Cheryl Burke and Chris Harrison have cleared up some allegations about The Bachelor franchise.
The former Dancing with the Stars pro made a recent appearance on the former Bachelor host’s podcast, Most Dramatic Podcast Ever. During the conversation, Burke specified that when she wanted to be the lead on The Bachelorette, the show’s producers told her that Harrison had voted against it.
“So, they said that the reason that I didn’t get to do the Bachelorette is because Chris Harrison said you’re a sloppy drunk,” she told Harrison, who was the host of The Bachelor franchise from 2002 to 2021.
After noting that Burke’s remark was “so funny”, the former TV host claimed that it wasn’t accurate, as he explained that he didn’t have the authority to decide who would star in the dating show each season.
“They, in public, would never give me that kind of power to decide who the Bachelor [or] Bachelorette is,” Harris explained. “I mean [creator] Mike [Fleiss] would ask me or, you know, or somebody would ask like: ‘Hey, like, what do you think about Emily Maynard? What do you think about Jason Mesnick or whatever?’ And I give my two cents.”
Harrison denied that he blocked Burke, who’s been sober for five years, from being on The Bachelorette. He also gave an example of when he initially had concerns about one contestant becoming The Bachelor.
“There’s a lot of Bachelors and this is why I know it’s not true,” he said. “There’s a lot of Bachelors and Bachelorettes and I won’t say anybody specific that I didn’t think [would work]. Well, I will give you one, Sean Lowe, because he turned out to be a good friend and he’s great.”
Burke noted that Lowe is still married to Catherine Guidice, who he got engaged to in season 17 of The Bachelor. “He’s our only success story. They really hang their hat on Sean Lowe,” Harrison added.
Years before her three-year marriage to actor Matthew Lawrence, who she divorced in 2022, Burke expressed an interest in appearing on the reality dating show. In the beloved program, the Bachelorette dates up to 30 singles before getting engaged to the final contestant.
“My dating record hasn’t been great the past couple of years so if I have a chance to go on [The Bachelorette] I will,” the then 28-year-old told People in 2012. “I’m getting old, you know, so it’s something of interest to me.”
She added: “It would be fun to have a pool of guys around you and getting to know someone. I think if I had people setting me up with different guys I think it would be easier for me to meet someone to date.”
The Independent has contacted a representative for ABC for comment.
