He is “America’s foremost love doctor,” a “human seismometer of romantic chemistry” and the equivalent of a “cobbler whose children have no shoes” — the latter a testament to his inability to recognize when women are fawning all over him, “on a spectrum ranging from gentle flirting to outright assault,” according to this utterly absorbing GQ piece about Lake Highlands High School graduate Chris Harrison, host of ABC’s “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” and author of a new novel.
No matter how much you hate the whole concept that is “The Bachelor,” there is no denying its influence on your love life, asserts the article, especially if you are one who dates, or even if you simply are married to a person who watches the show, which even our very own city council representative has confessed to doing.
Personally, I know very little about this series, save what I see on The Soup. I am among the haters and agree, as The Seattle Post-Intelligencer opined when the show began in 2002, that “ABC could have saved a ton on limousine fees if it had shrink-wrapped 25 women and placed them in the meat case at Safeway.”
Still, even I cannot deny that Harrison is a likable guy. Heck he presented a Webby Award to the creators of “Burning Love,” a parody making fun of “The Bachelor,” so, yeah, he apparently gets it.
Back jacket of “A Perfect Letter”
As for Harrison’s book, “The Perfect Letter,” released recently by HarperCollins Publishers, it’s a guilty pleasure romance (shocker) with a dash of mystery that he dedicated to his kiddos Joshua and Taylor.
If you like “The Bachelor,” you might enjoy this book. If you think “The Bachelor” is pretty much the worst thing to happen to our gender since, I don’t know, “Sex In The City 2,” or Uggs, probably don’t read it.
You can read a good chunk of it, or purchase, on the preview below.
I’ve emailed Harrison’s publisher requesting an interview, but if any of you LHHS alums have an in with Harrison, please give me a shout: chughes@advocatemag.com.
Harrison is one of several famous LHHS grads.
