Taylor Frankie Paul's 'Bachelorette' Casting Opens a New World of Possibilities — for Better or Worse Kelsie GibsonSeptember 11, 2025 at 4:30 AM 0 Fred Hayes/Disney via Getty During Call Her Daddy on Sept.
- - Taylor Frankie Paul's 'Bachelorette' Casting Opens a New World of Possibilities — for Better or Worse
Kelsie GibsonSeptember 11, 2025 at 4:30 AM
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Fred Hayes/Disney via Getty
During Call Her Daddy on Sept. 10, it was announced that Taylor Frankie Paul would be the new Bachelorette
The MomToker previously starred on Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Paul's casting has been met with mixed reactions, with many noting how having a reality show star as the lead could potentially shake up the franchise
Bachelor Nation is getting a major shakeup, and it could change the franchise forever.
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, it was announced that influencer and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul would be the lead for the upcoming season 22 of ABC's The Bachelorette. The announcement was made during a special episode of Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast, which previously teased the shakeup in an Instagram post the night prior.
The news certainly came as a shock to many longtime fans of the dating reality series, especially as many anticipated the franchise would actually be naming the season 30 lead of The Bachelor.
"Change of plans 🌹" Cooper captioned a teaser clip of her slicing into a cake with "season 30" written on the top before showing the pink filling and panning to the camera, "Why is it pink?"
What makes the announcement the most shocking, however, is that Paul's casting marks the first time a Bachelorette star didn't compete in a previous season of The Bachelor. (However, this is hardly Paul's initiation into the Disney family: Mormon Wives airs on Hulu, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co.)
As many fans have pointed out online, this marks brand-new territory for the franchise, which could come with many pros and cons depending on how everything shakes out.
Many Bachelor Nation fans can attest that the franchise has been in need of an overhaul for a while now. Though the tried and true format of picking Bachelor and Bachelorette stars from previous seasons made sense initially, in recent years, it has made the show far too predictable.
Michael Kirchoff/disney
Early fans tuned in for the drama and promise of the "craziest season yet." However, recent installments have failed to live up to the hype. Even the announcement of new leads lacks the same oomph it once did, because longtime viewers could pick out frontrunners for the next installment early on (and in fact, it sometimes felt like the contestants weren't there to find love or make friends, but just to land the next lead in the franchise).
It became apparent that ABC was working behind the scenes to freshen things up earlier this year after they announced in February 2025 that The Bachelorette would not air a new season in the summer, as they had in years past.
With Paul's recent casting, the franchise gets a boost from the surprise factor, not to mention her novel narrative (as the first mom and second-ever divorcée to lead the series) and the fact that she's a TikTok star who comes with a built-in fandom.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Paul first rose to fame as an influencer in the #MomTok community. In June 2022, she revealed that she and her husband, Tate Paul, were getting a divorce, setting off a soft-swinging scandal that rocked the community.
Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows the aftermath of Paul's marriage ending, which led her to expose that a group of friends from MomTok were "soft-swinging" and "had an arrangement" together. The show also followed Paul's new relationship with boyfriend Dakota Mortensen while the two expected their first child together; Mormon Wives followed the couple's ups and downs, and the two have since split.
Even before Paul's official casting was announced, comments were already pouring in online about how, if the rumors were true, it would make them watch The Bachelorette again for the first time in years.
"I think it's genius. I would 100% watch and be invested again," one commenter wrote on podcaster Kirbie Johnson's theory post about the announcement.
"She's the 👑 of SLOMW. Guys love her. Girls root for her. She's a perfect choice. The right amount of drama," another chimed in.
Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay said on her Instagram that it's a "risky leap" for ABC, but reiterated that "the format is dead" and that they had to "jump into the chaos" to revitalize the series.
Disney/Fred Hayes
On the flip side, though, casting a former reality show star — let alone a public-facing influencer, who has a domestic violence arrest (though she has been cleared of the charges) — on a reality show could also open up a can of worms.
Sure, the announcement is shocking, but will the show still be? We already know most of Paul's backstory from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and social media. How much more can we learn from the dating series?
It also opens the door for many more men appearing on the show for the "wrong reasons."
Paul has already expressed that she'd prefer not to date someone who is also an influencer — but they have to be willing to appear in her social media videos. Will we really get normal men with regular jobs, or are we more likely to get wannabe content creators hoping to boost their presence online? After all, the line between Bachelor Nation star and influencer is already blurry, as many of them turn to content creation after the series ends.
And then, how does Paul's season set the tone for future iterations of the franchise? Will The Bachelor shake things up again with an open casting call, or will they pull a similar move by casting someone from the Disney family? Perhaps they'll pluck Paul's own ex, Dakota Mortensen, or a loveable Dancing with the Stars pro. (Can we put in a request for a hot Disney character?)
Either way, we, like Rachel Lindsay and so many others, will be seated for this season.
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