The ups and downs of Chris Harrison and Kaitlyn Bristowe’s friendship

From the best to the ones who barely talk. Kaitlyn Bristowe formed a strong bond with Chris Harrison when she joined Bachelor Nation, but their relationship has faltered over the years.

During a January 2023 appearance on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Bristowe claimed that her mentoring position at Katie Thurston2021 season The Bachelorette — which came amid Harrison’s exit from the franchise — strained their friendship.

“They offered me a position to come in, and what Bachelor the franchise said [I was there to do] mentored Katie,” she explained. “[They said] I wouldn’t trade Chris. Then all these articles started coming out saying: ‘Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe replacing Chris Harrison.’”

Harrison was officially fired from his longtime life Bachelor franchise guest appearance in June 2021 after facing backlash for defending the controversial Season 25 winner Rachael Kirkconnell — who made headlines for her racially insensitive past — that February.

Bristowe recalled feeling “queasy” at the thought of taking over her friend’s job and claims she “texted Chris probably about 10 times and he didn’t respond.”

The Canadian native added that she “bawled her eyes out” after her relationship with the TV personality “just felt like going to the toilet”.

Soon after Dancing with the stars alum after their falling out, reunited with Harrison during a February 2023 episode of his “Most Dramatic Podcast Ever.”

During the episode, Who wants to be a millionaire alum addressed Bristowe’s claims that she texted him “about 10 times” after being offered the role of mentor.

“Seven of [the messages] they were that day,” he claims. “And I’m not going to read them to you, but it was one of those things where she misses a word and she’s like, ‘Wait, I meant this, I meant this.’ So it wasn’t like you were bombarding me with text messages, [saying] ‘Call me, call me, call me.’ It was really a kind of thought that came out one day.”

Harrison continued, “A week later [or] so you said, ‘hey if you get a chance call me.’ And so there were no ghosts.”

The Texas native also emphasized that the change in their friendship was not due to ill feelings over the signing of Bristowe and Adams for Season 17.

“It had nothing – and I mean nothing – to do with you and Tayshia hosting the show. It had to do with the fact that I was going through something extraordinary. … And I don’t mean this in a condescending way, it had nothing to do with you or Tayshia,” he said.

After hearing Harrison’s perspective, Bristowe admitted that, in hindsight, she “totally got it[s]” why didn’t the game show host make it a priority to answer her at the time.

Scroll through to see the ups and downs of Bristowe and Harrison over the years: