams, you know, like you're saying the top 10% of the iceberg, you're not seeing the 90% of the crazy stuff that's going on in your life. And so, yeah, when I, you know, I went through Oklahoma city and I quickly moved up up and you know, they moved me to the number three spot, the number three guy left. So I got a full-time position. And then they moved me up to the number two spot. And it was the weekend sports anchor. And I was under my mentor and bill Teagan's, who was the voice of the, of the Oklahoma state Cowboys. And I covered a lot of OU football, the Dallas Cowboys, I was in heaven. And my goal was to move back home to Dallas. It'll be a sportscaster and live out my days and maybe be the voice of the Dallas Cowboys would be a dream.

2 (22m 6s):
And I got this bizarre call. I had an agent at the time, she was a young up and coming agent who I didn't really realize what an agent was, but she took me under her wing. And she said, there is a horse racing network that Fox and TV guide are starting up in LA and they want you to come out and audition. And I had just gotten a job offer in Dallas. Now is that, that was it. I, I, this is my way into my dream of going to Dallas and then LA Cain calling. And I was married at the time with no kids. It was about 28, 29 years old. And we thought, you know, what the hell let's I had never been to California before. Let's go surf for a minute is going to be a disaster six months from now, I'll go home and I'll pick up the pieces and, and ended up in Dallas.

2 (22m 47s):
And here I am, you know, 20, some odd years, 20 some odd years later. And when I first moved there, what happened was other ops, other things and opportunities open. I was doing this horse racing network, but I started auditioning for movies. And I didn't know what the hell I was. I had never been to an audition. I got a call back on my first audition. And I told the agent, I got a call back. And she says, that's great. I says, what's a callback. I have no idea what that means. And, and she's like, well, that means you got to go back to this afternoon and it's good. They weed it out and they narrow it down. So you're a part of that is a cool, super great I'm in a way. That sounds good. And so I started getting these gigs like Sabrina, the teenage witch.

2 (23m 27s):
I did a movie called bounce with Gwen, Aflac and, and, and Ben athletic and Gwyneth Paltrow. I did a Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy movie called Showtime. I was always like these reporters. I was on the show alias. And so I did, I did all this other stuff. I did the love acting, but I just thought it fun. So I would do it, met some crazy people and, you know, put it on the resume.

3 (23m 52s):
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3 (24m 40s):
So clearly you get completely off of the track, you know, that you thought you were going to go. Now what a lot of people probably don't know is that you've done a wide range of other things, too. American music awards, red carpet coverage of the primetime Emmy awards. That's pretty cool. You and Brooke burns. Cohosted a game show called you deserve it. Designers challenge on HD GTV, who wants to be a millionaire. Now I'll be honest. I've watched all these well, not every episode okay. Of the Bachelor of the Bachelorette, but I've followed you enough. I didn't even know you'd done all these things.

2 (25m 14s):
You got to be the brightest, highlight their, as you list them and like, wow, they, they are, you know, I was a big believer when I moved out again, I go back to you, believe you can't fail and you're not afraid to fail. And so I'm just a believer in when a door opens, walk through it. And if it's not quite open, kick it open and just give it a shot. I mean, what's the worst thing. And so I think I just had this attitude of bring it on. Let's go. Yeah, I'll try this. I'll try that. And next thing you know, you were standing next to Eddie Murphy and Robert DeNiro, and you're like, what the hell am I doing here? Or, you know, you're getting, you get a call. And ABC says, we want you to host who wants to be a millionaire and take over, you know, Regis his famous game show.

2 (25m 56s):
And I did that for three or four years, I think. And it was a phenomenal run. And, you know, being on the red carpet at the Oscars or the Emmys, those were all amazing. And I was the executive producer of a TV guide and I executive produced and hosted those. We're actually some of my proudest moments with the least amount of viewers, very few people saw me ever do TV guide work, but I hosted an executive produced those shows and they were damn good. I mean, it was phenomenal TV. We did a great job, but no one ever watched, but you know what? I was happy with how it turned out. That's all you can do is be happy with what you're throwing against the wall. Yeah.

3 (26m 32s):
Yeah. And it makes you more polished. It puts you in situations. I've always said, you know, you gotta, you gotta be comfortable with the uncomfortable. And, and if we think about right, some of our greatest stories in our personal lives or professional lives, they don't come from inside that comfort zone. Anyway, they're when you get pushed and you go, I don't even know if I can do this. I don't know anything about this. How am I going to talk horseracing or whatever, but it grows you. And all of a sudden you've got these things. I don't know. You probably threw out a horse racing thing in the middle of the Bachelorette one year and nobody even knew about it that, you know, right. And that's kind of how we were.

2 (27m 5s):
He, you know, it's funny. To is, you know, if you listened, especially with social media, I think it's so hard to do what we're talking about, because it is easier said than done to, to just put yourself out there and be, as you said, comfortably uncomfortable and not be afraid to fail because you're family in front of a lot of people and it's easy for people on social media to go. I can't believe you did that stupid game show or Kevin Costner. I can't believe you did Waterworld. What a bomb. It failed. Well, guess what, you know, all you can do is work your ass off, do the best you can and create a great product. There has been shows like you deserve. It's a great example. That was a phenomenal concept. Great show. What we got in the Kann that day.

