Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal breaks down the financial details of Chris Harrison’s exit from ABC's "The Bachelor."

Video Transcript

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KRISTIN MYERS: Well, Chris Harrison handed in his final rose after 19 years as the host of ABC's reality TV show, "The Bachelor." Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal joins us now to break down what's next for the series, as well as Harrison's reported-- and I can't believe I'm going to say this-- eight-figure payout. Hey, Ali.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Hi, I know Kristin, you and I were just talking about this. I mean, eight figures for a payout, it's insane. But he was already making so much money, $5 million per season. Now, he is gone from the show.

Now, this all had to come to fruition after his comments in February. He had an interview where he basically defended contestant Rachael Kirkconnell's racist behavior from a few years ago. That all sort of came to a head. And he took a step back from the series.

Now, personally, I just thought this was "The Bachelor" trying to save face and that he would come back to host maybe a year later. But now we're getting the reports-- actually the confirmation that he is completely out. But there are reports that he received an enormous eight-figure payout.

According to Page Six, he was seeking $25 million. Now, the reported settlement is a little less than that. But, I mean, eight figures, you're still not too shabby when you're going to go on retirement, essentially.

But I did speak to a lawyer on this. He said these ranges are nothing new. Typically, it had to do with your contract and the amount of years that were left on it. So potentially, he had a few years left, which is why he was shooting for that 25 million figure range.

There was also probably something called a morality clause that was included in the contract. Now, morality clauses, according to the lawyer I spoke with, can be a little murky in nature. And normally, they have to be very clear and obvious for a network or studio to come and say, you cannot have your job back.

So if this went to court, there is a very real possibility that the studio would lose this case. And then they would have spent so much time, energy, and money on attorneys, litigation. It's really not worth it to them. So this all comes down to a cost-benefit analysis. And although eight figures might seem like a lot of money, they might have spent a heck of a lot more if this went to court.

So this is nothing new. We've seen it before. If you remember Megyn Kelly, she got all 69 million of her initial three-year contract after she left NBC after defending blackface. So this is something that we've seen time and time again. It's no surprise here.

Harrison also said that if he did not get a significant payout. He was going to spill all the beans. That's a report about what really goes on behind the scenes at "The Bachelor." So I'm sure this really came down to, OK, what are we willing to lose? What are we not? Let's just pay him and have this go away.

- Now, I have to think he's got a lot of dirt being with that show for nearly two decades. So what does this mean if anything for the franchise-- for "The Bachelor" franchise going forward and for whatever spinoff series there are?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Right, well, you mentioned the spin off series. We have "Bachelor in Paradise" coming out this summer. And they announced a slew of celebrity hosts. We have David Spade. We also have Lil Jon, Lance Bass, among others.

Now, some are saying this takes away from the whole point of the show, which is about love and really just makes this about the celebrity aspect. We'll see once that series premieres this summer. But if we take a look specifically at "The Bachelorette," which premiered Monday for the first time without Chris Harrison, those ratings, although, they topped Monday night's ratings, they did fall.

The Season 17 premiere was the lowest premier in the series history, garnering just around 3.5 million viewers and a 0.9 rating in a 18 to 49 demographic according to Nielsen. So we're going to have to see how the rest of the series plays out. Are the ratings going to be OK? Are they going to fall?

Does Harrison really carry that much weight with the series? Because at the end of the day, this "Bachelor" franchise, monopoly really has so much money, generates a ton of buzz for ABC. A lot of ads.

So I really don't think the show is going away any time soon because it's just so popular. But we'll have to see. Some people are saying that Harrison got out the right time. I'm not so sure. I'm personally going to miss seeing him on my screen.

I think he was at comforting phase. But, you know what. We'll have to see where things go. And at the end of the day, our actions have consequences. And we're seeing that play out all across Hollywood.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal. Thank you for breaking down those details because I don't watch "The Bachelor." And I would not have known about it otherwi--