The answer is just siphon off Mormon Wives‘ talent, apparently. Taylor Frankie Paul, who made her debut on the show after her #MomTok TikToks went viral, will be the new bachelorette. Paul announced her new role on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, which, in Cooper’s estimation, will be surprising for fans for a number of reasons. First, The Bachelorette took a rare season off this summer, meaning fans likely didn’t expect another female lead so soon. Paul’s announcement also breaks from long-time Bachelor Nation tradition—usually, the next season’s lead is chosen from among the crop of previous, still-single contestants.
“I’ve had flings but [I’ve never had a roster],” Paul said of joining the show without prior Bachelor(ette) experience. “I don’t have notes on how this works!” That being said, she has had some experience dating other people. It was a “soft swinging” scandal that brought Paul’s original #MomTok group into public consciousness in the first place. (If you want a refresher on all of that drama, The Cut has a good write-up here.) “It’s just not who I am anymore. It was three years ago,” Paul told Cooper of the whole affair. “It was a very short-lived learning lesson… Don’t open your marriage, because it didn’t end well. And if you open your marriage, great. If you have your system down, great. I don’t judge on that either because obviously I tried it. But it didn’t work out and I don’t think it would ever be healthy for me… I would never do that again.”
Despite the name of her show, Paul also isn’t a wife anymore, which is somewhat of a prerequisite for going on The Bachelorette. She also confirmed that she was staying on Mormon Wives, so she has a busy couple of months ahead of her. We’ll see if Bachelor Nation’s gambit pays off and Paul has a new, TV-ready beau to bring back to Hulu after her Bachelorette season debuts sometime in 2026.
