One of the most highly anticipated seasons of any Bachelor franchise show has turned into a disaster this week, as new domestic violence allegations came to light related to The Bachelorette Season 22 lead, Taylor Frankie Paul, and a video of a known 2023 incident. Now, ABC has made the shocking decision to pull the entire season from the 2026 TV schedule, and another former lead — Grant Ellis — is weighing in on whether or not that was the right call.
Grant Ellis was the star of The Bachelor Season 29 last year, and he told TMZ this is an “unfortunate situation,” but that he stands against domestic violence and thinks the network made the right call in scrapping Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette. Ellis said:
I think ABC needed to take a stance, and they did that. I think if they would have aired the season, it would have left room for interpretation, and you know, they did the right thing.
Grant Ellis said he was worried about the fans, who were excited for the season, but to have gone ahead with The Bachelorette in light of recent events between The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, wouldn’t have been right. He continued:
They made the right choice, and although it’s gonna take some time to recoup, it’s the right thing to do morally.
As for whether or not ABC should have cast Taylor Frankie Paul as The Bachelorette in the first place, knowing her history with domestic violence — her 2023 arrest is addressed in the first episodes of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (available to stream with a Hulu subscription), and her and Dakota’s turbulent relationship is a constant plotline — Grant Ellis does think “errors” were made by ABC. The former Bachelor said:
There’s a lot of controversy, I think they were looking to do something new, and you can’t really account for everything. I think there were some errors made there, but it’s a part of life. You live and you grow.
The network has a lot to overcome to make it up to the fans, Grant Ellis said, but it did make the right call, in his opinion.
On March 16, production of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 was paused due to a domestic assault investigation involving Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen. That led to rumors about the future of her Bachelorette season, which was set to premiere Sunday, March 22.
After the scary video of the 2023 incident was leaked — which appeared to show Paul hitting and kicking Mortensen and throwing chairs at him while her daughter cried in the background — ABC announced its decision to pull the season.
There’s a lot still up in the air, including the future of both The Bachelorette and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives franchises, as well as who will lead the next season of The Bachelor, as that person often comes from the previous cast of The Bachelorette. For now, though, the safety of all involved needs to come first.
