‘The Bachelorette’ Reveals Season 22 Lead Is ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Star
Goodbye #MomTok, and hello The Bachelorette: ABC has announced Taylor Frankie Paul as the next lead of its reality dating franchise.
A cast member on Hulu’s Emmy-nominated series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Paul will serve as the next Bachelorette for season 22, marking a shocking, franchise-crossing move.
The news was announced on a Wednesday episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, arriving on the heels of TheBachelor spinoff taking a notable season off. Jen Tran was the last lead, and her season wrapped in the early fall of 2024. Season 22 of The Bachelorette, starring Paul, will arrive in 2026.
Cooper said on the top of her Wednesday show that she had been expecting the announcement to be for The Bachelor, and that Paul sitting across from her was a surprise. “I’ve had flings but [I’ve never had a roster],” Paul said, agreeing with Cooper that dating multiple people on the show will be an adjustment. About being a rare lead to come from outside of the franchise, she said, “I don’t have notes on how this works!” and confirmed she will also remain on Mormon Wives.
A single mother of three, Paul is no stranger to the spotlight and has amassed a large online following tied to #MomTok, a group of Mormon mom-influencers. Their social media presence sparked the creation of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives after Paul exposed a “soft swinging” scandal involving herself and other members of the influencer group.
“It’s just not who I am anymore. It was three years ago,” she told Cooper. “It was a very short-lived learning lesson. That’s another one I learned, right? For me. Don’t open your marriage, because it didn’t end well. And if you open your marriage, great. If you have your system down, great. I don’t judge on that either becauseobviously I tried it. But it didn’t work out and I don’t think it would ever be healthy for me … I would never do that again.”
A breakout on the show, much of the Hulu series’ storylines have centered around Paul and her romantic relationships. At the beginning of season two, the 31-year-old learned her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, whom she just had a child with, had blurred lines with another woman at the start of their romance.
The women of #MomTok have been in high demand, and Paul’s leading Bachelorette status further signifies that. While she gears up to lead season 22 of the reality dating show, her co-stars Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt will be competing on the 34th season of Dancing with the Stars. Plus, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives recently earned its first Emmy nod.
Aside from leading season 22 of The Bachelorette, Paul is gearing up for the release of season three of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which will arrive on the ABC-backed streamer on Nov. 13.
The Bachelorette is produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, a Warner Bros. Television Group company. Scott Teti, the new Bachelor showrunner and executive producer, serves as EP.
