Ivan Hall is opening up about the likelihood of his return to the Bachelor franchise if Chris Harrison were to remain as host.
In an interview with E!'s Daily Pop on Tuesday, the 28-year-old television personality — who starred on season 16 of The Bachelorette — opened up about Harrison's hiatus from The Bachelor and how he believes it was the "right step" for the host to take.
However, as Hall noted, he isn't comfortable with the idea of returning to the franchise, whether it be on Bachelor in Paradise or even future seasons of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, as the controversy surrounding Harrison, 49, has left him with uneasy feelings.
"And even going forward, I honestly don't know how this will all shake out, but for myself for example, if they have future shows and if they were to ask me to be on like Bachelor in Paradise or something like that — and I'm sure a lot of other contestants feel this way as well — I wouldn't feel comfortable if Chris is there, to be quite frank," he said. "[I'm] not saying he can't make a recovery, can't learn from all of this, but, you know … it would just be too soon, really."
Hall added of Harrison: "I think he needs to take some time really look into himself and really just have a lot of tough conversations and understand why he believes the things he believes at this point in his life."
The controversy surrounding Harrison arose when Rachael Kirkconnell, a 24-year-old frontrunner on Matt James' current season of The Bachelor, was called out for old social media posts which saw her dressed in Native American attire in costume and attending an antebellum plantation-themed college party in 2018. She has since apologized.
Harrison addressed the situation during an interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay — who was the franchise's first Black lead — on Extra.
During their 14-minute, unedited conversation, he said people should have "a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion" in the wake of the resurfaced photos and questioned the "lens" of 2021 compared to 2018.
After receiving backlash for his remarks, Harrison issued two apologies and announced that he would be stepping away from the franchise for an unspecified amount of time.
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Following Harrison's apologies and departure, a group of Bachelor Nation stars have also spoken out about the ordeal, including current Bachelor, James, 29. He called the situation "devastating and heartbreaking, to put it bluntly."
Lindsay, 35, whose public criticism of Harrison after their interview prompted the recent developments, has said that it was the "right decision" for him to step aside, while Tayshia Adams, the latest Bachelorette, also called Harrison's temporary removal "a really good thing."
In an interview with PEOPLE on Tuesday, Lindsay weighed in on the controversy some more and revealed her top pick to host the upcoming After the Final Rose special: former NFL linebacker and Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man host Emmanuel Acho.
"[He's] very outspoken about racial injustice, for social justice, and has pretty much been the person who said, 'I can have these uncomfortable conversations, and people trust it.' Who better to lead it?" she said of Acho. "[He's] someone who's not involved with the franchise, no ties, no bias — I think it'd be great."
While on Daily Pop, Hall continued to speak about the current season of The Bachelor, noting how upsetting it has been to watch James' iteration — which was supposed to groundbreaking with its first-ever Black male lead — surrounded in controversy.
"It's just a very unfortunate situation that out of the 35 whatever women he had there, it happens to be the one person who has kind of that racist history past, and this is the first Black Bachelor ever," Ivan said. "It's just — you can't really make this stuff up."
The Texas native also spoke candidly about his own experience being part of the franchise.
"For myself going into it … the show kind of shows like what white privilege is in America," he shared. "For example, I made it to the final three in my season, but I definitely have the least amount of Instagram followers out of a lot of the guys on my show just because of the color of my skin, when, on paper, comparatively speaking, I stack up pretty well."
Hall did add, however, that he enjoyed his time on The Bachelorette. "The producers took care of me," he explained. "They showed my BLM talk. They showed my brother who is a felon with teardrops. And they made my family and my story look amazing for America. So I'm very appreciative of all that."
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