Entertainment

Chris Harrison Hinted Something's Going On Between Nick Viall & Kelley Flanagan

by Brad Witter
'Bachelor' host Chris Harrison revealed that Nick Viall & Kelley Flanagan got cozy at his party.
Michael Yada/Walt Disney Television/Getty Images

There may be a budding new romance in Bachelor Nation. Chris Harrison confirmed that The Bachelor's Nick Viall and Kelley Flanagan were getting "cozy" at an event he recently hosted in Los Angeles. "Nick and Kelley were very cozy at my party," he told Entertainment Tonight's Lauren Zima during a joint Tuesday, March 17 Instagram Live. Viall sparked rumors he was dating the contestant from Peter Weber's Bachelor season after he captioned a March 12 Instagram photo from the event: "She's not with Peter."

Harrison previously spilled the tea about their interaction in the comments section of Viall's post. "Loved seeing you guys get so cozy last night. Here for it," he wrote.

Viall's rumored former fling Rachel Bilson also responded to the reported coupling, commenting, "This alone makes up for that disastrous season," under the picture of Viall and Flanagan. Several Bachelor Nation members seemed equally supportive. "Wow I'm kind of liking this," Flanagan's Season 24 castmate Hannah Ann Sluss wrote. Added Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise star Dean Unglert, "OMG DATE."

For her part, Flanagan shared Viall's image on her own Instagram page, as part of a collection of photos from the launch of a new tropical rosé Harrison created with Seagram's. "What a night!" she wrote, in part, along with the post, which also featured fellow Bachelor contestants Mykenna Dorn and Kelsey Weier.

Following her appearance on the most recent Bachelor season, Flanagan reportedly wasn't invited to the Women Tell All special that ABC aired on March 2. Regardless, the lawyer became a fan favorite, thanks to her refreshingly pragmatic approach to the dating competition. She was, however, present in the audience at ABC's March 10 After the Final Rose episode, and even Weber's mom Barb reached out on social media to invite the lawyer to lunch and a shopping date.

Flanagan also got Weber's endorsement to be the next Bachelorette. (That role, of course, has since been filled by Clare Crawley.) "Kelley would kill it. Kelley is so ready, Kelley is one of the smartest people I've met," Weber, who also called himself her "biggest fan," said during a Feb. 10 ET interview with Zima. "I definitely had questions at first if she was really ready and wanted this. I was wrong, she truly was."

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As for Viall, the Bachelor Nation vet was linked to Demi Burnett after the pair walked the 2020 Golden Globes red carpet together in January. During a Nov. 2019 episode of his Viall Files podcast, Viall called Burnett a "dear friend" with whom he'd become very close. "I care very much about her," he said on air.

While his current relationship status with Flanagan remains unconfirmed, there's a clear a trend in Bachelor Nation that couplings don't always involve a rose ceremony.