Chris Harrison says he really thought “Bachelor” alums Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell would make it, and now he is saddened by the recent announcement that they have ended their engagement.
In an interview with iHeartRadio’s “ON with Mario Lopez,” the longtime “Bachelor” host said he knew the couple had been struggling with their post-reality TV relationship for a while, but he revealed that he didn’t see their split coming. Harrison admitted that he didn’t even know about the latest “Bachelor” breakup until Lopez asked him about it during the iHeart chat.
The backstory on 'The Bachelor' breakup
Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell were engaged in 2016 on the 20th season of the hit ABC reality show “The Bachelor." Later that year, they filmed "Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever," a Freeform reality show about their life as an engaged couple. But behind closed doors, the couple reportedly had trouble adjusting to their life together in the real world and they often butted heads.
Of course, Higgins made a major “Bachelor” faux pas when he professed his love to both Lauren and runner-up Kaitlyn Bristowe during his Fantasy Suite dates on his season of the show. Now it seems that that misstep may have come back to haunt the couple as they tried to make a go of a real-life relationship.
Indeed, Bushnell told People magazine that “post-filming was more of an emotional roller coaster than the actual show,” and she hinted that it was hard to forget that her fiancé said “I love you” to another woman.
“It’s confusing. It does wear on me,” she said last year.
Harrison knew there was trouble in paradise
In the radio interview with Mario Lopez, Chris Harrison revealed that Ben and Lauren struggled with “where the show stopped and then where life began,” and he explained that they were “fighting through a bunch of stuff” throughout their relationship.
Despite their on-camera smiles, a source told Entertainment Tonight that Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell did not get along when they were together and that they “were arguing about everything lately." The couple announced that they were calling off their engagement via a joint statement to People in which they said they plan to “remain friends with much love and respect for one another.”
Despite the red flags, Chris Harrison admitted that he did not see Ben and Lauren’s breakup coming, and he said he will be reaching out to them because he considers them both to be good friends.
