It\u2019s a disaster of biblical proportions.<\/p>\n
Taylor Frankie Paul \u2014 who rose to fame amid a soft-swinging scandal<\/a> on TikTok and a starring role on \u201cThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d<\/a> \u2014 has become the tok of the town, for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n Hulu halted production on Season 5 of \u201cSLOMW\u201d<\/a> and ABC pulled Season 22 of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d<\/a> \u2014 which was set to premiere this past Sunday with Paul, 31, as the lead \u2014 following new, alarming details of her toxic relationship with her baby daddy, Dakota Mortensen, 33.<\/p>\n In her statement last week<\/a> addressing the chaos, Paul shared that she\u2019s been \u201csilently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse\u201d for years.<\/p>\n Since the early days of reality TV, producers have intentionally leveraged \u201ctrain wreck\u201d appeal, exploiting participants with obvious mental health troubles for storylines. Falon Wriede \/ NY Post<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s fans<\/a> have long encouraged her to seek help for her mental health \u2014 in 2022, she even filmed a TikTok of herself crying in response to a commenter telling her she needs therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, those calls have reached a fever pitch. Even her \u201cSLOMW\u201d co-stars have expressed that they want her to get help before filming continues, according to TMZ<\/a>. A rep for Paul did not respond to a Post request for comment.<\/p>\n The swift and pointed public reaction to Paul\u2019s fall from grace suggests that we\u2019re at a significant turning point in reality TV. Fans and critics are calling on networks<\/a> to stop prioritizing dramatic ratings over the welfare of cast members visibly in crisis or volatile situations.<\/p>\n Change won\u2019t come easy. Since the early days of reality TV, producers have intentionally leveraged \u201ctrain wreck\u201d appeal, exploiting participants with obvious mental health troubles for storylines.<\/p>\n And experts warn that those tactics have a real \u2014 and potentially dangerous \u2014 human cost.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen producers knowingly cast individuals who may be vulnerable, don\u2019t use independent psychological evaluators, don\u2019t provide sufficient\u00a0mental\u00a0health support or manipulate situations to elicit distress, it creates a significant potential for harm,\u201d Christine Chapais<\/a>, an assistant teaching professor who serves as director of Online MSW Programs at Rutgers School of Social Work<\/a>, told The Post.<\/p>\n The examples are endless \u2014 Ruthie Alcaide struggled with alcoholism on 1999\u2019s \u201cThe Real World: Hawaii,\u201d Rob Kardashian dealt with deep depression and low self-confidence on the Kardashian reality shows, Taylor Armstrong of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills\u201d suffered verbal and\u00a0physical abuse<\/a> that she tried to shield from cameras and \u201cTeen Mom 2\u201d star Jenelle Evans was frequently in tears as she battled her \u201cinner demons.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The swift and pointed public reaction to Taylor Frankie Paul\u2019s fall from grace suggests that we\u2019re at a significant turning point in reality TV. Hulu<\/p>\n More recently, on a pair of docuseries that premiered this year, several alumni of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d shared the emotional distress<\/a>, anxiety and trauma they experienced during the show and long after the smizes faded,<\/p>\n After Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan<\/a> was filmed having sex with a male model while drinking \u2014 an incident that was framed as a cheating scandal rather than a safety crisis \u2014 cameras continued to roll as she sobbed hysterically while confessing on the phone to her boyfriend. She then left the competition.<\/p>\n \u201cMy body still feels that trauma. My skin crawls when I talk about it,\u201d Sullivan, now 43, recently told Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cHow do you treat people as cash cow[s] instead of humans? It\u2019s messed up, no matter what year it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Cycle 8\u2019s Dionne Walters said she was forced to pose as a gunshot victim, even though she told producers that her mom had been shot and paralyzed. \u201cI think they wanted to see some type of mental breakdown,\u201d she reflected in \u201cReality Check: Inside America\u2019s Next Top Model.\u201d<\/p>\n And Cycle 4\u2019s Keenyah Hill lamented that her weight and eating habits were made into a \u201cdamaging\u201d storyline<\/a>.<\/p>\n The social media backlash was extensive, with viewers declaring the modeling competition \u201ctoxic,\u201d<\/a> \u201chostile,\u201d \u201cnegligent\u201d and \u201cwrong AF.\u201d<\/p>\n Since \u201cANTM\u201d premiered in 2003, the stigma around mental health has eased<\/a>. People have become more open in discussing it \u2014 and more compassionate toward others\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n And while audiences have long craved \u201cthe most dramatic season ever,\u201d there\u2019s growing evidence of fatigue with the sensational exploitation of mental health crises and reality TV\u2019s predictable formula.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica\u2019s Next Top Model\u201d contestant Shandi Sullivan was filmed having sex with a male model after heavy drinking \u2014 producers didn\u2019t intervene and framed her incident as a cheating scandal rather than a safety crisis. She\u2019s shown here confessing to her boyfriend. UPN<\/p>\n Viewers want to be entertained, not unsettled.