Don’t worry about being there for the ‘right reasons’
The Bachelorette Canada is being produced by Vancouver’s Good Human Productions, which was also behind Season 2 of The Bachelor Canada, which aired on City in 2014. (There has been no word on whether it will return for a third season.)
Harris has gone on to host Love It or List It Vancouver and Love It or List It Too in the U.S. And when The Bachelorette Canada begins, she’ll have a yet to be determined role on the show. Although she didn’t find lasting love as the Bachelorette, she insists it’s just as possible to find a partner on a TV series as anywhere else.
“The show gives you the opportunity to get to know somebody on a kind of a fast-track basis. For the most part, they’re casting for people that are going to be a fit for you.”
Harris now lives in Kelowna, B.C., with former professional snowboarder Justin Pasutto, whom she met standing in line at a Kelowna pub called, yes, Roses.
Casting has just begun for the men who will woo the first Bachelorette Canada, but Harris has some advice for her when the time comes. Don’t worry about who’s there for the “right reasons.” It’s become a cliché on The Bachelor/ Bachelorette. Those who aren’t there for the “right reasons,” i.e. to get married and have children, get treated like villains. But Harris says, “Who cares? He’s here. If you meet a guy at the library, is he at the library to marry you? No. You can still fall in love.” Be open-minded. While producers try to cast men who are good matches for the Bachelorette, they also cast “unique personalities,” Harris says. “There are so many different people out there.” And the men who made the best matches on paper weren’t the ones she fell for. “I fell for the quirky bad guys.” Heartbreak is not the end of the world. When she and fiancé Ed Swiderski broke up a year after their proposal was televised, “I thought it was the end of the world. I have never had a broken heart before like that in my life,” says Harris.
But now, “I’m way happier with somebody else and my life has turned out pretty amazing.” Be yourself The pressure and social media scrutiny of making a TV show makes you “want to be this contrived version of what everybody is looking for,” Harris says.
“For me, when I started to get negative attention, I kind of turned into the girl next door” instead of her true, F-bomb-dropping self. “You have to let those quirkinesses come out.” Kill the bullies with kindness And speaking of social media, there will be negativity, not just about what you do on the show but about your physical appearance. “Fight back with kindness,” Harris says. “Let people know there was hurt. Almost 100 per cent of the time people will apologize.”