Exclusive Interview
Inside Chris Harrison’s Reality TV Return: How ‘The Vow’ Is Rethinking Dating
For Chris Harrison, “Timing is everything,” and right now is the perfect time for Chris Harrison’s The Vow, which he calls “the most authentic, most intentional dating show ever.”
When the former host of The Bachelor sat down with Swooon to discuss his new dating show on Fox Nation, he explained, “After five years away from this genre — and if you’d asked me a long time ago, ‘Would you get back into dating?’ I wasn’t sure. The idea had to really be right, and it really had to spark [my] interest.”
However, Harrison and his wife, Lauren Zima, who serves alongside him as a co-executive producer on the series, “noticed something happening,” and that instinct inspired the show. “This social movement with this generation [with] more people going to church than their parents, and then the dating apps kind of falling by the wayside and people leaving,” he said. “Clearly, this generation is searching for something and pushing back a little bit, looking for those connections, looking for love, and seemingly having trouble finding it.” With Chris Harrison’s The Vow, they’re hoping to answer the simple question: “Can you find love in this modern world?”
Of course, this love story starts with a leading man. Looking back at casting Jace Cates, Harrison spilled, “Our casting process was maybe the most labor-intensive, most intentional, important thing, because it’s the foundation of a show.” He recalled looking for “people of faith and people searching for something — people that truly want love, family, children, all those things.”
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When it comes to selecting their lead, Harrison revealed that they found Jace “in Canby, Oregon, of all places.” A true “diamond in the rough,” Jace is “a little bit older — 30 years old — [since production wanted] someone who has a little experience. He has a good career, and he’s truly here with the intention of finding love, getting married, and hopefully having a family.”
On the other hand, the show intentionally cast just 10 women. As Harrison put it, “If you have 25-30 [women], with only six episodes, people are going to be leaving, and I don’t even know who they are, much less you, the viewer. I really wanted this to be able to tell stories. I think that’s something that’s been lost lately — telling a good story. And if you only have 10 women, then we can truly tell their stories as well as watch them, hopefully, find love.
One member of the cast is Kylee Russell, another Bachelor Nation alum, who proudly shares that she is “on fire for Jesus.” According to Harrison, they didn’t set out to cast someone from the franchise, but when she applied, “It came down to her answers in her interview and where she was on her journey of faith… I think she felt that part of her wasn’t given a fair shake, and she really wanted the opportunity to come and share that story.”
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Unlike other reality dating series, Chris Harrison’s The Vow allows Jace and contestants to end their relationships at any time, without waiting for a rose ceremony or otherwise. Harrison explained, “We told Jace and the ladies, ‘If you don’t see this happening, if there is not a future here, you need to take that person aside. You have to look them in the eye and have a conversation because that is what should be expected of a gentleman.'” Instead of losing something, he revealed, “That raises the bar, and it raises the stakes. And, by the way, it raises the drama because it’s real.”
As an executive producer, Harrison was also far more involved in the journey than he was as just a host. “We don’t have a lot of those contrived moments where it’s like, ‘Okay, let’s pop up the host and let them say some stuff and then disappear,'” he pointed out. “You’ll see me in some of those situations where, yes, I sit down with Jace, and maybe [it’s] familiar because I did do that from time to time, but a lot less of a hosty role, and I enjoyed that.”
Looking back, he confessed, “The Bachelor wasn’t my baby, and I wasn’t behind the scenes as much, actually setting things up and making decisions like I was with Lauren and our other executive producers. And I loved stretching that muscle. That was a very different world for me, and I really enjoyed.”
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Having been in romance reality TV for so long, Harrison reflected on the genre and how this series is different. He said, “People see right through things now. You can watch a show and go, ‘Oh, that’s such a produced moment,’ and, ‘There’s a reason they’re there.’ It’s not to say that we didn’t produce the show, because it is a television show, [and] I want people to watch. I want it to be intriguing and dramatic and all those things. But if it’s not natural, I think people see it.”
He added, “This isn’t just a knock, by any means, on reality shows, but just in general, in society, I feel like all of technology, a lot of things have been built to make our lives easier, but I feel they’ve also made connections less [easy], and we’re not having these in-person moments, and connections, and these love stories happen… I think more than ever, the world needs some love, and needs some intention and authenticity. And I hope that’s what we’ve created with The Vow.”
With over-production falling to the wayside to favor real connection, Harrison promised, “Nothing feels fake. Nothing feels contrived. The emotion and the drama that you get is from the heart, and that is what I think is going to draw viewers in.” Watch our full interview with Chris Harrison above.
Chris Harrison’s The Vow, Season 1, Wednesdays, Fox Nation
