Co-hosts on ABC’s The View reacted on air to the announcement that Taylor Frankie Paul, known for the series Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, will lead the next season of The Bachelorette.
During the episode, veteran host Joy Behar questioned how Paul’s family situation would play on the long-running dating series, asking, “She has three kids and two baby daddies, so will these bachelors line up to be baby daddy number three?” The remark drew audible groans from the studio audience and prompted further discussion among the panel.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said she was conflicted about Paul’s casting and noted that leads are typically chosen from within the Bachelor franchise. Griffin described Paul as having “a colorful past” and referenced a 2023 domestic violence arrest while adding she did not judge a woman for having children with different men. Griffin said viewers who watched Secret Lives of Mormon Wives would have seen how Paul had navigated a restrictive faith, stepped away from it and faced personal challenges. She also praised Paul’s on-screen qualities, saying the Bachelorette pick was “super authentic” and “extremely chaotic,” attributes Griffin called beneficial for reality television.
Paul rose to national attention in 2022 after she announced a pending divorce and revealed she and her then-husband had engaged in soft-swinging with other Mormon friends. The ensuing visibility led to the documentary-style series Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which chronicled the fallout from those revelations as well as Paul’s subsequent relationship with Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares one child. The two later separated; Paul is a mother of three.
Fans and critics have offered mixed reactions to the casting news on social media and in entertainment coverage, with some questioning whether Paul’s personal history fits the traditional Bachelorette narrative and others praising her candor and television presence. The selection of Paul — a figure who built a following on MomTok and became a central subject of documentary coverage — marks a different kind of lead than the franchise’s usual alumni picks.
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Central on ABC. The conversation on the talk show reflects a broader debate among viewers about how reality formats handle leads with complicated personal histories and how those histories shape audience expectations for romance-focused programming.