2 (27m 46s):
And, and that season was incredible. What had happened was we lost in editing the post production and its not to blame anybody in there was, there was a, a, a, a minute mistake in, in the concept that just, it fell apart. And it was a lesson learned. But to me when people say, Oh, that show, it didn't really last for a long, it was a great concept and a great show. And I'm not embarrassed of it at all. I'm not embarrassed of any of my failure. It's got me to where I am and you know, there's going to be failures and it's, and it's so easy for people to sit back and be comfortable in it. Never take a chance to just say, yeah, I can't believe you did that.

3 (28m 22s):
We're talking with Chris Harrison he is the face and the voice of the Bachelor and Bachelorette series. Lets talk about the birth of it, how it happened, what was in 2002 phone call? You never auditioned from what I understand, I mean, you didn't even know this thing was coming in from the reports that I had heard and a little research that I'd done. They thought you were like the, the guy next store you are, you were just the average Joe Guy. How did this all come about?

2 (28m 51s):
So there have been a list. There's always a list as you know, and in this business. And so I was on the estimate, it was funny. My agent kept calling you saying, Oh your on this list. And I'm like, whatever, you know, I didn't know what he was about. He had no idea. Reality TV was barely a thing. Survivor was just coming on the air, but hadn't really hit yet. And that was it, you know, the, the real world and stuff like that. But the network primetime reality series had really taken off yet. And so it finally got to nine 11. We were pregnant. My son was born nine 25. So a couple of weeks after nine 11, my son was born. And a couple of weeks after that, I got a call. You, you know, that list that you were on for this show, you they're actually wanting to meet with you their down to a final four.

2 (29m 36s):
And I'm like, okay, like I haven't talked to anybody. So I went to this meeting and it was a disaster. Met Mike Fleiss, the creator of the show. There were some other producers in the room and he didn't know that at the time I, you know, it was a disaster. It was just, I was suit and tie ready for my interview. Mike Fleiss, board shorts, black t-shirt total Hollywood moment. And I'm straight off, you know, the pumpkin, Hey, Hey truck. And Oklahoma and we just didn't mix. It was the oil and water and they offered to show it to somebody else. And I thought, okay, well, whatever. And then they came back to me a few weeks later, right before Christmas. So this is October. Then we got kind of November, December. And right before Christmas, they called and said, we've had to change of heart.

2 (30m 18s):
We want you to do the show. And then I came back after Christmas in the first of 2002 and we started shooting the first ever Bachelor.

3 (30m 25s):
Wow. That is, I mean, I had no idea. And that is how crazy the business is. So, so when they said, yes, Chris when they, when they said, you're the guy, did you have in your gut that you thought this thing could be something special? I'll be honest. When I got the call, very similar. We want to fly you down to interview for the golf channel. Arnold Palmer starting this, this channel. And I'm like, Whoa. And I had my agent at the time and I, in my gut thought this thing is going to make it. I have to do this. Did you feel the same way?

2 (31m 1s):
There you go. There was a funny, there's two moments. I'll go back to my John Anderson story. Who, if people don't know he was a sportscaster and ESPN has been there for years. John Anderson was in Tulsa. He was, he at the same job I had. I was in Oklahoma city where his sister's station's the same CBS affiliates. So we worked together a lot. John calls me and he says, Hey man, I'm going to go out to this place called Bristol, Connecticut. And I'm going to take a shot at this thing called sports center. It's pretty new. It's kind of taken off. Do you want to go with me? And I said, man, I don't want to go to Bristol, Connecticut. I'll be honest. I just got a call to do this horse racing thing in, in Hollywood. I'm going to go do that. He's like, all right, man, good luck, God bless. I'm like, yeah man, I love you. Good luck. God blessed. Both of us probably thinking the other one is going to fail miserably.

2 (31m 44s):
And probably both of us are going to fail miserably and we'll be back together soon. And you know, he obviously went off in crushed. It took a flier on sports center. I took a flyer on horse racing. What the hell was horse racing going to do? It was just a step to get to this next thing that got me to the next thing. And then the Bachelor and I not only didn't think the Bachelor was going to be a hit. I didn't tell anybody I've got the job because I knew they had offered it to somebody else before me. Then they tell me, and then I go home for Christmas. So I'm hope for the holidays. We haven't shot anything. I don't have any, I don't have a deal done. I don't even tell. I tell my parents. And I told my wife clearly, and that's it. I didn't tell anybody else about the job. Cause I assumed I was going to get back and it was all going to go away.

2 (32m 27s):
And I had one, a very Hollywood moment where I thought I was cool and I quickly realized I was just Chris Harrison and I was in this movie called bounce with when did that with Gwyneth Paltrow has been, and I was like a seat in a reporter. And I did this really intense reading and I was reading the news. I kind of encapsulated the whole thing. And they called me and said, Hey, we got to pick up some of your stuff. And I thought that means I'm in the movie. So I started telling everybody I'm in a bin Aflac movie, I'm in a Gwyneth Paltrow movie. I'm going to be a big star. Like this is going to be huge. Like this is a big deal. So when you're in a bin Aflac movie, it turns out it's a bin Aflac movie. It's not a Chris Harrison movie.

2 (33m 8s):
So I went to do some, some cover, some cover ADR. They call it when you, when you were to do some video. And I realize you're looking at Ben Aflac, and if you look in the reflection of a painting behind him, you can vaguely see me when you hear my voice. I was so crestfallen and I had told everybody I was going to be in this movie and, and proceeded to get six months of phone calls of, I went to the movie and I never really saw you. I think I heard your voice. So I never, again, what I did. I, you know, overstep and out kicked my coverage.

