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.

In a surprise move, the long-running ABC reality-dating series, The Bachelorette, is skipping its upcoming 2025 summer season. While no reason was given for the decision, its season 22 is being put on pause.

It is notable as the last three seasons of The Bachelorette have premiered each July. Usually, The Bachelorette follows The Bachelor several months later and includes one of the women that was vying for the current ‘Bachelor’s’ heart. Although, in reason years, the show has broken from tradition most notably in 2019 when they had two ‘Bachelorette’s’ in the same season with co-leads Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey.

Currently, Grant Ellis’ season of The Bachelor is airing on ABC and in recent interviews, Ellis seemed to indicate that he was happy with the ending of his season, but would not cop to whether he found love, or not.

Photo: ABC

Jen Tran was last season’s ‘Bachelorette’. Tran went on to appear as a celebrity contestant on the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars.  However, the ending of her search to find love was fraught with controversy and a jaw-dropping conclusion; when after Tran had to decide between her final two suitors, Marcus Shoberg and Devin Strader, she ultimately picked Strader, only for all of America to learn during the live and in-studio finale, that Strader dumped her and broke off their engagement through a phone call.

The Bachelor franchise has been plagued by plenty of relationships crumbling after the lead and “their person” fall in love only to break up a few months down the line. Look no further than ‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist, who three months after their on-screen wedding, called it quits, due to circumstances later revealed to be Gerry’s cancer diagnosis and other logistical complications due to their families.

Photo: ABC

The Bachelorette first premiered in 2003 with lead Trista Rehn, after she came in second during Alex Michel’s season of The Bachelor. It should be noted that the female-led spinoff previously paused production before in both 2006 and 2007 before returning in 2008.

So, why do you think ABC has chosen to skip a season of The Bachelorette? Could it be that the producers felt they did not have a solid option for the lead in the series? Could there be a controversy revealed as we get closer to the end of Grant Ellis’ season of ‘The Bachelor’? Are you glad the season won’t air at all? Share your theories in the comment section.