Chris Harrison Launches New Wedding Band Collection with Girlfriend Lauren Zima in Mind
Chris Harrison Launches New Wedding Band Collection with Girlfriend Lauren Zima in Mind
The Bachelorette host teamed with Manly Bands on a men's line of wedding rings — which Zima helped him name!
Chris Harrison and his girlfriend Lauren Zima have been looking at wedding rings together — but not in the way you're thinking.
The Bachelor Nation host, 49, has teamed up with Manly Bands to launch a collection of wedding bands for men. He enlisted Entertainment Tonight correspondent Zima, 33, to help name each of the pieces in the 24-ring collection (aptly titled The Chris Harrison Collection,) and a few of the bands were even named with his girlfriend in mind.
"The Napa, which has the wine barrel inlay, is a place that Lauren and I love to visit," he tells PEOPLE. "We are big wine people. In fact, we were drinking wine when we named that one."
Lauren Zima/instagram Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima
Like many couples, Harrison and Zima have been able to spend more time together at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We were kinda forced to ask the hard question, 'Do I really wanna be in this relationship? Do I really love this person enough to quarantine with them?'" Harrison says. "And fortunately, the answer for Lauren and I was a resounding yes."
Zima also spent time with Harrison's two kids, Taylor and Joshua, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Gwen. "[Zima] has gotten to know them a lot more, and be more involved in their lives, and it's really special," Harrison says. "For me, not to have had that for a very long time, and to now find that, it's been wonderful."
Despite his venture into wedding bands, Harrison isn't looking for one for himself just yet. ("If I was, whoever I was proposing to would not hear about it via an interview!" he quips.)
JAKE JOHNSON PICTURES Chris Harrison wears a Manly Band from his collection
As for his engaged friends and former Bachelor Nation contestants — from Jordan Rogers to Wells Adams to Kevin Wendt — he recommends a Manly Bands ring. "This is gonna sound weird, but I would be honored if I could put a ring on their finger," Harrison jokes.
The host believes men should have the same "that's the one" feeling when picking out their wedding band as they do when selecting an engagement ring for their partner. "When Neil Lane shows up with a box of [engagement] rings, you have selection, you have variety," he says of the Bachelor Nation go-to jeweler. "Guys didn't really have that."
But when soon-to-be husbands look through the Chris Harrison Collection, he says, "I promise you the guys are gonna see the ring and go, 'Damn, yeah. That's me. That's my ring.'"
Manly Bands A ring from the Chris Harrison Collection of Manly Bands
One man who may be on his way to picking out a wedding band sooner than later? Dale Moss, Bachelorette Clare Crawley's clear frontrunner. Crawley fell hard for Moss on night one, which has led her other suitors to grow frustrated as she spends more and more time with him. At one point in Tuesday night's episode, Moss and Crawley escape to her bedroom during a group date, kissing and calling each other "perfect." Later in the night, she appears to call Moss her "fiancé" in a conversation with a producer.
Harrison saw the other contestants' reactions firsthand. "These are smart men. These are proud men," he says. "I understand their frustration. But, that's not to say that Clare is wrong. That's not to say that Dale is wrong." Of course, he says, Crawley is there to find love.
Still, as the drama has unfolded, Harrison has had to have some difficult conversations with the rest of the men — possibly even more than usual. "Sometimes I am affectionately known as the 'Grim Reaper' by contestants, and I wear that proudly," he says.
Craig Sjodin/ ABC Clare Crawley and Dale Moss on night on of 'The Bachelorette'
Adds the host, "Like I say every season, it's a tough road for 29 other people, because it's only gonna be one person in the end." He doesn't take his role as the bearer of bad news lightly, despite sometimes hearing "audible groans" from contestants as he walks into a room.
Moss and Crawley's strong connection will lead, in some way, to Crawley exiting the show and ushering in Tayshia Adams as the new Bachelorette. But, Harrison promises, "As of next week, you haven't seen the last of Clare."
The Bachelorette returns Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
