WTF Is Wrong With The Bachelorette Producers? | Episode 153

TL;DR

The Bachelorette franchise's casting of domestic-abuse-linked Taylor Frankie Paul exposes their 2021 'high standards' pledge as hollow virtue signaling.

Key Points

• 1.The Bachelor franchise's post-2021 vetting reforms were performative, not principled. After canceling Rachel Kirkconnell for attending an antebellum-themed sorority formal in 2018 and firing beloved host Chris Harrison for defending her, ABC pledged rigorous background checks and early contestant name releases to catch offensive candidates.
• 2.Taylor Frankie Paul rose to fame through TikTok's 'Mom Talk' collective starting in 2021. A young Mormon mom in Utah, she and her friend group went viral during the pandemic era, then became tabloid fodder in 2022 when she revealed on TikTok that she and her husband had been in a swinging arrangement that crossed boundaries and ended two marriages.
• 3.Taylor was arrested on domestic violence and child abuse charges in Season 1 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. She allegedly threw a chair that struck both her boyfriend Dakota and her daughter; despite this, she and Dakota continued their relationship and had a child together, making their toxic dynamic the central storyline of the Hulu show for multiple seasons.
• 4.A new domestic violence incident involving Taylor and Dakota occurred just 48 hours before her Bachelorette season premiered. Per TMZ and confirmed by local police, Taylor allegedly grabbed Dakota's throat, ripped off his necklace in front of their child, then returned the next night and scratched his face and smashed his phone — triggering an active police investigation.
• 5.The hypocrisy is the core argument: antebellum dress photo vs. active domestic assault case. The host argues ABC destroyed careers over a sorority party photo deemed racially insensitive while simultaneously casting a woman with multiple domestic violence incidents, alleged substance abuse, and documented mental health struggles as the lead of their flagship show.
• 6.Former producers and contestants confirm The Bachelor is built on manipulation, not love. A producer admitted to lying to contestants the night before elimination, telling them 'he's going to propose' to capture raw emotional reactions; contestants described scripted confessionals achieved through sleep deprivation, name-calling, and verbal abuse until the desired soundbites were produced.
• 7.Season 4 of Secret Lives revealed Taylor was sleeping with Dakota the night before leaving to film The Bachelorette. Production on Season 5 of Secret Lives has been halted amid the latest domestic violence investigation, and former Mom Talk castmates have reportedly distanced themselves from Taylor entirely.