Rachel Lindsay is talking her thoughts about her Bachelor Nation journey and her notorious interview with Chris Harrison that led to his exit from the franchise.
“I’m identified for asking direct questions, related questions. And Chris was there to advertise, no person even is aware of — some drink perhaps. So it was an ideal storm,” Lindsay, 40, mentioned on the Tuesday, December 3, episode of “Love It or Go away It Presents: Bravo, America!” podcast. “ABC PR wasn’t on the decision. Warner PR wasn’t on the decision. It was the PR of that drink firm, so there’s nobody to cease him and say, ‘You’re going the flawed method.’ It was quarter-hour of him ranting and raving.”
In 2021, Lindsay interviewed longtime Bachelor and Bachelorette host Harrison, 54, whereas she labored as correspondent for Additional. Through the chat, the pair talked about Matt James, who was the present’s first Black Bachelor. Lindsay introduced up the drama of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell’s attendance at a southern antebellum social gathering whereas she was in school. (The model of social gathering has obtained backlash over time as a result of period’s affiliation with slavery and the Confederacy.)
When mentioning the subject, Harrison slammed the criticism and defended Kirkconnell as a sufferer of cancel tradition. Kirkconnell in the end apologized and James selected her as his winner. Harrison was subsequently let go from the present, which led to a falling out between him and Lindsay.
Preserve scrolling for extra revelations from Lindsay’s podcast look:
Rachel Lindsay Initially Turned Down ‘Bachelorette’
Rachel Lindsay shared that she didn’t plan on turning into the primary Black Bachelorette till she had a significant dialog with a fan.
“Earlier than I left Finland, [producers] mentioned, ‘We wish you to be the Bachelorette.’ And I mentioned, ‘No,’ and I went again to work as an legal professional. I simply wished my regular life again,” she recalled earlier than revealing what modified her thoughts. “And it was somebody coming as much as me saying, ‘I hear you go far. My daughter appears to be like such as you. She loves the present. She’ll see herself represented.’ And I believed, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve to. It’s greater than me.’”
Rachel Lindsay Recalled Her ‘Rampant’ Consuming Throughout Present
Earlier than The Bachelor and The Bachelorette modified their guidelines about how a lot alcohol the contestants may devour, Lindsay recalled the way it was a “rampant” expertise.
“I’m waking up taking photographs of Fireball within the morning,” Rachel Lindsay mentioned on the podcast. “I began my day without work each morning with Fireball.”
Lindsay added that she was “absolutely conscious” about how a lot alcohol she was consuming a day.
“We had been all adults, like, I used to be absolutely conscious that I wished to get up within the morning and have a drink,” she mirrored. “It simply was, for me, like a cup of espresso.”
Rachel Lindsay Informed Nick Viall She Beloved Him — And Instantly Laughed
Rachel Lindsay shared that she knew she wasn’t in love with Nick Viall whereas competing on season 21. Nonetheless, she opted to say “I like you” to him whereas on their Fantasy Suite date.
“However as I mentioned, I like fireball. They actually wished me to say, ‘I like you’. I mentioned it, I laughed after,” she recalled. “We begin laughing, they reduce it out.”
Whereas Lindsay wasn’t in love with Viall, she admitted she did look after him and they’re nonetheless mates.
“I cared for him. I actually did. We’re really mates to this present day, however I wasn’t in love. I wasn’t in love in any respect,” she mentioned. “And I mentioned it, and I sort of laughed, after which I handed out within the Fantasy Suite as a result of I had drank a lot that day.”
The Low Down on Rachel Lindsay’s Fantasy Suites Expertise
Throughout season 21 of The Bachelor, Rachel Lindsay mentioned she and Nick Viall weren’t intimate since she “handed out.”
“I by no means made it to the bed room. I handed out,” she recalled of her and Viall’s Fantasy Suite date evening. “And he was like, ‘I carried you up the steps and gave you Tylenol and put you within the mattress.’”
For Lindsay’s season, she introduced three of her suitors to the Fantasy Suites. As a substitute of being intimate, Lindsay used that chance to have candid off-camera conversations with the lads.
“I didn’t have intercourse with all people that I took to the Fantasy Suite, however I did take all three to the Fantasy Suite. However I had legit questions. I had considerations that my dad and mom had [shared]. I had considerations,” she mirrored. “I had written down all these items I used to be asking, like, your credit score rating, your political affiliation. … I actually appreciated the lads that I had introduced there. [I was] very critical and intentional, the questions I requested, and it was over.”
Rachel Lindsay Wanted ‘Weeks’ to Get Over Peter Kraus Breakup
Whereas Rachel Lindsay in the end obtained engaged to Bryan Abasolo, she had a deep reference to Peter Kraus however broke issues off as a consequence of his indecisiveness.
