How Much Did ABC Allegedly Lose Dropping The Entire Taylor Frankie Paul Season Of The Bachelorette?

Bachelor Nation is still reeling over ABC’s cancellation of Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette following the release of a 2023 video that appears to show the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star assaulting her then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. The announcement came just three days before Season 22 of the reality dating show was set to premiere, and it was undoubtedly a costly decision for the network — but just how much are we talking here?

When taking production, promotion and marketing costs into consideration for The Bachelorette Season 22, it’s estimated that ABC could be out tens of millions of dollars. The future of Taylor Frankie Paul’s season is unknown, with ABC brass seemingly keeping their options open by saying it won’t air on the 2026 TV schedule “at this time.”

Regardless of if it ever sees the light of day, Forbes reports that the Alphabet Network is on the hook for licensing fees to Warner Bros. The Wall Street Journal reports ABC was paying approximately $5 million per episode — an estimated $50 million loss if it never airs.

No episode count was confirmed for The Bachelorette Season 22, but seasons have had between 10 and 13 episodes in all but one (Charity Lawson, 9 episodes) since 2008. At an estimated $2 million per-episode cost to produce, that’s at least another $20 million.

There are also the advertisers who paid for time during The Bachelorette’s episodes. Their ads will now have to be placed in different shows, possibly adding extra commercials to reach the audience size ABC expected to have in bringing on the #MomTok star whose soft swinging scandal gained national attention and led to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

(Four seasons of that series can be streamed with a Hulu subscription. Season 5 production was halted March 16 amid a “domestic assault investigation,” with both Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen making claims against each other from an alleged incident on February 24 and 25.)

ABC will still bring in some ad revenue with whatever airs during the timeslot planned for The Bachelorette — an American Idol rerun replaced the premiere on March 22 — but those ads will likely cost less than The Bachelorette’s.

The previous season of The Bachelorette starring Jenn Tran in 2024 generated $30.7 million in ad revenue, according to Forbes. No season aired in 2025, as it was also canceled due to behind-the-scenes drama. The WSJ estimates (via an ad-spending tracking form) that Taylor Frankie Paul’s season was expected to bring in as much as $35 million.

On top of production costs and ad revenue losses, there’s also the reported millions of dollars spent on promoting the new season. Taylor Frankie Paul appeared on Live with Kelly and Mark and Good Morning America. She walked the red carpet at the Oscars, after which a preseason “Before the First Rose” special aired on ABC that reunited almost all of the former Bachelorettes in support of Paul.

None of these costs even factor in potential lawsuits from the would-be Bachelorette cast members. It also doesn’t take into account the price of creating any kind of possible replacement programming, though former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay didn’t mince words regarding the possibility of The Bachelor franchise even surviving to produce another season.

While ABC's losses already appear to total tens of millions of dollars, the full cost of Taylor Frankie Paul's Bachelorette cancellation — financial and otherwise — remains to be seen.