3 (33m 43s):
All right. I'm not going to go in depth on every season. I know my, my girls probably want me to, and they want me to ask you about, you know, Joe, Joe, or, or a, you know, Hannah B or somebody else that cause there's so many characters that have been all The on. These shows. Is there anybody? And I know this might be a difficult question because I'm asking you a quick recall here, but is there anybody in all the years in the series that you've done that has blown you away from you're saying this is an incredibly impressive person, right? I'm not talking about who they might be matched up with or are they going to find love or, you know, happy endings and all of that.

3 (34m 24s):
But somebody give me, give me one man. And one woman that you just said, you know what? I could be friends with them. I'd get them a job that you were blown away by them.

2 (34m 36s):
I'll give you a couple first, I'll start with our first Bachelorette trust in him. Cause going back to the Bachelorette and you have to remember, and I know it's commonplace now and it seems so benign, but at the time it was a controversial thing to turn the tables and have one woman making out in a hot tub with 25 guys. And it was a, it was a big role to fill. It had needed a particular woman that had, I will say the sex appeal, the softness, the femininity, but at the same time, the strength and the power and the independence to take on this mantle and the controversy. And it was lightening in a bottle to have Trista. And she's a dear friend of mine. I love her very much her and Ryan and they now have teenage kids.

2 (35m 19s):
And they were also the first wedding thing we ever did in that season also was lightning in a bottle because I think it legitimized our entire franchise that showed all of Bachelor nation back before we even knew it was called Bachelor nation. This works so you can have fun with this. You can make fun of us, but at the end of the day, this is sincere and works. So if it wasn't for Trista, legitimizing, everything we were trying to do, I don't know if I'd be sitting here talking to you today. And then if you flash forward, a couple of seasons, Andrew Firestone is someone that's near and dear to my heart. He is from the Firestone family. You know, Harvey was his great grandfather, but his entire family are just amazing people that have become dear friends of mine. Yeah.

2 (35m 59s):
And they learned a lot from him, my love of wine and, and that whole culture and getting into that, that world was all because of him. He taught, he taught me, his family taught me and he, I knew there was white wine and red wine back then I thought there was red grapes and white grapes. Can you talk about me all about it? It was, it was fascinating, but he is becoming a very good friend of mine, but there are so many Bob Guiney and Ben Higgins, who I just talked to Wells Adams. I have befriended so many people and it's been such a great side aspect of this is this great family that I've created.

3 (36m 35s):
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3 (37m 30s):
You know, if we're Chris, if we're a professional athlete, we, we wanna get better. We could talk about golf. You want to shoot maybe a couple under you. You, you know, better than you did the day before, add 10 yards of distance. If you're a soccer player, like you might have been, you want to get better, move to another team, all of that sorta stuff, doing what you do. How do you keep it fresh? Is that the relationship's? Is that the crew? How do you challenge yourself to get better? You don't hand the roses out differently. How do you make yourself a better host?

2 (38m 1s):
You know, I go back to my sports background and I'm so glad I played sports. My whole life is, as you can always get better, you can always grind a little harder. And so, cause you know, I think when I started you look back 20 years ago when we started this 19 years ago, actually, and you know, I was a host. I, I will, I will say I was a talking head. You know, Mike Fleiss, the producers would say, you know, say this at this moment and do this. I didn't think a whole lot for myself. I didn't take a situation and try and make it better. I didn't know how I wasn't equipped. I wasn't a, a, you know, a five tool you would say in baseball or whatever. I didn't have any other tools I could do what I I could do. And that was converse, trying to have a good interview.

2 (38m 44s):
But beyond that, I wasn't very useful. And I grew into then becoming a producer and then seeing how, how could I help my director? How can I help the lighting guys? And, and when I say I'm, I'm not saying I'm setting up their equipment, I'm just saying, how can I help it all look better? And now when I walk into a situation, 19 years later, being a producer, being a host, I am, how do I cry? You know, what's the best thing I can get out of this moment. And you know, if it's a live show, how can I, you know, crush this and what, you know, what's the best thing I can possibly get. So there's always things I can do to be better. And I have off days and I have days when I stopped and I'm like, man, I just absolutely crushed it.

2 (39m 24s):
But that's the way it's still, it's it's as close to competition. It's as close to sports. As you can get that live element, or even just going into, you know, a one-on-one interview or, you know, there's the stuff like handing out roses or saying it's the final Rose tonight. Yeah. That's formulaic all that stuff. A monkey could do it. I'm glad I'm that monkey don't get me wrong. But there are so many intangibles and little things that I do behind the scenes where I walk away and I'm like, damn it, no one else in the world could have just pulled that off. That was amazing.

3 (39m 53s):
Chris lets be real there. There's times you haven't handed out the roses, all that. Well,

2 (39m 57s):
You've done it for the roads nights. Trust me.

3 (40m 1s):
All right. I want to have some fun with some things. These are quick hit answers. All right. I don't need a To minutes on something. So let's start with this favorite sport to watch on TV. Something that you absolutely, you know, appointment TV,

2 (40m 14s):
Golf, any major. Really? Yeah. I mean I love my Dallas Cowboys. Always love my Texas Rangers and I do watch soccer, but if there is a major on TV, a major I am done. Yeah.

