Former Bachelor Star Has An Interesting Idea For What ABC Could Do With Taylor Frankie Paul’s Unaired Bachelorette Season

So many questions continue to surround Bachelor Nation after ABC’s shocking decision to pull Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette from the 2026 TV schedule. Is this the end of the franchise? Will Season 22 ever see the light of day? Former Bachelor contestant Ashley Iaconetti shared her thoughts on the recent events, including an interesting idea for what could be done with those unaired episodes.

ABC announced March 19 — just three days before its scheduled premiere — that The Bachelorette Season 22 would not air “at this time,” after a video leaked from the night of Taylor Frankie Paul’s 2023 domestic violence arrest. Iaconetti — who has appeared on The Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor Winter Games — agrees that ABC made the right call in pulling the episode but told Page Six she thought it might work on another platform, saying:

I would be curious to see how dropping all of Taylor Frankie Paul’s episodes of The Bachelorette at once would work. That’s how Paul’s other franchise The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is released to those with a Hulu subscription, and it’s never been done with a Bachelor franchise show.

To me, it also feels slightly less exploitative to say, “Hey, these episodes are here if you want them,” rather than to spread Taylor Frankie Paul’s journey across 10 weeks in primetime. Ashley Iaconetti — one of the stars of the upcoming Real Housewives of Rhode Island — continued:

“Icky” is a great word for it, because while two other instances of alleged domestic abuse are now being investigated — one from 2024 and another from February of this year — ABC knew about the 2023 arrest and still went ahead with casting Taylor Frankie Paul as its lead.

It was the viral video that proved to be the breaking point, as it showed the MomTok leader throwing metal chairs at her then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. Her now-8-year-old daughter could be heard crying in the background, as Mortensen said the girl had been hit. A police report and the child’s father, Taylor Frankie Paul’s ex-husband, Tate Paul, both described her as having a “goose egg” on her head.

As interesting as it might be to see how The Bachelorette would do if dropped in bingeable format, the fact that children are involved makes it an especially sensitive topic, and I agree with Ashley Iaconetti that the best option may be to not air it ever.

As for the state of Bachelor Nation, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay didn’t mince words saying she doesn’t know how the franchise recovers from this. Also, even Trista Sutter said it “felt like it could be the end.”

You can see the events that led up to Taylor Frankie Paul's journey onThe Bachelorette by streaming The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 4 on Hulu.