<\/p>\n Even the most innocuous shows have waded into the fray \u2014 on Season 2 of \u201cTop Chef,\u201d cheftestant Marcel Vigneron was physically attacked by his competitors as they tried to shave his head against his will.<\/p>\n \u201cThese shows are pressure cookers by design. You\u2019ve got isolation, lack of sleep, alcohol, competition and cameras on you all day,\u201d Dr. D. Ivan Young<\/a> \u2014 behavioral neuroscientist, executive coach and author of\u00a0\u201cLeading from the Heart<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>due out April 28 \u2014 told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not neutral, that\u2019s engineered stress.\u201d<\/p>\n High-stress, conflict-heavy environments can \u201ceasily exceed one\u2019s ability to cope and exacerbate symptoms of a pre-existing\u00a0mental\u00a0health issue,\u201d with producers and networks \u201cin some cases\u201d doing harm, said Chapais, who led a study last year<\/a> on the mental well-being of reality TV participants.<\/p>\n But, as Young pointed out, \u201cdrama gets rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTeen Mom 2\u201d star Jenelle Evans was frequently in tears as she battled her \u201cinner demons.\u201d MTV<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s 2023 altercation with Mortensen was a major focus of the 2024 series premiere of \u201cSLOMW.\u201d Despite their continued tumultuous relationship \u2014 call it a latter-day love story \u2014 Paul was cast<\/a> as \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d last year.<\/p>\n She handed out all her roses, but the season was shelved after TMZ dropped a video last week<\/a> that appeared to show, for the first time, Paul throwing metal barstools at Mortensen, with one seemingly hitting her young daughter, in that 2023 incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n Court records indicate<\/a> that the mother of three pleaded guilty in abeyance to an aggravated assault charge, with the other charges dropped.<\/p>\n This month, Hulu halted production on Season 5 of \u201cSLOMW\u201d amid a new domestic assault investigation involving Paul and Mortensen.<\/p>\n It took this tipping point for the streamer to take action, though Paul\u2019s obvious and ongoing distress and mood swings on camera have previously been treated as a feature of the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a mental breakdown the other day on-camera, and it was just like, \u2018Well, we have to be here. We\u2019re contracted\u2019 \u2014 no. This is not acting. I\u2019m having a mental breakdown. I\u2019m going home. That\u2019s it, period,\u201d Paul recently told Vulture<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mental breakdowns are common on reality TV, and sometimes the worst happens. The Post reported in 2016<\/a> that 21\u00a0reality\u00a0TV\u00a0participants had died by suicide within the span of a decade.<\/p>\n The unfortunate trend continued. Caroline Flack<\/a>, who hosted the British series \u201cLove Island\u201d and \u201cThe Xtra Factor,\u201d died by suicide in February 2020 at the age of 40.<\/p>\n Paul is seen crying in the aftermath of a 2023 altercation with her on-again, off-again beau, Dakota Mortensen. Herriman City Police Department<\/p>\n Before more harm is done, where does reality TV go from here?<\/p>\n Though contestants often undergo extensive psychological testing \u2014 including clinical interviews and personality tests \u2014 the results may be used more to identify vulnerabilities than to screen for emotional stability. Chapais said more needs to be done to ensure cast member safety.<\/p>\n \u201cAt minimum, participants should be providing informed consent, undergo thorough and objective psychological screenings and have access to safeguards and support before, during and after filming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cInformed consent is especially complicated in this context because participants can\u2019t fully anticipate how they\u2019ll be portrayed or how the public will respond to them,\u201d she continued. \u201cSince participants generally have little control over the editing of their portrayal, this increases the risk of exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n Chapais noted that some production companies have begun implementing safety protocols, but there are no industry-wide standards for the psychological safety of\u00a0reality\u00a0participants in the US. <\/p>\n \u201cOn the other hand, the UK has taken steps<\/a> mostly through its regulator, Ofcom, to require stronger protections, like\u00a0mental\u00a0health support before, during and after filming, as well as limits against false narratives,\u201d Chapais said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the US lacks similar enforceable standards, and participants can be heavily edited in ways that misrepresent or even defame them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Post reached out to Hulu and ABC reps for comment on their protocols to keep cast members safe.<\/p>\n Paul has often opened up about her mental health on TikTok. Instagram \/ Taylor Frankie Paul<\/p>\n As Paul\u2019s drama plays out in the Utah courts<\/a> and the court of public opinion, her future as a caretaker for her children and reality star is unclear.<\/p>\n While she cleans up yet another scandal, perhaps it\u2019s time for The Book of Exodus from our screens.<\/p>\n If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24\/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t