‘The Bachelorette’: JoJo Fletcher on Filling in for Chris Harrison on an ‘Unexpected Season’
The Final Rose
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While there’s quite a bit we don’t know about the upcoming 16th season of The Bachelorette, with Clare Crawley’s search for love kicking off on October 13, there is one switchup that has been confirmed: former Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher (Season 12) stepping in for host Chris Harrison. (He had to quarantine for two weeks after taking his son to college.)
JoJo joined fellow Bachelorettes Rachel Lindsay (Season 13) and Becca Kufrin (Season 14) on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast to discuss her upcoming stint as guest host. (“The fact that they brought in a woman to be a part of the Bachelorette season is pretty awesome,” Rachel noted.) JoJo teased the upcoming season that already has everyone talking due to rumors that 29-year-old Tayshia Adams (from Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor) replaces the 39-year-old after Clare falls for one of her potential suitors.
“I kind of jumped into some craziness, which I wish I could tell you about,” JoJo admitted of taking over Chris Harrison’s gig. Speaking of that “craziness,” the longtime host was the one to give her the rundown of what she was walking into, and JoJo recalled that her reaction was, “You’re leaving me with this?” Rachel asked if that was on-camera, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
“But it’s going to be a very — I don’t want to say dramatic because it’s always dramatic — but a very unexpected season with a lot of strange, unusual things happening,” JoJo promised.
Becca did mention that a number of rumors have been circulating about Season 16, before noting that all three of the former Bachelorettes “make a quick little appearance [in Season 16] for different reasons.” Furthermore, “All these people were there, so no one quite knows what’s going to go down,” she said, adding, “I think it’ll be very unconventional.”
In spite of the challenge, JoJo said she had “a lot of fun” as guest host. “I’m super excited to see how it plays out,” she shared, before adding that she was “so stressed out about not living up to [Host Harrison’s] expectations.”
“He’s the greatest of all time and he is so phenomenal at his job and those one-liners and delivering things,” she reasoned. “He trusted me to do this, but the amazing thing was that I wasn’t going to come in there and try to be Chris. I was just coming in to help him out.” So while she did have to “deliver a message” at times, she didn’t have any of the “Chris Harrison lines.” “You will never hear me say, ‘this is the final rose,’ I don’t think,” she said.
Going into the upcoming season of The Bachelorette, fans know to expect some pretty big moments. Promos show Chris telling Clare that she’s “just blown up The Bachelorette.” The logline for the premiere promises “viewers will get their first glimpse at the shocking moment that will change the course of this passionate, crazy journey, unlike any other in franchise history.” We’ll have to see if it is, in fact, “unexpected” and “unconventional.”
The Bachelorette, Season 16 Premiere, Tuesday, October 13, 8/7c, ABC