3 (40m 26s):
Got it. Understood. Lived It favorite sport to play as a hobby now

2 (40m 31s):
As a hobby now golf a hundred percent. I'm addicted. It was soccer. How good are you by the way that golf. Yeah. You know, I, I don't, I could be good, but like anybody in, luckily I've played enough of these like PGA Pro-Am things where it's not my job. And so I I'm, I'm smart enough to know that I can't be great. Cause I can put the time in and I'm not going to put the time in. It's not gonna be my life. I still want to just enjoy it. So I'm not gonna be throwing clubs and yelling and I know what tiger woods does. I know what Jason Dade does. I know that these guys due to be great. I'm going to do that all for 20 minutes. So I'm not gonna be bad that I'm not a purist. Every shot. Yeah.

3 (41m 10s):
Do you sign autographs? You don't sign scorecards and by the way, here's the, here's a little tip for you if your handicap's going down. And once upon a time, shockingly, the mine was below a five, but then I started hosting all these Academy shows and all these instructional shows. I'm really gullible by handicapped sword. I was a 10 in no time. So don't overthink it and don't do too many lessons. All right, exactly. All right. Back to the questions about your favorite team, is that the Cowboys like the team you love more than any team?

2 (41m 36s):
Well, just, just to fill people in, we are taping this the day after the Dallas Cowboys just got crushed by the cartels on Monday night football. So it's hard for me to say it to the Dallas Cowboys is that, that is truly where my heart is. I am a diehard cowboy fan. I have gotten to know the jones' family, luckily and some of the players a, you know, whether it's Tony Romo back in a day or Blake Jarre when the tide in now has a good friend. I, I am a diehard cowboy fan. No matter if they're getting

3 (42m 2s):
All right, this might be a tougher question. What's the, what's the perfect date night for you?

2 (42m 7s):
Well, perfect date night. It would be with my beautiful girlfriend, Lauren Zima. And we're simple because we both live crazy lives. It's a world away from each other way, too much. We like simple, you know, a, a, a, an amazing, amazing bottle of wine in a killer dinner. And you know, if, if it's going to be a perfect night and they put us in Tuscany, if you really want to show off, some were spectacular. But honestly, just a simple night with my girl having a great deal and a great bottle of wine. We just, I like to be with my friends. I am I'm home alone a lot. And so when I get home, I just dive into those people that I cherish the most.

3 (42m 48s):
Alright, there's a fantasy Suite joke in there, but I'm not going there. So I'll say I'll spare you of that. Okay. Best vacation for you. Would it be going to the beach on an Island? I mean, you've been to all these cool exotic places or would it be more like the mountains, something like that.

2 (43m 2s):
Why don't you say that I'm an active guy and I'm not a big way on the beach and just do nothing. So I love being active. One of the greatest trips we ever took, we were in Vermont, Switzerland, where if you don't know, that's where the matter horn is, which by the way, it looks just like the one in Disney. So you could go there, but being able to take the gondola up out of Switzerland, ski into Italy and have lunch, and then go back to that. I mean, that was as good a trip as you can ever have. It was just magnificent. So I love the trips where, you know, we we're in Munich and Byron Munich was playing in the champions league or in Barcelona in Barsa was playing. I love it. When we have these of these dates, we took over Wrigley field.

2 (43m 42s):
I'm a big sports guy. If you can tell. Yeah, we took over Wrigley field, the met stadium, we've taken over some amazing golf courses. And I, I take advantage of this stuff as much as possible. We shot and amazing day to day, Ernie ELs vineyard, a in South Africa, just outside of Cape town. And that was a great few days.

3 (43m 60s):
You have the best gig going on your

2 (44m 2s):
Right. I'm telling you. That's why I say, if someone ever tapped me on the shoulder and says, you got to go and like that, I get it.

3 (44m 7s):
Yeah, no, I know I'm jealous. Social media blessing or a curse. Do you, do you like it? And you were addicted to it,

2 (44m 13s):
A worst invention. And in my lifetime, I am. So I feel so bad for my kids growing up with this crap. Yes, I use it to, so I know I'm being hypocritical. I'd be the first to tell you, I use it. I'm on Instagram. I'm not on Facebook. I've never been on Facebook and I'll never get on it. I do Twitter a little bit, but Twitter has become a, just a garbage pile. I think it's horrible. And if I can take one thing out of the world, it would be social media. I think that it is a wonderful thing, but it's done much more harm than good. Now I don't want to,

3 (44m 45s):
They send us interview into a real bad spot, but this guy likes spoilers, Steve, or what's his name? Reality, Steve or whatever. Yeah. I mean, does it, does he just drive you nuts as he, the guy that you would cause it actually could help ratings? Maybe he drives ratings. Yeah,

2 (44m 58s):
No, I, I do know of him. I've never actually, I've never read a lot of his stuff. There's certain things. If someone shows me something that's important that I have seen is just not relevant really? And, and it's not that he is not a relevant person. I don't know him, but it's never affected our ratings. It, it probably, as you said, it, it drives people. What, I'm not a fan of, of anything. I'm not a fan of anybody who wants to spoil the ending of anything, whether it's a movie, a show, whatever. I don't know. I don't understand the DNA of people that would do that and get off on that. Why would you want to crap on someone's happiness? Like, Hey, I know you love this. Let me wrap on it. And let me tell you how it is. So if you want to spoil some things, if you want to talk about it and it tell people how, you know, something, they don't, I get it.

