Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s journey of hosting The Bachelorette has come to an end.
The 36-year-old star confirmed that she would not be returning to host the upcoming season 19 of the ABC dating show on her podcast Off The Vine. Last week, The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer told viewers on After The Final Rose that he would return to help leads Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia find love.
“I saw at the end of the finale, Jesse was announcing the two Bachelorettes, and he said he was going to be by their side for that,” Kaitlyn explained on March 22. “So, I guess spoiler alert, I’m not coming back.”
While Kaitlyn admits she has a bit of FOMO with not retuning, she recognizes she’s had a “wild year” and could use a little down time to focus on other things, like her upcoming nuptials to Jason Tartick.
‘I want to support Gabby and Rachel and be there for them so bad,” she said. “I think it makes sense to have a woman being there for them. But I also do want to prioritize being at home with Jason and start planning my wedding and catch up on my businesses.”
The Spade and Sparrows Wine founder even described the shake up as “blessing in disguise.”
“There’s a lot of exciting things coming up in the next few months, and it all just feels very overwhelming,” she explained. “But I guess it’s that saying like, you can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once. I will be sad though. I want to be there to support them, but that’s the update.”
Sharing the gig with fellow former Bachelorette Tayshia Adams, Kaitlyn took over hosting duties for seasons 17 and 18 of The Bachelorette, after longtime host Chris Harrison “stepped down” in February 2021 after facing criticism for defending a contestant on The Bachelor accused of racism.
Now, she’s supportive of Jesse taking the reins, saying, “I think Jesse’s amazing. He’ll be a great host and I hope he helps Gabby and Rachael in any way that he can.”
Kaitlyn first burst onto the Bachelor Nation scene in 2015 when she competed for the affections of Chris Soules on season 19 of The Bachelor. She took over the lead on season 11 of The Bachelorette the following year and left the show engaged to Shawn Booth. Although their relationship fizzled out three years later, Kaitlyn went on to compete on season 29 of Dancing with the Stars with partner Artem Chigvintsev and went home with the Mirrorball Trophy.
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