bitchy | The new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ was canceled after their star’s DV video came out

I often feel like a reality-show Grinch but I’m missing the gene which would have enabled me to enjoy shows like Real Housewives or The Bachelor/ette. Like, I’ve genuinely tried to watch some of those shows and I just find it all so fake and contrived, and never in a fun, camp way. Particularly for The Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises, it often feels like they’re pulling contestants from the dregs of society just as long as they have a good body and pleasantly forgettable face. Well, the latest Bachelorette isn’t even attractive, inside or out. The new season of the Bachelorette was supposed to premiere this coming Sunday. For days/weeks, there’s been a growing controversy over this season’s bachelorette, Taylor Frankie Paul. She’s already a “reality star” for one – she was part of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and yes, she’s a Mormon divorcee whose marriage ended because she and her husband were swingers. After her divorce, she dated a man named Dakota Mortensen. In 2023, she was arrested and charged for domestic violence on Mortensen. ABC knew about the arrest and charges, by the way, and they still hired her. Well, on Thursday, Mortensen’s video of Taylor physically attacking him was released. Within hours, ABC yanked the new season of The Bachelorette.

An upcoming season of “The Bachelorette” was pulled on Thursday, a spokesperson for Disney said, after a video of its star attacking the father of one of her children was leaked.

Taylor Frankie Paul, a reality star who was about to star in a season of the show set to premiere on Sunday, has been under scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that she was facing a domestic violence investigation, years after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in a separate encounter.

Disney’s ABC, which broadcasts “The Bachelorette,” had appeared to be committed to continuing its plans to air the show. But on Thursday, TMZ published leaked footage of a physical altercation from 2023 in which Ms. Paul is shown putting her partner in a headlock and throwing metal chairs at him.

“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,” the Disney spokesperson said in a statement, “and our focus is on supporting the family.”

The police in Draper, Utah, have confirmed that there is an ongoing domestic violence investigation related to Ms. Paul and the man seen in the video, Dakota Mortensen, who is now her ex-boyfriend.

ABC was aware of the domestic violence charge from 2023 when it cast Ms. Paul. She rose to television fame on the reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and its first episode included police body camera footage of that arrest. Producers of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have faced past criticism for failing to properly vet contestants, but this is the most significant fallout in the franchise’s history.

[From The NY Times]

Just FYI, this is not a failure to “properly vet” a contestant on one of ABC’s biggest franchises. This is ABC making a conscious decision to court controversy with a complete f–king trainwreck as their “star” bachelorette. They were playing Russian roulette with one of their most popular shows, and now ABC will likely lose “millions of dollars, from license fees to Warner Bros. Unscripted TV, to marketing dollars, ad sales and ‘trade outs,’” per People Mag. The Bachelorette costs $2 million per episode, and it’s one of ABC’s most attractive shows for advertisers. All of that money down the drain because ABC knowingly cast someone facing domestic violence charges. Beyond the DV charges, I’m actually really shocked that they would place their big franchise on this woman’s shoulders given her distasteful backstory. The “soft swinging” part would have surely been a massive turnoff for the older and more conservative ABC viewer base (not to mention those advertisers).

Anyway, after ABC canceled this season, Taylor’s spokesperson released a statement, saying in part: “Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security. After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm. There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives. Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation and public shaming.” I think it’s likely that there was abuse on both sides of the relationship, but to be clear, the reason why The Bachelorette is being canceled is because of her ex’s video of Taylor assaulting HIM.

Again, while ABC likely had not seen this video, they did know about her charges. The video just drives home the f–ked up way ABC was prepared to detonate a bomb under this Bachelorette season though. Some people within ABC are going to get fired (hopefully). And Disney’s CEO Bob Iger just stepped down this week as well. Y’all know it’s chaos over there.

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Frankie Paul repeatedly attacked Dakota Mortensen during the 2023 incident in which she pled guilty to aggravated assault; video shows that one of her children was struck during the fight.

Trigger Warning. pic.twitter.com/avr49EacY3

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 19, 2026