From the moment that Taylor Frankie Paul was cast as the Bachelorette, fans of the franchise questioned the wisdom of that decision.
Turns out the skeptics were completely right!
In an unprecedented move, ABC has canceled Paul’s season just days before it was set to premiere.
The decision, of course, was the result of video that showed Taylor attacking Dakota Mortensen, at one point hurling chairs at him, one of which struck her five-year-old daughter.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fans knew about the incident years ago, and ABC didn’t want to listen to their warnings about Taylor.
Now, the network stands to lose an astonishing $30 million as a result of its fractured partnership with Paul (per The Hollywood Reporter).
That figure reflects the full cost of production — including filming, travel, crew, marketing, and post-production — all of which (except for post-production) had already been completed before the network made the decision to shelve the season.
In other words, this isn’t a matter of stopping something mid-production. Filming was all but finished. The show was mostly ready to air. And now, it may never be seen.
At this stage, ABC has not announced any plans to air the season in a different format — or at all.
They’re just scrapping an entire season of a show that costs about $2 million per episode.
In addition to all the ad revenue they stand to lose, the Disney-owned network will also lose out on all the show’s sponsored content deals:
The airlines and hotels that we see during the travel segments, the clothes Taylor wore — most of that was provided for free by brands who just wanted the exposure.
Now, they’ll be expecting to be compensated some other way — likely with cash.
The network could attempt to recoup some of the losses through insurance or by repurposing footage, but reports suggest there is no clear or immediate solution that would offset a financial hit of this magnitude.
Despite the fact that the incident had been publicly known before Paul was cast, the emergence of the video itself appears to have been the tipping point.
And with advertisers, affiliates, and viewers all watching closely, the decision carries consequences that go far beyond the bottom line.
Obviously, pulling the season was necessary given the circumstances.
After all, it’s hard to believe that fans would’ve tuned in every week and rooted for a woman with well-documented violent tendencies to find and marry the man of her dreams.
And in all likelihood, the show would’ve continued to lose advertisers, as well as viewers.
Still, it’s not hard to see why execs hesitated to cancel the season.
After all, Taylor’s not the only one involved in the making of this series.
Now, if producers cast one of her suitors as next season’s Bachelor, no one will know who he is. And Doug Mason, the man who proposed to Taylor, won’t get his moment in the spotlight.
Which is a shame, as he didn’t get much else out of his time on the show. Sources say he and Paul have already broken up.
Truly, a season in which there were no winners.