Taylor Frankie Paul Got Engaged on Her Bachelorette Season, Then Broke It Off After Realizing the Winner Just Wanted to Be a Rapper Named “Toned Bone”

10 Sep 2026, 18:58 by Chrissy Stockton · Thought Catalog

The Bachelorette on ABC

Updated 3 minutes ago, September 10, 2026

Taylor Frankie Paul’s brief engagement didn’t survive the weekend that was supposed to celebrate it. The relationship ended during a post-filming “happy couple” weekend, when Taylor Frankie Paul told Doug Mason she needed to break off the engagement. She says she felt immediately relief.

At Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, Taylor Frankie Paul attends the Season 2 premiere and FYC event for Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” on May 9, 2025. Photo by Araya Doheny / Getty Images.

Paul, 32, filmed the ABC dating show in early 2026, but the season was shelved after footage was published on TMZ from the 2023 incident that led to her domestic violence arrest. Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” released on Hulu on Sept. 10, reveals what happened after production.

Taylor Frankie Paul at Salt Lake City’s Third District Courthouse on April 30, 2026, where she and Dakota Mortensen were each granted protective orders following a judge’s ruling on their relationship. Photo by Bethany Baker / Pool / Getty Images.

By Paul’s account, the connection was fast: she says she felt instant chemistry with Mason from the first night, though the proposal came unexpectedly at the last minute. The people closest to her weren’t sold. Her mother and friends Jessi Draper, Mikayla Matthews and Mayci Neeley preferred the other 2 finalists. Matthews felt Mason was “putting on a performance or a show,” adding “he’s basically Dakota.” Neeley also worried he was there “for the wrong reasons.”

ABC’s The Bachelorette features Taylor Frankie Paul as its star. Photo by Disney/Sami Drasin.

Their doubts had company in Mason’s own resume. Doug revealed he was an aspiring model and rapper, who performed under the name “Toned Bone.”

Then came Utah. Once Paul returned home, she resumed seeing Dakota Mortensen while still engaged. Draper called it cheating, and Paul admitted she still had feelings for Mortensen even as she wrestled with telling Mason.

Taylor Frankie Paul and Mitchell Tenpenny take the stage together at the 58th Annual CMA Awards, held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on November 20, 2024. Photo by Theo Wargo / Getty Images.

Looking back, Paul questioned whether Mason had seen the engagement as a happy ending for television that they could sort out afterward. After ending it, she went home thinking, “All right, I can breathe.”

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