![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bd6c68238eb3057f7ad49f7ad0e603fa8a-taylor-frankiepaul-bachelorette.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Far from the Hail Mary it seems like, casting Mormon Wives\u2019s Taylor Frankie Paul is the most on-brand decision the flailing franchise has made in a while.
\n Photo: Cristian Lopez\/Disney via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Breaking! There is a Taylor Frankie Paul addendum to the MomTok brand guidelines: \u201cBecoming the next Bachelorette<\/a>\u201d is now listed in the Acceptable Side Gig section, right underneath \u201cGoing on Dancing With the Stars.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor Frankie Paul\u2019s casting might sound at first like a wild choice for Bachelor Nation. The cornerstone of both the Emmy-nominated reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives<\/a> and the \u201csoft swinging\u201d scandal<\/a> from which the show was born, Paul is unapologetically messy. She\u2019s divorced and has three children from two baby daddies. She\u2019s quick to lose her temper and even quicker to post to social media, stoking the parasocial flames of the 5.5 million followers ready to ride on her behalf. She is also openly and devotedly Mormon. Casting her as the Bachelorette reads like a Hail Mary from a flailing franchise, and in some ways it is. The Bachelor and its spinoffs have been in a flop era for quite some time now. Ratings are down<\/a>. Showrunners have quit<\/a> owing to a \u201ctoxic workplace.\u201d Since then, The Bachelor has brought in the showrunner from Summer House and a casting company known for hiring talent for various Real Housewives franchises. Since tinkering with the show\u2019s rigid formula is likely off the table, a big bet on casting raw charisma is all that\u2019s left.<\/p>\n For this season, that might be enough, because Taylor Frankie Paul is very good at being on reality television. Given the franchise\u2019s history of cast-member manipulation, it\u2019s a relief as a viewer to know someone who suffers no fools (besides her parents and a man named Dakota) is at the helm. Production might try to pull a Jenn Tran<\/a> on Taylor Frankie Paul, but godspeed to them and their families should that occur. There is no woman like a MomTok mom scorned, and while Taylor Frankie Paul might let her men take her for a ride, she deeply understands the reality-TV machine. She is not ripe for producer manipulation because she lives her entire public life like she\u2019s got nothing to lose. And yet beneath her TikTok-hardened exterior and dedication to chaos seems to be a yearning for the most classic Bachelor franchise desire ever: a strong, godly man who will be a good father to her children. Given that, casting Taylor Frankie Paul is actually one of the most on-brand decisions the franchise has made in a while.<\/p>\n The overlap in the Venn diagram of the beliefs of Mormons (especially the reality-TV variety) and the traditional values The Bachelor has long espoused is basically a circle. Both are devoted to the same hetero fairy tale; whether the wedding is happening in the temple or on national television is irrelevant. What matters is a heavy focus on aesthetic and moralistic perfection. One would think things like a long history of polyamorous behavior (in the religion and on the show!) would muddy this desire for purity, but if The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has taught us anything, it\u2019s how to bend the Word of Wisdom to fit one\u2019s desires. Extensive mental gymnastics are a requirement for entry. Coffee? Prohibited. Ketamine? Fine. Fucking someone who isn\u2019t your husband? For both the women of MomTok and Bachelor Nation cast members off to fantasy suites, all that matters regarding perception of your purity is how you spin the narrative.<\/p>\n