2 (45m 42s):
But, but spoiling, the ending is just the only thing that bugs me.

3 (45m 45s):
There have been some of the most bizarre endings of late too, your series that I could ever. I mean, I still can't believe some of the stuff that I've seen in some of those stories.

2 (45m 55s):
It's, it's, it's been busy. I look like most of the time, I don't believe it. Even if you go to a player sees or the Bachelorette it just the last season. I can't believe what happened. Yeah. Well,

3 (46m 5s):
All right. Favorite author, are you a reader by the way, this is a segue. You probably know what my next question is going to be or where we're going to go next. But do you have a favorite?

2 (46m 16s):
Yeah. You know, and I could say Nicholas Sparks, cause that's where we're going to go. Next is because my book came out of having a few, too many cocktails with Nicholas Sparks, but I do love to read. I kind of go back and forth when I'm on the road, I'm a big fan of going in and out of fiction. To you know, to, you know, whether it's a biography autobiography, I was a huge fan of Dan Jenkins. He was a huge loss. I knew you were a golf guy. I am a Texas guy. He is a legend in Texas is one of the greatest sports writers, maybe the greatest sports writer of all time. I love his books. I love all I miss him on Twitter.

2 (46m 56s):
I know I just racked on, on Twitter, but he was a genius. I don't know if it was him or his son or his daughter, but Oh my God, the guy who was just brilliant. Yeah.

3 (47m 4s):
I worked with his son. I've worked around him and his daughter, but he was genius on Twitter and he is a legend. You've got that. Right. So let's talk to him.

2 (47m 14s):
One of my, one of my big sadnesses and regrets is that I had never met Dan Jenkins 'cause he was in Fort worth. I was in Dallas and I, you know, by the time I really understood who he was and how great he was. I was already in Oklahoma city and I never, our paths never crossed. And that that's a regret. Cause he, I look up to him. I think he's just, I, you know, I don't love how much he hated tiger and how personal he made that. I know that he has his reasons. That was the only thing I didn't love. But other than that, I think he was brilliant.

3 (47m 43s):
So you wrote your own book, a novel called the perfect letter. What did inspire you truly to do that? I mean, was it really a couple of cocktails

2 (47m 51s):
Or it was a night and the people had talk to me. He was a couple of things, again, timing where people would talk to me about writing a book. And I had a lot of literary agents. You got to write a book, you gotta write a book. And I said, you know, I don't want to write a tale. All, I'm not gonna be the dating guy. You know, where are you? I tell you like an Oprah. Like I can tell you, take this pill and you're going to be better. I'm not a one size fits all kind of person. And so I was at a tournament in San Diego, a golf tournament and Nicholas Sparks was there. We started drinking wine and he says, you know, we're pretty similar. We kind of do similar things. We're just in different lanes. I'm in literature and you know, you're in TV. And I said, you're right. He was like, Chris you can write a book called. We can write a book right now.

2 (48m 31s):
And the next day, or next week, I actually had a meeting with an agent and we got into talking about writing fictional romance. And I said, you know what, Nicholas Sparks just brought this up. Let's do it. And that's kinda how it all happened.

3 (48m 43s):
That's really cool. How long did it take you? A couple of years?

2 (48m 46s):
It did. It was, you know, again, stepping out of your comfort zone. I had never written a book. I didn't know what it took to write a book. It took a lot of people around me to help. And I did, I, I was not afraid to ask for help because I'm also a big believer in yes, fake it till you make it. But I'm also a believer in not what you don't know. And it's important to know what you don't know. If you're a doctor, you're a brilliant, that's great. That doesn't mean you can manage money. You know, I think we all have to have lanes and we have blind spots and, and you know, literature was a blind spot for me and I wanted to do it and I dove in and it's, it was fun for me to learn that business. And so I did, I asked for help and I would send it out to writers and I'm like, read this help.

2 (49m 30s):
Be crafted, make it better.

3 (49m 32s):
I'm in the final stages of a book project. It is all, all hard work and a, a real challenge. I agree with everything you're saying, and I'm going to check your book out, by the way, let's get back to that.

2 (49m 44s):
The Bachelor like I said, it's not a great, it's not the great American novel. It's an easy summary in a way. And it's just romantic. It gets a little edgy. What do you want to skate? That's all right.

3 (49m 56s):
That's good. I, I'm seeing a different side that I, that I thought I was going to say. I like it. How do you feel about being in the face of a franchise and being on network TV in front of millions, where they do hang on your words, they pay attention to your body language and ultimately you have responsibility to carry the show. I think you understand what I mean by that. I know you're, you're not the star of the show because that's the Bachelor of the Bachelorette. But if not for you, right, you are an to there success or failure in a way.

2 (50m 31s):
Well, it is something you said, it's a responsibility and it's a responsibility that I've learned and I, and I've grown into. And luckily it's, it's been a, an essential and, and I didn't just jump off a bridge and land there because you had to learn to earn your goal. First of all, it's to respect, you have to earn that respect. And I've earned the respect of the people that come on the show, the crew producers, you know, but then Bachelor nation of the viewers now respect me and I am the guy that should anything go awry, or there's a controversy. I'm the guy that's sitting across and Robin Roberts on good morning America or Ellen degenerates. And I answer to those issues. And you know, again, if I don't have that respect and I haven't earned that respect, that people will see through it, or they're not going to believe what I'm saying.

