Chris Harrison Says ‘The Bachelor’ Creator Mike Fleiss Is a Narcissist

Isaac Rouse April 11, 2023, 5:16 pm

Chris Harrison, the former longtime host of the ABC reality dating franchise The Bachelor, recently went off on former show producer and creator Mike Fleiss, referring to him as a narcissist, and detailing his feelings on narcissism in general.

During the April 10 installment of his The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever, Harrison was asked if any Bachelor or Bachelorette narcissists have been featured on the show, and he responded, “the creator of the show was, severely.” He added, “one of the toughest things about narcissism is you will never — well, I don’t want to say never, but very rarely will that person ever recognize that in themselves.” He then delved into a conversation he had with his therapist about the subject, where she told him, “I’m just warning you that next to a homicidal maniac, narcissism is the toughest thing to treat.”

This follows reports of Fleiss’ exit from the franchise amid a racial discrimination investigation. According to reports, Fleiss’ exit came after a workplace misconduct investigation, which looked into claims of allegedly racist behavior and verbal and emotional abuse against the long-time producer. It is said that Fleiss was not formally fired, but after a conversation with Warner Bros. TV about the investigation results, he chose to leave.

In a statement announcing his departure, Fleiss stated that he is proud of the team’s work over the past five years to make the show “substantially more diverse” but noted, “I could have done more.”

Meanwhile, Harrison was initially ousted from The Bachelor after Matt James‘ season because of his problematic defense of Rachael Kirkconnell, who came under fire for Instagram photos from a plantation-themed college party in 2018. In a 2021 interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, the first Black star of the show, Harrison asked if the photos were bad by 2018’s standards or by 2021’s. Lindsay and viewers argued it was both.