“I knew I used to be breaking apart with him. I walked in there realizing that was the one factor that I put my foot down with, was that I didn’t need two folks to suggest to me. So I keep in mind the producers had been like, ‘In case you don’t do it tonight, they’re each going to come back to the whether or not they suggest or not, they’re each going to satisfy you on the podium,’” she claimed. “And I didn’t need that. I didn’t need that day to be clouded by that, which, in hindsight, it was due to what occurred the evening earlier than.”
Lindsay shared that she didn’t count on Kraus to combat for his or her connection like he did within the finale. She confessed it took her a while to recover from the breakup and she or he was anxious about how Kraus was dealing with all of it.
“It was so exhausting that subsequent day, the day of the proposal, I used to be crying. I didn’t sleep. My eyes had been bloodshot purple going to the proposal, and I used to be like, ‘That is what I used to be making an attempt to keep away from,’ and it’s taking place anyway. I used to be so involved about [Peter].” she mirrored. “I knew Bryan was the precise selection, however …I don’t suppose I’ve ever mentioned this out loud … It took me weeks after the proposal to cease excited about him and if he was OK. It wasn’t that I used to be excited about him like I wish to be with him, however he was so emotional, and I used to be after we left one another that I saved considering, ‘How is he? Are you able to inform me how he’s doing? Is he OK?’ Like I actually, actually cared for him. I actually, actually did, and that’s one thing I didn’t anticipate both, that there have been going to be two males on the finish that I actually, actually cared about.”
Why Rachel Lindsay Stayed in Her Marriage to Bryan Abasolo
In December 2023, Bryan Abasolo filed for divorce from Rachel Lindsay after 4 years of marriage. Lindsay confessed that her want and strain to have a household was one of many causes she tried to make her marriage to Abasolo work.
“It’s why I stayed in my marriage longer than I ought to have. Even earlier than getting married. There have been issues that I noticed, the explanations we broke up, I noticed all these issues earlier than, however I wished to have youngsters, and I wished to be married and I wished to be cherished, and it’s unhappy,” she mentioned. “It’s sort of unhappy. I do know numerous girls who put their careers first, after which they give the impression of being up in the future and there are different issues that they need for themselves, they usually don’t have them, they usually sort of settle, or they make sacrifices, they usually compromise in ways in which they wouldn’t usually try this due to their want to have a few of these different issues.”
Rachel Lindsay’s Notorious Dialog With Chris Harrison
Rachel Lindsay claimed that she wasn’t speculated to interview Chris Harrison the day their interview occurred. After a scheduling battle with the opposite topic she ended up chatting with Harrison as an alternative. When discussing the net drama about Rachael Kirkconnell, Harrison went on a rant about cancel tradition.
“He was simply displaying his true self, however I used to be sitting again, like, I do know this to be you, the viewers doesn’t. I’m simply shocked that you’ve the audacity to be saying this,” Lindsay claimed. “After which when he completed, we’re a 30 minute present, 20 minutes with commercials. I am going to my EP, and I mentioned, ‘Did you see that?’ She mentioned, ‘No.’ I mentioned, ‘Solely air no matter he mentioned about his promotion.’ I mentioned, ‘Put the entire thing on YouTube, unedited.’ After which that’s what occurred. After which the following day, it blew up, and I despatched it to an government at ABC, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I already noticed it. It’s the very first thing on my desk this morning.’”
After Harrison’s remarks went viral, Lindsay claimed she didn’t get an apology from him till somebody suggested him to take action.
“He texted me, or referred to as me, that morning and was like, ‘Effectively, they’re saying I’m gaslighting you.’ He nonetheless didn’t get it till someone mentioned one thing and apologized,” she claimed. “After which after I tried to clarify to him why it was offensive. It was dismissive.”
When requested by host Jon Lovett if she thought Harrison would obtain the identical punishment in the present day, she believes that he would have been in a position to return to internet hosting in some unspecified time in the future.
“He would have sat out perhaps, perhaps he wouldn’t have hosted the finale episode, and he would have been in a position to come again. I feel he thought that for himself,” she mentioned. “If it had not occurred in February of 2021 that’s when cancel tradition was heightened.”
Why Rachel Lindsay Advocates for Extra Range on Actuality TV
Rachel Lindsay shared that her aim together with her platform was to be “purposeful” of the message she spreads which is why she advocates for extra variety on actuality TV.
“If I may pave the best way for different folks to come back on the present, or apply for the present, or, you recognize, use the present to have a distinct path, like I did, then, nice. Tremendous. Now I really feel like I’m doing what I’m speculated to do,” she mentioned. “I like that I’ve a microphone, a voice, a platform. I like that I constructed a group I like. I feel one of many scariest issues if you go away the Bachelor is, effectively, does anyone care what I’ve to say exterior of being on The Bachelor? As a result of that’s how all people obtained to know me, and I’m completely satisfied that they do.”