2 (51m 13s):
And so there is the, the, the honor of being on a show, that's been on this long, this is television history, and I'm also a student of the game. I love television. I understand what we're doing is historic television shows don't last in primetime for 20 years and actually are expanding. We're doing more television now than we did 19 years ago that doesn't happen. Shows have an arc. Do they go up? They peak and they go down, we went up piqued and started our way down. And it all of a sudden we're like, Nope, we're just going to keep going. And that just doesn't happen. And so there's pride. There's an honor. There's just a gratefulness of being blessed to have this. This doesn't happen for most people, you know, people often ask, you know, and for some reason it always happens in our business.

2 (51m 55s):
Maybe cause it's artsy, do you want to do something else? What do you wanna do next? You know, what are you going to leave the Bachelor? And I said, you know, it's funny, no one ever asks Tom Brady, aren't you sick of winning super bowls, man, aren't you, you know, w how about basketball? Why don't you go to the NBA man? Or why don't you try tennis and see if you can be Roger Federer, no one ever asks Tom Brady, are you tired of winning super bowls? I'm winning super bowls every year. We're crushing it. This is It. You know, I am hosting not just one but three, or even sometimes for prime time franchises that have been created out of this thing. We started. So this is It, you know, this is a dream. What I love to do other stuff to do. I love, I get to enjoy doing other things.

2 (52m 37s):
Whether it's the Nik Wallenda, volcano hosting, most of America, America, the spelling bee ABC has been gracious enough to give me other gigs, which are fun. But day in and day out. This is It, you know, this is a mountaintop. This is what you aspire to be. And now my goal and the reason I don't get bored, I like to stay on top

3 (52m 55s):
And your in a bubble. And you're, you're, you're isolated. I mean, 'cause, you have to be sometimes. And I, that can not be all that fun. I'm not talking about the pandemic I'm talking about in general, you talked about the life that you lead. It can't be all that easy.

2 (53m 13s):
It's not, it's not a glamorous life. It's a wonderful life. And I've, you know, I have done better, has been more successful than I ever dreamed of. I'm buying. My kids are not gonna be fine because of this job. This job changed my, but you have to work really hard. And I learned this early on. Luckily I was never a, a, a Hollywood guy, and I've always had an amazing family. I've always been very faith-driven. And he was probably very lucky that I was married when I got into this business. So I wasn't that guy going off chasing the women, chasing drugs, doing all of that. So I've always had a good base, and I've always been careful to keep people around me that holds you accountable. It's so easy in this business to have a lot of people just say yes to you and kiss your ass and tell you what you want to hear.

2 (53m 57s):
And it's always been important to me to have true friends, true loves of my life that I, that I hold dear, that will call me when I'm here in the bubble and just say, Hey, man, how you doin? And I can actually tell them how I'm doing, and it's not talking about the show. It's not talking about the road ceremonies. It's people that we'll hold you accountable. People that I feel I owe it to you to be good. And, and that is important. And a lot of people don't do that. And that's how you go astray in life, whether it's my business or any other business,

3 (54m 24s):
Are you talking about being the father of Bachelor nation in a way you're also the, the, the father of kids and, and holding people accountable. Have you ever been in a series, one of the shows where you said, you know what, this one is not going to work, that this one is a disaster. This one's a nightmare. I'm the people that are left on the show are a nightmare. You know, where you just said, I can't do this one.

2 (54m 49s):
And you know, Bachelor in PA a bachelor pad was the first incarnation of Bachelor paradise. And that I can see that just what there was, there was something inherently wrong with it because of the game show element. At the end, there was the kind of a prisoner's dilemma at the end of the show. And it kind of became about the money. And it was just, it just had, it started out as a genuinely good idea, but I can tell it just wasn't working. So he put it on the shelf and we came back with Bachelor in paradise, which has come to be a great show. And it has big if not bigger than the Bachelorette even. And so it was kind of that failure, if you will. That struggle where we all went back to the drawing board and said, what was wrong with this idea? It was a good idea, but it missed somewhere in there.

2 (55m 32s):
And it inherently wasn't about relationships because at the end of the day, our show is always about love in that relationship, whether it's a joke or do you think it's a joke? That's the sincerity of it. And that's where paradise was born. And that's where we've created a better show than what we had with a bachelor pad.

0 (55m 49s):
In addition to hosting this podcast, Kraig Leeds, the Kann advisory group focused on elevating communication for companies and individuals, company consulting, and powering team and individual workshops, mind altering webinars. And Kraig inspiring keynotes for your conference or company meeting. They're all on the menu of services. Kann advisory helps companies clarify their message, helps professionals build and showcase their brand and helps everyone present their best selves. So if you're the leader of a or company looking to give your employees a game-changing one day experience or an individual who wants to become a speaker and presenter that gets other people talking visit Kann advisory.com.

0 (56m 38s):
And when you do connect, make sure to mention the Tracks To Success podcast to receive a special discount on any of the Kann advisory services. That's Kann advisory.com. Now back to the interview,

3 (56m 54s):
Winding up our time with Chris Harrison the host of the series that I hope that you watch. And if you don't, you should at least check it out. The Bachelor, The, Bachelorette good to be talking with you. I have some other things I want to ask you about quickly and you brought it up. So I'm going to go there because at some point the ride will be over. And I'm not saying, they're gonna say that you're done, but the series might be done run its course, whatever happens. Although we got to get that 50 something show, we got to get that we got to get that knocked out, but anyhow, what else would you want to do? You know, and I know you already said, I don't know, and I don't think about it in something else might come a long way and I'll just deal with that at the time.

