Can MomTok Survive Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen? 

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette is set to be the [Chris Harrison voice] “most dramatic season ever,” and we don’t mean in a fun reality TV way. Paul is the star of the highly anticipated 22nd season, premiering on Sunday, but some serious allegations surrounding her relationship with ex Dakota Mortensen may be putting that debut—and the current filming of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives—in jeopardy. 

Sources told People on Monday that Mormon Wives season 5 has halted production following some “pretty serious stuff” emerging from TFP’s past. “Until that resolves, they are off,” the source said. 

So what is the “serious stuff” of which People’s inside source speaks? A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department confirmed that there is an open “domestic assault investigation” involving Paul and Mortensen. While we don’t have many details, the spokesperson confirmed “allegations have been made in both directions,” and that “contact was made with involved parties on [Feb] 24th and 25.”

Unfortunately for those of us who have been following MomTok since the beginning, allegations like this are not new for Paul and Mortenson, who share one-year-old Ever. The very first episode of Mormon Wives covered a similar domestic violence situation between the two, which resulted in TFP’s 2023 arrest. In that instance, TFP was charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief, and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child for throwing a chair at Mortensen that allegedly hit their daughter. So yeah, less “fun reality TV drama” and more “actually disturbing violence that needs to be addressed for the well-being of a child.” Great content, Hulu! 

During her appearance on Call Her Daddy, she noted that those charges have been dropped, and the rest of the Mormon Wives appeared to have moved on pretty quickly to dealing with their own toxic relationship issues. 

…Until now. 

The production halt comes amid the premiere of Mormon Wives’ fourth season, much of which centers on Paul’s impending stint as the Bachelorette, including the bombshell reveal that Paul and Mortensen spent the night together before she left for the villa to begin filming. He also allegedly asked Paul to “save a rose” for him during the show, which is a great place for me to formalize my prediction that he will show up mid-season as a late-entry contestant (unless these new allegations prompt the good folks at ABC to utilize the power of reality TV editing to cut him out). It’s worth noting that TFP did still walk the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night. 

As for her fellow Mormon wives, another source close to the cast told People, “None of the women want to be associated with [Paul]” and are keeping their distance as the situation sorts itself out. Which I guess begs the question…can MomTok survive this? Only time will tell. 

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