Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette Season Was Scrapped: What Happens Now?

In light of a disturbing 2023 video in which Taylor Frankie Paul drunkenly throws metal stools at her then boyfriend Dakota Mortensen with her daughter in the room, the reality star has temporarily lost custody of her young son, and ABC has scrapped the already-filmed season of The Bachelorette starring Paul, which would have begun airing on March 22. Here’s our full explainer on the situation.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star and #MomTok founding member finds herself at the center of several concurrent controversies, many of which carry the added complication of jeopardizing her position on TSLOMW. Last week news broke that the show had paused filming amidst new allegations of domestic violence against Paul; an investigation is currently ongoing. Notably, filming was paused prior to the video (which is from a 2023 incident) surfacing.

And what of the men of Paul’s Bachelorette season? They may have been expecting that they would enter the Bach Nation economy (itself a dubious proposition), with its attendant podcasts, spin-offs, and branding opportunities.

With money, careers, and reputations on the line—not to mention very serious allegations of assault and child endangerment—let’s take a look at some potential scenarios for the major players going forward.

What’s happening with The Bachelor franchise?

Unlike a streamer, which can simply disappear content at will, ABC actually has to air something in all of its time slots. On March 22 a rerun of American Idol replaced what would have been the season premiere of Paul’s run as The Bachelorette. Nothing’s stopping them from doing that for the rest of the season.

Summer’s coming up, which means the next iteration of the show set to air is Bachelor in Paradise, which could conceivably give us our next Bachelor lead and it’s back to business as usual. But a tip on DeuxMoi suggests ABC/Hulu are scrambling to shoot a replacement season starring someone else from #MomTok. (For what it’s worth, commenters would prefer former Bach Nation faves.)

So…TBD on if they want to capitalize on the buzz with some kind of tell-all moment, or sweep it under the rug by putting a new face on the franchise ASAP.

Can Taylor Frankie Paul sue ABC, or vice versa?

Listen, we aren’t privy to the contracts the two parties signed, nor are we entertainment lawyers, but it seems unlikely.

Paul gets arrested for a domestic violence incident at the end of the very first episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. There is no way ABC can claim that they didn’t know she had a problematic past. Maybe the producers didn’t know all the details, but, video aside, the situation makes it look like the show failed to properly vet its lead, not like Paul did some masterful cover-up.

Paul, meanwhile, is unlikely to sue if she has any hope of staying on SLOMW (ABC and Hulu share a parent company, Disney), and since The Bachelorette is their property, they can probably do what they want with it. If she wants to burn bridges and claim defamation and loss of income, maybe she’d get a quick settlement? As lawyers who spoke to Page Six pointed out, it’s actually a bit more complicated than all that, with ABC and the production company behind The Bachelorette being two separate entities; their expert theorizes that Paul might have to return some or all of her Bach paycheck, but agrees that lawsuits are unlikely.