3 (57m 37s):
But that there has to be something that you would want to do besides play a celebrity golf tour events.

2 (57m 42s):
No, there's things that I love. I love television. I'd love creating it. I think I will definitely continue on I'm in the producing side. I will continue to produce. And I, so I think you'll see a lot more of me behind the scenes as a, as I make some other guy get in front of the camera and look pretty every day. But I, so I love producing talk, show me AB eye. You know, I love to win. I did my stents with Kelly and, and we do the Kelly and Ryan show. And I, I would host a cohost the view or whatever. There is something attractive to me to doing a daily thing because I love people. And I love the interview and I love being a journalist as well. I cut my teeth, being a journalist, and that's what I studied. So I, I love that, you know, there's stuff that's attractive to me on the periphery, like being Jim Nance, you know, calling golf and all that.

2 (58m 29s):
But I know the lifestyle that goes into that in your away from your family and weekends, you're working holidays. I did that. So, you know, I, I want control of my life again in my calendar. So there's the things out there, you know, that, that I will still chase. I'm still hungry. I still love what I do. And until that appetite goes, I'm not going away. And you're right, someday The Bachelor, Bachelorette inevitably will go away or maybe they'll tap me on the shoulder and say, dude, you're too old. It's time to move over and let somebody else do it. That's their prerogative. I don't want to show up. So, you know, I'm, I'm still renting, you know, I haven't bought this thing, but I, I hope they continue to invite me back. It's an honor to be invited back in.

2 (59m 9s):
And it's always, I never take for granted that on Tuesday morning or Wednesday morning, whatever the show is on, I wake up and the ratings are there. I study ratings every single day and I hold my breath. I check the ratings. I'm like, thank God Bachelor nation is still there. We, we, we still got another year to go,

3 (59m 27s):
Well, you know, you're a host. Okay. And you're, you're also an interviewer. There are different roles here. And so you, you talked about having maybe a, a, a role as a talk show host, and I could totally see that. I need to ask you that when you're sitting there after the final Rose, and you've got that uncomfortable moment or the chance to really truly interview, I know you have a bunch of people up there that have been on the show and they're all Chi-Ming in bark and chirp and yapping and all that sort of stuff. But you do have control of that. Do you enjoy that part of it where you're getting into the raw emotion of the interview?

2 (1h 0m 5s):
I do. You know what? I really love my favorite thing. I love life TV and that again, that's where I cut my teeth in this business. What I love is that after the final Rose special, when its a one-hour or two-hour, whatever it is, and you have a finite amount of time to get gold, to really deliver the story, to tell the story, take people on this journey and, and in kind of wrap everything up and you know, you'll, you'll have a segment. That's like, okay, you have four minutes, not a lot of time. So the clock's going in your head, you gotta get to a commercial on time. Someone's yelling at you. You gotta a producer talking in my year. And yet I'm trying to have this really emotional moment and draw something. I love that. I love the pressure. I love having to ask myself and, and all you can do is prepare.

2 (1h 0m 47s):
Like it's a sporting event. You work out, you train and you've done your homework, and then you go, and then you just gotta trust your instincts and trust that your mind and your body is going to do what its supposed to do. And in those moments, when it comes off, it's, there's nothing better. There's no better high. I always tell people, I had never done drugs. I'm not a, I don't do drugs. That's my high. When, when something goes right. And I made it go write on TV and he just worked. Whether you realize it or not, it's such a good feeling. And you know that feeling.

3 (1h 1m 15s):
Yeah. What would you tell people that want to dream big and host a show like that, but then they quickly say, Nope, never going to be me. What you do.

2 (1h 1m 24s):
I'll give you the advice that my mentor bill Teagan's God rest his soul gave me when I got into sports casting, get out of this business, quit. Now while you have a life now is the best advice I ever got in my entire life from somebody. I was a young man getting in the business and he said, if I can tell you one thing right now to be, to get out. And it was great advice because you will give up your life. This takes over your life. It's a big part of my life. I'm right now, I'm going to be stuck in this place for the next, you know, five more weeks while we were shooting this show, you have to love what you do. And I think that was his point. And I understood his point later in life. If I had taken his advice and said, Oh God, I have to work holidays.

2 (1h 2m 7s):
I have to work all night. I'm going to miss weekends. And if that meant something to me and I left, that would of been great advice. But the fact that he could have beaten me with a stick and been hosing me down and yelling at, I still would have showed up the next day to work. It didn't matter. You couldn't get me away from wanting to do this. And so that was great advice. But to your point, don't be afraid to go after this stuff. If someone looks at Chris Harrison as is how the hell did this, no name, nobody come out of Dallas, Texas and become a host of the biggest franchise and reality TV in primetime history. How does that happen?

