Will you accept this yellow rose?

The Bachelor host Chris Harrison dumps Hollywood digs to return to Texas

Chris Harrison with Tayshia Adams, the most recent Bachelorette.

The Bachelorette/Facebook

The cavalcade of celebrities relocating to Texas continues. This time, it’s a homecoming of sorts for the longtime host of ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison. The Dallas native appears to be moving to Austin.

The New York Post’s Page Six reported December 29 that Harrison is building a home in West Austin’s high-end Barton Creek area for himself and his girlfriend, Entertainment Tonight host Lauren Zima. Many of the homes in the Barton Creek area sell for well over $1 million.

Why Austin (or at least Texas)? Here’s one clue: His son, Joshua Harrison, attends Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, roughly 190 miles north of Austin. On top of that, the senior Harrison is an investor in Dallas’ Steam Theory Brewing Co., and his mom is Dallas real estate agent Mary Beth Harrison.

The new digs in Austin are “partly because of a recent partnership deal he struck with a local brewery," TMZ quoted production sources as saying.

Harrison hasn’t confirmed or denied that he’s joining podcaster Joe Rogan and actor James Van Der Beek in making the move to the Austin area.

In early December, corporate relocation consultant John Boyd said in an interview that Texas in general and Austin in particular maintain a top-notch reputation as a magnet for talent, innovation, and wealth.

“I expect we will be seeing more and more celebrity CEOs, media figures, pro athletes, and famous entertainers relocate to low-tax Texas in the months ahead,” Boyd said.

Harrison’s pending move to Austin comes amid thorny rumors that he’s exiting The Bachelor and The Bachelorette franchise. The relocation to Austin from Southern California, where the reality shows are taped, adds fuel to that speculation. However, TMZ seemingly extinguished the rumors with its exclusive report that Harrison is staying put as host.

In May, Harrison suggested that production of the next season of The Bachelorette might shift from California to another state — mentioning Texas by name — due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that season wound up being taped in a coronavirus “bubble” in Palm Springs, California.

Dallas-Fort Worth fans of the show got worked into a tizzy last season when a disagreement between DirecTV/AT&T and TEGNA resulted in a blackout of WFAA-Channel 8 through much of December. They came to an agreement late last month, in time for the new season premiere at 7 pm Monday, January 4.

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Media News

Dallas Morning News appoints Colleen McCain Nelson as executive editor

PR Newswire

Colleen McCain Nelson

The Dallas Morning News has finally appointed a new editor: According to a release, Colleen McCain Nelson has been named Executive Editor of The Dallas Morning News, effective August 11. Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, returns to lead the newsroom where she spent nearly 12 years as a writer early in her career.

She most recently has been Executive Editor of The Sacramento Bee and the California regional editor for McClatchy Media, overseeing five newsrooms: The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, and the Merced Sun-Star.

She replaces Katrice Hardy, who left The News in February to become CEO of The Marshall Project.

DMN publisher Grant Moise says in a statement that they conducted a nationwide search, calling her "an outstanding journalist" who's been at the forefront of journalism’s digital transformation.

Nelson spent more than a decade at The News, where she wrote about local, state, and national politics as a reporter and later as an editorial writer and columnist. In 2010, Nelson and her colleagues at The News were awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, recognition for a series of editorials that condemned the stark economic and social disparity separating Dallas’ thriving northern half and struggling southern half.

“While my career has taken me to the West Coast and even the White House, I learned about the power of local journalism at The Dallas Morning News," Nelson says. "The chance to build on The Dallas Morning News’ distinguished legacy, current momentum, and innovative vision for the future is a singular opportunity in journalism.”

Nelson, 51, was raised in Salina, Kansas, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Kansas. She started her career as a reporter at the Wichita Eagle and covered local and state government for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

She previously worked as a White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and as a political reporter, chronicling two presidential campaigns. In 2016, she criss-crossed the country with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As a White House reporter, she wrote about the policies, politics and personalities in President Barack Obama’s administration, traveling the world with the president and vice president.

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