HOW BACHELORETTE PRODUCERS ADDED 'SPICE' TO TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL SEASON WITH MAJOR CHANGE

The new season of The Bachelorette not only spiced things up by casting a lead from outside the franchise for the first time, but also added some "spice" with one key casting change when it came to the men competing for Taylor Frankie Paul's affections.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, 31, was announced as the surprise new lead for the ABC series's 22nd season, a massive departure from the show's previous formula of choosing a standout woman from a previous season of The Bachelor as its lead.

While some were unsure of Taylor as a lead because of her past-and the fact that she is a single mom who shares three children with two different men-the show still went into production and is set to air the episodes of her attempt to find love beginning on March 22.

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However, the show did make one major change when it came to choosing at least some of the men it cast as her suitors.

As it turns out, Taylor won't be the only single parent on the season.

According to the U.S. Sun, after they cast Taylor, the show opted to add more "spice" and rethink its casting strategy by adding some single dads who aren't typically considered.

"About half of the cast was swapped out after it was confirmed Taylor would be the lead to find suitors more tailored to her," a source told the publication. "No disrespect to the men who were considered before, they were all fantastic. But they were a little more cookie cutter and the producers were looking for more spice or maybe some guys implied that they weren't wanting someone with children."

"There's a few factors for why so many men got swapped out but those were the main two reasons," they added.

This led to a higher-than-usual number of single fathers on the show, with at least three confirmed to already be dads.

While single parents haven't been unheard of before on the show, they are usually a rarity among casts, which often skew younger and focus on those who do not have children.

Among previous men who were parents and cast on the show were Michael Allio, from Katie Thurston's season, Kenny King, from Rachel Lindsay's season, and Evan Bass from JoJo Fletcher's season. Jason Mesnick was also a single father who competed on The Bachelorette before becoming The Bachelor himself.

This time around, three men-Brandon Perce, Christopher Wood and Matt Carroll-are all single dads.

According to their Instagram profiles, Brandon, 28, has two children, while Matt, 43, has three. Christopher, 35, appears to keep his children private and off social media.

While fans will have to wait and see whether being a single parent led to an ultimate bond with Taylor, the source told The Sun that Taylor had no complaints about her group of suitors.

"Taylor was really happy with the group of men chosen for her," the source said. "She had no complaints there and thought it was a good variety of backgrounds, ages, interests, jobs, etc."

"She liked that some men had kids but some didn't and liked that some had been married before too."

Taylor shares two children, daughter Indy and son Ocean, with her ex-husband, Tate Paul, who she divorced in 2022 following a soft swinging scandal in their Mormon community.

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She went on to welcome a third child, her son Ever, with boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, though their tumultuous split was caught on the cameras of her Hulu show.

The Bachelorette premieres on Sunday, March 22nd at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

2026-03-06T15:06:19Z