2 (1h 2m 46s):
Yeah. You know, you tell me, but I took a shot and he wasn't afraid to do it. Yeah,

3 (1h 2m 51s):
Yeah, yeah. Chris this podcast is called Tracks To Success, I've talked with star athletes, musicians, CEOs of companies I've talked to public speakers, I've talked to, you know, superstar athletes, even broadcasters and brand builders, people who work to build other people's brands. How often do you think about your own? In other words, your life is very much in the public eye and you have to walk a fine line when you're walking around a town or a city. How often do you think about your brand? How important that is to you

2 (1h 3m 27s):
Too much? Probably too much. I think about it a lot. You know, I, I I'll admit the, you know, when you get in this business, you care what people think of you. I, at the same time I have a thick skin and I can take a lot from people, but at the same time I do care. And I, I, I am. I learned a long time ago that when you get in this business, you're a higher gun. You are an entity. So you have to treat yourself as such. It is important that you realize that you are the brand in this business. My name, what I stand for, the things I say on social media and public, it does matter it. And then there is a ripple effect and there are consequences. I always, I always cracks me up. When people say freedom of speech, man, first amendment, I can say what I want.

2 (1h 4m 9s):
Yeah. The first amendment says, freedom of speech. You can say what you want. It doesn't say without consequences, you got to read the fine print. And so yes, there are consequences to everything I do or say, and I do pay attention when I'm in a restaurant and I do pay attention when I'm out having a drink with friends and, and they start being loud. And I'm very careful. And there was a time and its kind of a bummer or sometimes if a party's kind of getting out of hand or maybe I'm in Vegas and I see, there's always a point in the night, you know? And it starts to tilt the other way and things get crazy. I go home and there's times I'm sitting in my hotel room and it's only 1130 or midnight and my buddies are still out and I'm like kinda sucks that I have to be here, but it's the right thing to do. And that's how you have to act.

2 (1h 4m 49s):
And so I do know, and I, I am very cognizant of the fact that I am a brand that I'm careful how I curate that

3 (1h 4m 56s):
Last one. You work on his show. What the goal of To people finding success through love. What defines success for you both personally and professionally. The final question when you're ready,

2 (1h 5m 16s):
I see what you did there for a fee. I'll do professionally first because it is, it is very different and professionally it is not exactly money. It's not all money. And I will admit when I started, it's like, Oh, I want to make six figures someday. I, I don't even know what that meant. It's just, I'm a big believer in goals and hitting those goals and trying to find the next thing to me is success. And what's successful to me is not going to be successful to you. So don't worry about it. And that's another thing I tell people, getting this business, don't worry about what the other person's doing. Trust me, they're scared to death. They don't know what the hell they're doing either. They're just as lost as you are.

2 (1h 5m 57s):
Go your own path. That don't be afraid of that. But success to me is winning. I do keep score. I follow ratings. I follow, you know, where I want to get. If my show is succeed, if my shows get canceled, you know, and, and what it, and it has to do with where that show was when I picked it up and what I had to do with it, how big of an imprint I left on it. So it, it, it kind of changes in your life. Personally is a very simple being a good man, being a good faithful man, a good father, a a good, you know, now a boyfriend before being a good husband and being a good friend.

2 (1h 6m 38s):
I want my buddies to think, man, that's the guy I can call it in the middle of the night and he'll be there. Just like I can call that out. The, the, the, the personal stuff is very easy to me. Life is simple when you do the right thing. And so on my personal life has always remained very simple.

3 (1h 6m 54s):
You know what that is, to me, the reason you succeeded, that's the reason this series has succeeded. You might not have been the first choice, but you are the right choice. And they made a good one. You're not the guy that lives next door to me, but I hope I get to spend some time with you sometime when we can hang in person and, and have one of your special Seagram strengths. I appreciate you being on this thing more than, you know, and I wish it, that continued success with the series and everything else that you do. Thank you so much.

2 (1h 7m 22s):
Well, truly appreciate the time as well, and, and best of luck to you and continue to Success. And hopefully we will run, run into each other someday. Hopefully play a little golf together.

3 (1h 7m 31s):
You got that, you got that one. We'll make it. We'll stay in touch and we'll make that happen. And I appreciate it. Take good care. Thank you. In our conversation, Chris talked about his road through various stops to reach a point of major recognition and fame as the host of a show seen by millions and his role on the Bachelor and Bachelorette series Chris is really a matchmaker of sorts, which brings me to my one last thing. If you want to be an influencer strongly consider how you bring people together. I have many in my network that spend a lot of time helping others.

3 (1h 8m 12s):
In fact, I want you to think about how many times you been asked for a referral

1 (1h 8m 17s):
Or asked to be a reference for someone else. This podcast alone has grown through one guest after another saying they enjoy the experience and a shared other people for consideration. Being a professional connector is an amazing way to grow your own brand without achieving something on your own resume. Basically your brand grows by bringing other people together, and then they give you the credit on the back end as a person who cares for others and wants other people and organizations to succeed. Do the professional relationships. You help to build, take some time to build some bridges for other people do that.

1 (1h 8m 59s):
And I really believe you're Tracks To Success we'll come a whole lot easier. One thing before we go, please take a moment, give this podcast a review and a rating and share it with those you think might benefit. And if you have a guest, do you think belongs on the show? Somebody you want to C email me@infoatkannadvisory.com until next time I'm Kraig Kann thanks for lists.

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0 (1h 9m 28s):
You've been listening to Tracks To Success brought to you by presentation partners, visual storytellers, passionate about connecting presenters with their audience. Don't forget to subscribe to the show for more great interviews and thoughts on reaching your highest personal and professional summit. You can follow Kraig on Twitter and Instagram using the handle at Kraig Kann and for exclusive Tracks To Success content and news about our upcoming guests. You can find Tracks To Success on Twitter. It's at Tracks To Success

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