This is total chaos
Taylor Frankie Paul was meant to be the casting twist that dragged The Bachelorette back into the group chat.
She had the Hulu fame, the MomTok chaos, the headlines, and the kind of internet notoriety networks usually mistake for guaranteed ratings.
But instead of a buzzy premiere, ABC ended up with a full-blown disaster.
Days before Taylor’s season was due to launch, the network pulled it altogether after a video from 2023 resurfaced.
The Bachelorette got cancelled
For anyone who’s only loosely followed the Taylor Frankie Paul saga, this was not a tiny scheduling tweak.
ABC pulled the planned March 22 premiere of Taylor’s season after a 2023 video surfaced showing her throwing stools at her ex-partner, Dakota Mortensen. Disney said it would “not move forward” with the new season “at this time,” adding that its focus was on supporting the family.
That decision came after the season had already been filmed. Taylor, 31, had been announced as the lead after building a huge audience through MomTok and then Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, where her messy, hyper-public personal life basically became must-watch television.
A statement from Taylor’s spokesperson was released following the Bachelorette’s cancellation.
It read: “Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security.
“After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm.
“There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives.
“Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation, and public shaming. She is currently exploring all of her options, seeking support, and preparing to own and share her story.”
Even though the season was shelved, Taylor is still reportedly set to receive her fee because filming was already complete.
The payout is believed to be in the low-to-mid six figures.
An expert estimates an eight-figure loss
The outcome looks a little different for the network, however.
Per BBC, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, who previously represented Disney, told the BBC the cancellation is “a very expensive blunder” and estimated the fallout could hit eight figures.
The report reads: “He estimates that there will be an eight-figure fallout, and said while he expects the company to survive, he described the whole thing as embarrassing and costly.”
ABC could be staring at losses anywhere between $40 million and $60 million once you factor in production, marketing, licensing fees and lost advertising revenue, per Reality Tea.
Some insiders even suggest the total could climb higher if the season never airs at all, especially given how much had already been spent promoting Taylor as the franchise’s big comeback moment.
Add in the fact that advertisers had already bought in, episodes were fully filmed, and replacement programming won’t pull the same audience, and you start to see why experts are calling it a full-on financial disaster.
