Reality dating shows continue to sell a fairy tale, the idea that love is the end goal, all while prioritizing drama over stability.
Viewers are told to root for romance. Contestants are told to trust the process. Meanwhile, networks profit most when emotions spiral and situations escalate.
Just three days before The Bachelorette was set to premiere on March 22, ABC pulled the plug and canceled the entire season after TMZ released a 2023 video involving the show’s intended lead, Taylor Frankie Paul. The video shows a domestic violence altercation between Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, with Paul being the aggressor.
But the casting of Paul was a business decision from the start, made with the intention of capitalizing on the attention her controversial lifestyle would bring. The decision was not a failure to properly vet a contestant; it was a plan that went awry.
The Bachelorette is a popular reality TV dating show where one woman dates 25–30 men over the course of multiple weeks, with the winning contestant getting the chance to marry the lead. However, in recent years, the franchise has struggled with ratings and criticism over toxic production culture.
Paul was originally known as a MomTok content creator, making videos about motherhood and mental health struggles. She became part of a popular group on TikTok consisting of Mormon mom content creators in Utah.
To TikTok viewers not on MomTok, the name Taylor Frankie Paul became known for a viral livestream in which she talked about her divorce with first husband, Tate Paul. The two got married in 2016, right after high school. Although they say they were in love, Paul has indicated the marriage was partially a result of pressure from their Mormon church. The two have children together, a daughter named Indie, born in 2017, and a son named Ocean, born in 2020.
During that 2022 live stream, Paul reveals the MomTok group participates in “soft swinging” together with their husbands, which involves partner swapping with sexual intent. The agreement was that all intimacy had to occur with all parties involved present and aware of the situation. She then admits she broke that agreement, causing not only her messy divorce, but the loss of a friendship and a public MomTok fall out.
Once Disney got a whiff of that story, it decided to put a camera in front of the drama, creating the reality TV show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
In 2024, the first season aired with Paul as the center of it all. The show did not shy away from controversy; it reveled in it. Season one opens with clips of bodycam footage from Paul’s arrest. The series became Hulu’s most watched unscripted premiere of the year and went on to film up to five seasons as of March 2026.
So when ABC announced Paul as the next Bachelorette, it did not feel accidental.
Paul’s history was not hidden. In 2023, she was arrested on one felony count of aggravated assault, two felony counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief. Police reports state she threw objects during an argument, including a chair that struck her five‑year‑old daughter. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge and entered a plea agreement requiring compliance through August 2026.
The arrest itself was aired in clips on Hulu. Disney did not “miss” anything.
What makes this even harder to ignore is that Taylor Frankie Paul’s story wasn’t over. In March 2026, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives released its fifth season, which shows Paul still communicating with her ex, Mortensen, continuing the same on‑again, off‑again cycle viewers have watched for years.
This wasn’t a closed chapter. It was happening in real time. filmed, edited and released under Disney’s watch.
Taylor Frankie Paul’s casting feels like a symptom of how far reality TV has drifted from what it claims to be. When arrest footage becomes backstory, when domestic violence is reframed as “good television,” viewers are forced to reevaluate what they are watching.
When does it become too much? When the “drama” involves throwing chairs while your child is in the room.
ABC canceling the season may look like accountability, but it’s not. It is Disney backpedaling amid controversy. Disney was not only willing but eager to embrace the kind of drama Paul would bring to an aging franchise–all the way up until it began to backfire.
If Disney execs truly believed Paul’s actions were reprehensible, they would have never platformed her once, let alone attempted to do it for a second time.
When push comes to shove, the only thing these corporations care about is their profits, and they are willing to promote and platform anyone they can get away with to achieve their bottom line.
Velocity 
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