“The Bachelor” alum Sydney Warner sounded off on Taylor Frankie Paul‘s casting as the Season 22 lead for “The Bachelorette” amid “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star’s mounting controversies with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, including an allegedly rekindled romance before filming and an open domestic assault investigation with allegations “made in both directions.”
Warner, who vied for Peter Weber’s heart on “The Bachelor” Season 24, shared her candid thoughts on Paul while watching Season 4 of Hulu’s “SLOMW,” which documented the reality star in the days leading up to her turn on “The Bachelorette.” Namely, the new season of “SLOMW” showed Paul sleeping with Mortensen, with whom she shares 1-year-old son, the night before she was set to leave for “The Bachelorette.”
“This is so upsetting,” Warner wrote in a since expired Instagram Story. “I am a result of being on ‘The Bachelor,’ I owe a lot to that franchise. ‘The Bachelor’ is one of the most iconic shows of all time & was so highly respected because they held the contestants to such a standard. It was such an honor to be on the cast, let alone be casted as the LEAD. That’s life changing.
“To watch this and see the soon to be lead completely disrespect the stage that she has been given, the men who put their entire lives on hold to come and meet her is horrible,” she continued. “What has happened to morals and values?”
Warner then turned her criticism to production for selecting Paul as their lead, slamming the dating competition as a “dying franchise.”
“Why not let the show die out with class and dignity and not stoop down & claw and scrape just to get views?” she noted. “I feel so bad for those guys. Seriously, this is hard to watch someone completely not care about something so prestigious that so many girls would do anything to be given. What is going on???”
In addition to the on-screen controversy, Paul is also currently embroiled in another scandal involving Mortensen. According to multiple media reports, production for Season 5 was paused Monday amid a domestic assault investigation, with Draper City Police Department telling media that “allegations have been made in both directions” following a February incident.
A representative for Hulu did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
