JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Will two big reality shows be even stronger together? Today, fans of "The Bachelorette" learned who Season 22's leading lady will be - Taylor Frankie Paul, star of "The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives." She announced her casting on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "CALL HER DADDY")
TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL: It's not real. It's not real. And it's not going to be until I think the limo is pulling up, you know, and I'll be, like, meeting the people.
SUMMERS: This is a crossover that many didn't see coming, and it breaks new ground for the long-running series. Everyone in my group chat has been talking about this, so I wanted to bring in Brittany Luse from our It's Been A Minute podcast to shed some light on some of our biggest questions. Hey, Brittany.
BRITTANY LUSE, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: All right, so this casting is really interesting for so many reasons, but I want to start with Taylor Frankie Paul herself. Her life is not very secret after all of these hours of airtime on Hulu, not to mention she's got this massive social media presence. I know a lot about her because I watch the show, but for people who do not, let's just help them get caught up. Who is she?
LUSE: OK, so Taylor Frankie Paul, as you mentioned, she is the star of a Hulu reality TV series called "The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives." I mean, it's a pretty large cast of women, but the show is definitely based around her, and it's because she knows how to turn up the drama. I mean, part of the reason why that reality show even came to be in the first place is because of a social media confessional video that she posted about relationship drama going on in her set of Mormon wives and moms in both Salt Lake City, where she's based, and also TikTok.
They have this loose group called MomTok (ph) where they make videos, I guess, about being moms. Sometimes, they collaborate with each other. She started MomTok, and she posted this confessional video. She kind of blew up their entire social group. And all of that culminated in a reality TV show that she is the undisputed star of.
SUMMERS: And now we just know so much about her already. I wonder, is there precedent for casting someone in "The Bachelor" franchise that we already know so much about, we've already sort of peeled back the curtain on?
LUSE: OK. Actually, no. I looked into this 'cause I was wondering the same thing. We have never seen fame at this level in the person who's going to be the bachelorette.
SUMMERS: Interesting. I wonder, Brittany, how do you think this could affect casting and the way that the show unfolds when we see that new season of "The Bachelorette"?
LUSE: So, OK, having this kind of, like, cross-reality TV kind of casting, even thinking about a show like "Traitors" - like, "Traitors" is a show that actually created kind of a second wave of fame for Gabby Windey, who's a former bachelorette and also a former "Bachelor" contestant who I liked when I watched "The Bachelor." I liked her when I watched "The Bachelorette." But it's "Traitors," this other reality TV show, that really gave her her most recent burst of fame.
So I feel like ABC is kind of taking a play out of these other sort of reality show productions' books. The other thing, I think, is that Taylor is somebody who's going to bring the drama. We've seen her...
SUMMERS: Capital D drama.
LUSE: Capital D drama. I mean, this is a woman - you know what I'm saying? - who kicked - who launched her career with one TikTok. And in a matter of just - in under five years, now she's the new bachelorette.
SUMMERS: Brittany, we cannot have this conversation without talking about the rollout, the way that ABC sort of dropped this news on everyone. And the way that they dropped it was on the very popular podcast "Call Her Daddy" that's hosted by Alex Cooper.
LUSE: Yeah.
SUMMERS: That seems new to me.
LUSE: Yeah, that kind of surprised me as well. But I think that there's a lot that went into this decision in choosing Taylor and unrolling this whole thing that tells me that ABC is looking to court a younger viewer. Like, love reality shows are really popular with people in Gen Z and also, I'm hearing, Gen Alpha. Like, middle school-age children are watching "Love Island," a conversation for another time. But, you know, those are the same people - like, Gen Z people are the same people who are listening to and watching "Call Her Daddy" online. And so I think that it makes so much sense that she would reveal this while talking to Alex Cooper.
SUMMERS: Brittany Luse hosts NPR's It's Been A Minute. Brittany, thank you.
LUSE: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUSTA RHYMES SONG, "ADORN (FEAT. MIGUEL, REEK DA VILLIAN AND J-DOE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
