&34;The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives&34; star and &34;soft swinging&34; whistleblower Taylor Frankie Paul will hand out roses in season 22 of ABC's reality TV d

"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star and "soft swinging" whistleblower Taylor Frankie Paul will hand out roses in season 22 of ABC's reality TV dating show "The Bachelorette."

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul is the new Bachelorette

"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star and "soft swinging" whistleblower Taylor Frankie Paul will hand out roses in season 22 of ABC's reality TV dating show "The Bachelorette."

By Kristen Baldwin

Kristen Baldwin

Kristen Baldwin is the TV critic for EW

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September 10, 2025 5:00 a.m. ET

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'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' star Taylor Frankie Paul is the new Bachelorette. Credit:

Michael Kirchoff/Disney

*The Bachelor *franchise has officially entered its synergy era, rose lovers.

ABC announced Wednesday that the next star of *The Bachelorette* will be... Taylor Frankie Paul, the current star of Hulu's Emmy-nominated reality series *The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives*. (ABC and Hulu are both owned by Disney.) It's the first time in the *Bachelorette*'s 22-year history that the lead has come from outside the franchise. Paul broke the news on the Sept. 10 episode of the *Call Her Daddy* podcast.

Paul, 31, is a single mother of three and a founding member of #MomTok, a group of Utah-based Mormon mothers and influencers who rose to social-media prominence with their choreographed TikTok videos. In May 2022, Paul created a massive social media scandal when she went live on TikTok and announced that she was divorcing her then-husband, Tate Paul, in part because they had been engaging in "soft swinging" with other Mormon couples.

Demi Engemann, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Layla Taylor, Whitney Leavitt, Miranda McWhorter, and Taylor Frankie Paul in 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives'.

Disney/Fred Hayes

The bombshell caused such a furor, it led Hulu to cast Paul and the other #MomTokers — Jen Affleck, Demi Engemann, Whitney Leavitt, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura, and Layla Taylor — in their own reality series, *The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives*, which premiered in 2024. The first two seasons chronicled Paul's tumultuous relationship with her new boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares a son. The two split in January of this year.**

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According to ABC's release, "the 31-year-old Utah native is ready to trade headline-making heartbreak for hometown dates as she begins making her mark on Bachelor Nation."

While the network's decision to abandon its previous strategy of casting *Bachelor* contestants as *The Bachelorette* lead is surprising, it also indicates that they're hoping to give the franchise a fresh start after a rocky year. In September of 2024, season 21 of *The Bachelorette* ended with a brutal breakup between star Jenn Tran and her former fiancé, Devin Strader — who, we later learned, had a restraining order taken out against him by an ex-girlfriend in 2017. Fans were especially angry that producers made Tran watch the footage of Strader's ill-fated proposal during the live finale. Five months later, *Deadline* reported on allegations of a "toxic" workplace culture at the *Bachelor* franchise, and in March, showrunners Bennett Graebner and Claire Freeland left the show. (They were later replaced by Scott Teti.)

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Those members of Bachelor Nation who aren't familiar with the #MomTok insanity will have several months to get up to speed, as Paul's season of *The Bachelorette* will not premiere until 2026. ABC's release did not clarify whether the network will also air a season of* The Bachelor — *which was renewed for season 30 in June and normally premieres in January — next year.

What we do know for sure is that the second season of *The Golden Bachelor* premieres Wednesday, Sept. 24 on ABC, and the third season of *The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives* premieres Thursday, Nov. 13 on Hulu. Oh, and don't forget: Two *Mormon Wives* cast members will be competing for the Mirrorball trophy on the upcoming season of *Dancing With the Stars*, which premieres Sept. 16 on ABC. Say it with me, rose lovers: Synergy!

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