The Bachelorette and Taylor Frankie Paul are dominating headlines right now.
The 31-year-old TikTok influencer and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star’s search for love on the reality show was just days away from airing before a personal scandal overshadowed the whole thing.
The show was axed after after footage involving Paul and her ex Dakota Mortensen in a physical altercation was leaked days before the premiere on March 22.
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Taylor Frankie Paul has dominated headlines since the leaked footage led to the cancellation of The Bachelorette. (ABC via Getty Images)
The video shows the reality star hitting, kicking and throwing a chair at her ex-boyfriend, Mortensen, during a 2023 altercation.
Despite her season of the show being shelved, Paul is reportedly still going to receive her full salary, due to her contract allegedly being tied to the completion of filming rather than the actual broadcast.
But there are still more questions about what will happen to not only The Bachelorette, but her other reality show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and more, which we are here to unpack.
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Dakota and Taylor were together for a year, with the incident in the video taking place in 2023. (Hulu)
The show was set to air for Australian audiences on Stan, on March 23. (Stan)How much money will this cost the network?
Industry estimates put production at roughly $US2 million per episode (around $2.8 million AUD), and while only one episode had been finalised, the rest of the series was already deep in post-production when everything went awry.
Beyond that baseline cost sits a much larger web of commitments – brand deals had been locked in, advertisers had paid for placement, and ABC now faces the prospect of compensating those partners after the fact.
While no dollar figure has been verified, sources cited by Page Six suggest the total impact could climb as high as $50 million.
There’s also collateral damage that’s harder to quantify.
Ratings for the upcoming instalment of The Bachelor are already expected to slump, given the lead was supposed to be plucked from a Season 22 cast that will now never see the light of day.
Will Taylor still get paid?
The answer appears to be yes.
Because filming had already wrapped, Paul is understood to have fulfilled the terms set out in her contract, which according to reports, tied her payment to production rather than broadcast.
Sources indicate her salary will land somewhere in the low-to-mid six figures.
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Taylor is allegedly still going to be paid for her stint as the Bachelorette, even if the show does not air. (Instagram)Why was the season cancelled so late?
Timing is where this situation becomes particularly fraught.
While the incident itself dates back to 2023 and had ostensibly been settled within the legal system – with Paul entering a plea agreement and seeing several charges dismissed – the decision to scrap the season was made within hours of the footage appearing online.
“In light of the newly released video that surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time.” (Instagram/ABC)
“In light of the newly released video that surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson said in a statement.
Will there be a Bachelorette replacement?
In the immediate aftermath of the cancellation, rumours emerged that the network might scramble to assemble a replacement season, with names like Irish reality star Maura Higgins – fresh off a standout run on The Traitors US – reportedly at the top of the list.
There have been whispers of Maura Higgins being tapped as a replacement Bachelorette. (Getty)
For now, sources indicate there are no plans to install a new Bachelorette, leaving those rumours as exactly that.
It is also not clear if the season with Paul as the lead will ever see the light of day, with some reports that airing it is just “on pause” rather than cancelled. 
What happens to the slot now?
The network is now stuck in a high-stakes game of damage control, scrambling to stem the fallout in real time.
The Sunday night slot that was meant to anchor the season is now being filled week-by-week with repeats of America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Greatest Average American.
What’s happening with the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives?
Production for the SLOMW has also ground to a halt since the footage of Paul was released.
The move to pause filming was one cast member Mikayla Matthews labelled a collective stand.
In a recent Instagram Q&A, Matthews clarified that the women “didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that was happening,” leaving MomTok’sfuture in limbo.
The future of MomTok has once again been thrown into total uncertainty. (Getty)
Meanwhile, People has confirmed that a spinoff titled Mormon Wives: Orange County is already in development starring Jen Affleck and nine new cast members.Â
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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