On Tuesday, May 12 at the ABC/Disney Upfronts, there were several headlines coming out of it for the upcoming 2026-2027 television and streaming season.

First, Savannah Bananas second baseman Jackson Olson will be taking some swings on the ballroom dance floor when he joins other celebrities already locked in for Dancing with the Stars season 34.

Olson will join already confirmed reality stars: Maura Higgins (The Traitors and Love Island) and Ciara Miller (Summer House). The full cast list and their pro partners will be announced on September 2nd.

Photo: SavannahBananasIG

SAVANNAH BANANAS COME TO DISNEY+

The news of Olson who has also become a social media influencer, comes out of the Disney upfront that also revealed that Disney+ will become the exclusive home of the Banana Bowl streaming live this October, hence the tie-in.

The Banana Bowl will feature the top teams in the Banana Ball league facing off for the season championship. Known for blending athleticism with entertainment, the game will include one of the biggest performances the league has ever seen, bringing together all six teams, along with its signature on-field showmanship.

NO BACHELOR FRANCHISE THIS FALL

Meanwhile, ABC revealed that a new season for the troubled The Bachelor franchise offshoots is not on the fall schedule where they usual place: The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelor or Golden Bachelortte are no where to be found. This is the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic that there will be no Bachelor-branded series on ABC’s fall schedule.

Photo: ABC

The Bachelor will return as usual in the midseason in 2027, Grant Ellis was the lead as the man looking for love and vying for a woman’s heart in 2025.

All this, amid the turmoil surrounding Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette being pulled and currently never seeing the light of day after the domestic violence surfaced with her throwing a chair towards the direction of her child, while she got into a melee with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.

Ari Goldman, SVP, Content Strategy and Scheduling said of removing The Bachelor from the new season ABC lineup, “We’ve had to take a look at just managing the franchise properly. These shows have enormous fan bases, and we were so thrilled the year that we were able to launch Golden Bachelor and have it stand out in that fall season the way that it did. But I think that the usual cadence that we like to find ourselves in is really the flagship series in midseason and then having some summer edition, which we have already locked in on Bachelor of Paradise for next season. So this is more of a return to a steady state on the franchise.”

So, what do you think about Jackson Olson from the Savannah Bananas joining the new season of Dancing with the Stars? Do you like how the show is making efforts to cast social media influencers and talents with a mass number of followers to draw eyeballs to the reality-competition series? Meanwhile, are you for or against even The Bachelor coming back in 2027, or do you think its time to rest the entire concept all of its spin-offs for good? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Once again, ABC has another scandal on their hands when it comes to thei casting of their series leads for The Bachelor or The Bachelorette franchise. Now comes word that the network has pulled the entire season of The Real Housewives of Mormon Wives’ Taylor Frankie Paul as the woman looking for love.

The decision comes amidst the revelation of a leaked domestic abuse video that has come to light from TMZ, between Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen with her young daughter, Indy, who is only 8 nearby. In the incident, Paul repeatedly throws chairs across the room at Mortensen and continued to beat on him

Now, Sunday’s originally planned season 22 premiere has been pulled by the network. In a statement, Disney noted, “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, and our focus is on supporting the family.”

Photo: Bravvo

The video leaked by TMZ is from a 2023 incident where Taylor Frankie Paul was arrested for alleged domestic abuse. Law enforcement has confirmed there is an open “domestic assault investigation.” In the troubling video, at one point, the child is heard crying while Paul and Mortensen continue to brawl. At one point, Mortensen is trying to get Paul to calm down and exclaims, “Your daughter just got hit in the head by a metal chair.”

Earlier this week on Monday, March 16 production was halted on season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 5.  When and if the pick up filming and the status of Paul as part of the cast remains to be seen, but all accounts would indicate she would be out of there, too.

The shocking production pause comes just days after Hulu released the fourth season of the reality series too, which features the scenario where Paul spents the night with Mortensen the night before leaving to star in the new season of The Bachelorette.  

Even though the domestic dispute is ongoing, Taylor and Dakota continue to co-parent their 1-year-old son, Ever, with Paul having majority custody. Paul has two other children— daughter Indy as previously mentioned and Ocean, 5 from her former marriage to Tate Paul.

A rep for Taylor told TMZ that Dakota manipulated the footage: “It’s sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child. Releasing an old and selectively edited video on their son’s birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior.”

On Monday, Paul addressed the issue to PEOPLE in a statement and expressed, “Honestly, just like, my heart hurts to see it, to go through it, especially at this time. Just the timing is hard, and it’s a big deal. I feel like every premiere that I’ve experienced, I’ve never enjoyed fully, so this is another one… it’s extremely hard, and it took everything to get me here today.”

ABC will be airing a rerun of American Idol in The Bachelorette’s 8pm ET timeslot this Sunday, March 22 with the new reality show Love Overboard is scheduled to air after at 10pm ET.

So, what do think of the latest fumble by ABC casting Taylor Frankie Paul as this season’s ‘Bachelorette” and having to pull the entire season just three days before it is set to premiere, because of the horrific video of domestic violence between her and Dakota Mortensen, which included much chair-throwing on her part!? Comment below.

ABC is once again dipping into the cast of the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives for some of its main spots on its upcoming reality-competition series. First, it was revealed that Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt, would be joining the new season of Dancing with the Stars. Now comes word that Taylor Frankie Paul has been cast as the season 22 lead of The Bachelorette.

Choosing Paul, marks the first time The Bachelorette was not from a previous season of The Bachelor or another part of the franchise. Only, Matt James, when he was tapped to lead season 25 of The Bachelor, came from outside of the shows.

Now Taylor leads season 22 of the upcoming season of The Bachelorette after her popularity as a single mom of three. In season 2 of the reality series, she was trying to make things work with Dakota Mortensen, the dad to her youngest son, Ever. However, Paul revealed in May that the couple had called things off.  Viewers will need to wait for how that all played out when the new season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives kicks-off on November 13.

Photo: TaylorPaulIG

Paul is also known as MomToker on TikTok, and she revealed that she was this season’s ‘Bachelorette’ on the Call Her Daddy podcast, where she shared that being chosen to the lead the franchise is, “Surreal! It has not hit me right now in this moment. I’m just thinking about it, and it’s not real. And it’s not going to be until I think the limo is pulling up, you know? And meeting the people.”

The new season of The Bachelorette is said to be winding up on the ABC primetime schedule in early 2026, replacing The Bachelor. Previously, ABC sidelined last year’s season of the female-led series, and replaced it with season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise.

Courtesy/CallHerDaddy

As of now, the network plans for The Bachelorette to segue into another season of Paradise. The Bachelor could return with Season 30 next year, although reports indicate they may wait till 2027 when the franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary.

In the meantime, the second season of The Golden Bachelor is up next with Mel Owens as its controversial lead when it premieres on Wednesday, September 24th at 8pm ET.

So, what do you think of ABC choosing ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ star Taylor Frankie Paul as the new Bachelorette? Comment below.