This season of"The Bachelorette"will go down in history, but not at all in the way ABC intended.
AfterTMZsurfaced ashocking, violent videoof upcoming "Bachelorette" Taylor Frankie Paul, her ex-partnerDakota Mortensenand one of her children, ABC has pulled the plug on Season 22 of"The Bachelorette."
Paul, 31, who came to fame as the star of Hulu's reality show"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives"(both Hulu and ABC are owned by Disney), was supposed to be an injection of drama, spice and relevance to the aging "Bachelor" franchise, at least from the perspective of the network and producer Warner Bros. The breakout personality among the "Mormon Wives," Paul has been a fount of drama, tension and viral moments for that series. Now her behavior, both on and off the screen, has disrupted two of Disney's biggest reality franchises: In addition to pulling "Bachelorette" off the air, Season 5 of "Mormon Wives"has paused filming amid Paul's legal entanglements.
How did we get here? "The Bachelorette" is part of ABC's 24-year-old "Bachelor" franchise that has become a TV institution, generated a fortune for the network and even led to real-life marriages and babies. How did it become the setting for one of the most unseemly controversies in the already-seedy history of reality TV? How did a grab for ratings and relevance merit risking the health of one TV show on a woman who already was arrested in the middle of filming of another? Where did ABC go wrong?
Taylor Frankie Paul was always dead-wrong for 'The Bachelorette'
'The Bachelor' relishes in love and romance. 'Mormon Wives' is tasteless and vulgar. Taylor Frankie Paul should have never gotten her hands on the roses.
Taylor Frankie Paul took the reality TV world by storm in 2024 when "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" became a cultural phenomenon. The "MomTok" influencer and most recent "Bachelorette" spoke candidly about her infamous "swinging scandal" and has faced legal troubles throughout the show. See her career in the spotlight, beginning here backstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026, in Hollywood, California. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Paul attends the 2026 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at The Kia Forum on Feb. 13, 2026, in Inglewood, California. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Former NBA player Tacko Fall and Paul before the start of the game. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Paul was named ABC's "Bachelorette" for 2026. She is the first "Bachelorette" lead to helm the franchise despite never appearing on "The Bachelor"." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Paul attends the 2025 TIME100 Creators Launch Party at Gansevoort Rooftop on July 10, 2025, in New York City." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Paul at an event hosted by Hulu on April 22, 2025, in Los Angeles." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
"The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives" stars Layla Taylor, Miranda McWhorter, Jessi Ngatikaura, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Paul, Jennifer Affleck, Whitney Leavitt and Demi Engemann attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Season 2 at Paramount Studios on May 9, 2025, in Los Angeles." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
From left, Affleck, Paul, McWhorter, Neeley, and Matthews at SiriusXM Studios on May 8, 2025, in Los Angeles." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Mitchell Tenpenny and Paul speak onstage during The 58th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 20, 2024, in Nashville." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Paul poses on the red carpet before the CMAs." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> See 'Mormon Wives' star Taylor Frankie Paul's life in the spotlight
Taylor Frankie Paultook the reality TV world by storm in 2024 when "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" became a cultural phenomenon. The "MomTok" influencer and most recent "Bachelorette" spoke candidly about her infamous "swinging scandal" and hasfaced legal troubles throughout the show.See her career in the spotlight, beginning here backstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026, in Hollywood, California.
Because that's the biggest problem here, the original sin of ABC's choice to bet big on Paul − even viewers already knew about Paul's alleged history of violence and instability. The leaked video that has led to all of this was from a 2023 incident between Paul and Mortensen, one that was covered in the 2024 series premiere of "Mormon Wives."
The Utah-based series is about a group of women who found TikTok success calling themselves "MomTok." Paul was portrayed as the central figure from the first episode, which features body-cam footage from her 2023 arrest, in which she was charged with assault, criminal mischief and domestic violence in the presence of a child. However, the show downplays the severity of the incident and most crucially the fact that a child was present and injured in the melee. Any substantive inquiry into the arrest and subsequent court case would have made all of that plain to see.
It was only when the horror of the video became public knowledge that ABC, Warner Bros. and Disney were forced to reckon with the woman they got into bed with. In the video, Mortensen films as Paul hits and kicks him. She throws furniture at him. There's yelling and screaming. A child can be heard crying. The video surfaced amid an ongoingdomestic assaultinvestigation into Paul and Mortensen, who have bothreportedly leveled allegations, including recent accusations about an incident in February of this year.
A Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson told USA TODAY, "In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of 'The Bachelorette' at this time. Our focus is on supporting the family."
Pulling the season was the right call, and apparently an expensive one, according tothe Wall Street Journaland theLos Angeles Times, costing ABC potentially $50 million to $70 million. But it never should have filmed. Even before the violence allegations gained such public traction, it should have been clear that Paul's personality was antithetical to the fairy-tale romantic themes of "The Bachelorette."
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An early trailer for Paul's season, perhaps all that the public will ever get to see of it, is an exercise in whiplash. In the first few clips, she says all the right things about true love, kisses various contestants in romantic locales and flutters her eyelashes at the camera. But then, her more combative personality comes out. She appears to dismiss contestants at random intervals in the heat of the moment, disrespect the very idea of the rose and leave her suitors wondering why they might want to pursue a relationship with her at all.
There's always been drama on "The Bachelor," but it has come from the cast of women or men seeking the star's hand in marriage. The titular bachelor or bachelorette is intended to be the paragon of virtue, someone worthy of two dozen people vying for their heart. Paul could never have been that person, no matter how famous she already is.
'The Bachelor' franchise was already in a state of decline. This might be the end.
From a purely mercenary point of view, you can figure out how Paul ended up flying from Utah to Los Angeles to join "The Bachelorette."
"Mormon Wives" has become a welcome reality hit for Disney, a rival to Bravo series like "Real Housewives," "Vanderpump Rules" and "Below Deck," which have similarly messy, rage-filled casts of personalities that generate high drama and high ratings. The company has already capitalized on other stars of the series, bringing Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck onto "Dancing With the Stars."
And while it still has devoted fans in "Bachelor Nation," ABC's original reality dating series has been in a long decline in the ratings and in the zeitgeist. In spite of a spike of interest with "The Golden Bachelor" and "The Golden Bachelorette," which cast singles over 60, ratings have been steadily falling for the series and its spinoffs,declining nearly 75% in the past decade.
With a huge marketing push that included Paul appearing on the Oscars red carpet and "Good Morning America," plus plenty of talk about her upcoming "Bachelorette" stint on the fourth season of "Mormon Wives," Disney executives hoped Paul's lightning rod would electrify ratings once more.
But instead of reviving the franchise, Paul has likely killed it, at least according to one former Bachelorette. Onpodcast "Bachelor Party,"former star Rachel Lindsay spelled out what many viewers, insiders and critics are thinking: "I think it's over," Lindsay said. "The name 'Bachelorette,' 'Bachelor' is tainted at this point. How do you move forward past that? You can't."
She's right. Fans are likely to feel betrayed by this bait-and-switch, by the star of a show meant to represent traditional romance, marriage and family values involved in multiple allegations of domestic abuse, including in the presence of a child. How could they trust anyone else the show may cast to hand out the roses?
Every story has an ending. Every rose wilts. It might be time for "The Bachelor" to lay down its final rose.
Contributing: Charles Trepany, Taijuan Moorman and Edward Segarra
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Taylor Frankie Paul's controversy might destroy 'The Bachelorette'