LOS ANGELES — Taylor Frankie Paul was reciting a familiar speech as she embarked on her search for true love as the star of ABC's "The Bachelorette."

"I'm ready to fall in love, I'm ready to find my person, to find my happily-ever-after," said Paul, a breakout star on Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives." In a preview of the season where she would be courted by 22 men, she proclaimed, "I'm optimistic that the man of my dreams is here."

Those sentiments echoed the words of previous stars of "The Bachelorette," a spinoff of the network's "The Bachelor" franchise centered on rose-colored romance, wacky contests, fantasy suites, exotic locations and over-the-top drama.

Paul's turn in the spotlight signaled a sharp reset for the franchise, which has been plagued in past years by a relentless stream of firestorms including executive producers acknowledging the shows' history of propelling a "vicious cycle of racism," sloppy vetting, accusations of bullying and reports of a toxic work environment.

In developing the latest crossover experiment of Disney's reality TV universe, executives and producers — staggered by the continual franchise woes — were counting on the photogenic Paul to inject a new wave of vibrant energy and unpredictability into the ABC series while also attracting fans of the Hulu hit.

But that strategy has dramatically backfired, propelling the aging franchise closer to the brink of the point of no return.

Three days before the scheduled Sunday launch of "The Bachelorette," a video of a 2023 domestic dispute between Paul and her on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen was leaked to TMZ. While the incident had been documented in court records and on "Mormon Wives" — Paul's arrest was shown via police bodycam footage in Episode 1 of the first season — the video added a disturbing level of detail that hadn't been seen before, showing Paul arguing with Mortensen and throwing metal stools in his direction. Off camera, a child can be heard crying. She later pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault; other charges were dropped.

Adding to the drama, reports surfaced last week that Paul and Mortensen had been involved in another dispute in late February. Utah's Draper City Police Department confirmed there is an open investigation. As a result of the inquiry, Paul has temporarily lost custody of her 2-year-old son, Ever, that she shares with Mortensen.

As a result of the controversies, ABC pulled the plug on the premiere for now, putting doubt on whether the season, which had completed filming and cost an estimated $70 million to produce and market, will ever air.

Producers and executives were aware that Paul had a volatile personality, a volcanic relationship history and a criminal record, but they still chose to cast her. It has brought fresh infamy to "The Bachelor" and its format of prioritizing fairy-tale romance scenarios inside an isolated bubble while sidelining real-world issues centered on social trends, mental health and cultural shifts.

In addition to the pause on airing the season, the collapse also casts doubt on the future of "The Bachelor" since the next lead would likely been chosen from Paul's suitors.

"I think it's over," said former "Bachelorette" lead Rachel Lindsay, speaking on the "Bachelor Party" podcast minutes after the news broke about Paul. "There's no way, under any brand, but particularly Disney, that you can proceed when this video comes out."

Its ouster from the ranks of top TV reality franchises has been accelerated by fan disappointment in the previous season of "The Bachelorette," which starred Jenn Tran, the show's first Asian lead. Her season was followed by the 29th season of "The Bachelor," starring Grant Ellis, the show's second Black star. His low-wattage charisma was blamed for a sharp drop of almost a million viewers from the previous season, which featured professional tennis instructor Joey Graziadei.

Also contributing to the show's decline is its spotty success rate: In the combined 50 seasons of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," fewer than 10 couples have stayed together.

The glow has even faded from "The Golden Bachelor," an offshoot which got off to a buzzy start in 2023 with then-72-year-old widower Gerry Turner. The retired restaurant owner got engaged on the series to financial services professional Theresa Nist, but the couple divorced three months after their wedding, which was broadcast live.

But those pitfalls were glossed over as producers continued to emphasize the "romance and roses" formula during Paul's introduction to "The Bachelorette" in "Before the First Rose," which aired March 15 following the 98th Academy Awards.

The leadoff special featured several former Bachelorettes, who gathered at the show's mansion headquarters to welcome Paul to "the sisterhood."

"I'm obsessed with Taylor," gushed Hannah Brown, who starred in the show's 15th season. "I think she is perfect for this because she really doesn't know what she's doing. But I love that — that's what going to make her so lovable."

Although she sent a short video message to Paul, Tran was conspicuously absent from the in-person reunion. Her stint in 2025 was promoted as a milestone to correct the franchise's historic diversity shortfalls, but her romantic journey has been labeled by many members of the Bachelor Nation fan base as a low point. The installment was criticized immediately because of the near-absence of Asian suitors.

The troubles reached a crescendo during the live finale when a distraught Tran revealed that the man she had chosen as her husband-to-be, Devin Strader, had ended their engagement a month before the broadcast. Strader joined Tran onstage minutes later, and she wept as the footage of her joyous proposal to him was played back. Viewers accused the show of cruelty and humiliating Tran by making her relive her trauma on live television.

The episode also revived attacks on the show's spotty vetting after reports that Strader had been arrested in 2017 on suspicion of burglarizing the house of an ex-girlfriend. He had not informed producers of the arrest when he was interviewed for the show.

More upheaval struck the franchise a few months after the seasons starring Tran and Ellis with the announcement that executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner would be exiting. The two took charge of the shows in 2023 following the departure of creator Mike Fleiss in the wake of accusations that he was responsible for racial discrimination behind the scenes. Fleiss denied the accusations.

Though Freeland and Graebner vowed to make the show more culturally inclusive, they were blamed for the missteps involving Tran and Ellis, and were also charged by several staffers of creating a "hostile" environment behind the scenes, according to Deadline. They denied the allegations.

One surprise participant in "Before The First Rose" was Lindsay, who has been the most critical alumnus of "The Bachelor" franchise.

Lindsay was a key figure in the show's most fiery phase when it cast Matt James as the first Black Bachelor. James' season unraveled following an uproar over photographs that surfaced of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell at an antebellum South-themed party. Then-host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell in a combative interview with Lindsay, then a correspondent on "Extra." Harrison eventually left the franchise after nearly 20 years.

Angered by the incident, Lindsay called out show producers and what she called the racist "Bachelor Klan" fan base while announcing she was leaving the franchise.

"I'm no longer making myself available to The Bachelor universe," Lindsay wrote in a 2021 first-person essay for New York magazine headlined "Rachel Lindsay Has No Roses Left to Burn. I thought I could change the Bachelor franchise from within. Until I realized I was their token."

She wrote in the conclusion: "I used to always say, 'If you want me to shut up, bring in another Black lead.' Now, I wouldn't come back and talk about something if they paid me. Well, maybe if they paid me eight figures …"

Lindsay has made amends with the franchise since as she cheered Paul on during the special, advising, "We're here to make her comfortable, to keep it real."

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.