transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:00] This is The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast with IHeartRadio.
Speaker 2:
[00:05] We are back on the Almost Famous Podcast with some breaking news. I wish we had like that sound when breaking news happens. Do do do do do do. Yeah. Do do do do do do. Or like if I was like the nightly news guy, where I'd be like, we're here at the Almost Famous Podcast, some breaking news as we hit the air. Taylor Frankie Paul's future with her Hulu show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. We just talked about it a few days ago wondering what was going to happen. Well, we have some breaking news and updates that we're going to share with you. We'll start with this headline, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to resume Season 5 production. Without Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortenson. This is a lie, Heather.
Speaker 3:
[00:53] Yeah, I mean, this was out for a couple of minutes, I think before it was quickly not retracted but updated. Yeah, they are going to be going into production. It sounds like we're hearing as early as this week, but that Taylor and Dakota will not be a part of filming. Then what I saw online and I don't exactly know where Taylor commented it, but she left a comment on one of these outlets saying, news to me.
Speaker 2:
[01:23] Or it's not to call IGOT.
Speaker 3:
[01:25] Yeah, IGOT. Then we see the next article, which is Taylor Frankie Paul chose not to resume filming Mormon Wives following domestic abuse investigations. It is uncertain, it says, about her future, but the Hulu series will continue filming following a weeks long pause. Weeks long is an interesting way to phrase it. I feel like we've been down for a month, at least, over a month at this point, maybe. It says, a source close to Taylor now tells people that she has the option to return to the reality show and it's possible she could make an appearance. It's quote, she's receiving strong support from the cast and producers, but is focusing on her kids and mental health issues and recovery from an abusive relationship. She's doing great and realizing how abusive her relationship actually was. Then it says that people reached out to Hulu and Taylor Frankie Paul's rep for a comment. If I'm guessing, I'm going to say she's not coming back this season.
Speaker 2:
[02:33] If I was her PR team, I'd say it's not a good look. One. Two, she's communicated from a human level how, before any of these things came out on social media, how much was going on in our life, how much she was trying to carry, how she wasn't doing well. And so all of us here without knowing at that time anything that happened in February or seeing the video from 2023, we're saying, Taylor, you got to just step away. Like step away from all of this for a bit. If that doesn't feel like an option, it might be a really hard decision, but it feels, it seems like what you're crying out for is that kind of help. So for her to choose based on, you know, what we're hearing for her to choose to not come back, I think is a very wise choice.
Speaker 3:
[03:32] I would agree with that. I will say as I'm thinking about kind of what the rest of this season will look like, we know that there will at some point be a reunion film. That's what they've done the previous seasons. So I actually think if I'm making an educated guess, that I would say Taylor doesn't come back for the reality filming, but maybe makes an appearance or a one-on-one conversation for an update at a reunion setting that feels more private and controlled and maybe less invasive because it's not happening like in her home or something. I could see that happening.
Speaker 2:
[04:12] You obviously have watched this show. If Taylor Frankie Paul is not on it for whatever reason, is there any role for Dakota to play or is by her not being on it, is it just pretty much his elimination from the show as well? Is he a part of this show without her? I guess is the best way to ask that.
Speaker 3:
[04:34] I believe if she is not on the show, he will not be on the show. I mean, as a producer, you can grasp at straws and say he's still friends with the dads on Dad Talk and dads in the group. But I think that does he bring a compelling story without filming with her? I don't think so. I don't think so. I will say this is not the end, I don't think, for Taylor Frankie Paul and this show. I think that Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cannot continue. This cast, this iteration, because we do know that they're making a spinoff in Orange County right now. But this Utah cast, I think the show cannot move forward indefinitely without Taylor Frankie Paul.
Speaker 2:
[05:24] Can it move forward without Dakota?
Speaker 3:
[05:27] Yes.
Speaker 2:
[05:28] Yes, it can move forward without Dakota.
Speaker 3:
[05:30] I believe so. Taylor Frankie Paul is the reason they have a show. It was her swinging scandal that got them picked up. And in season one, we didn't even have anybody from the swinging scandal as a part of the cast. So all of these girls only got the show because of the attention that she got by going that public on her Instagram or her TikTok platform. Excuse me.
Speaker 2:
[05:55] In a lot of ways, she created this show.
Speaker 3:
[05:59] She is the star of the show. As much as these girls have large followings, and there's a lot going on right now with Jessie and her husband and Marciano and all the things, I won't get too into the weeds. But is there a lot of drama there? Absolutely. Is it enough drama to sustain the show? I do not think so. I think this show needs Taylor Frankie Paul.
Speaker 2:
[06:20] Because right now, we're getting the reports that Taylor Frankie Paul chose not to resume filming. We don't know if Dakota chose not to resume filming or was strictly just not asked.
Speaker 3:
[06:32] I would guess if the door remains open for Taylor to come back and film, there's going to be stipulations that that means Dakota doesn't get to come back.
Speaker 2:
[06:43] I mean, just based on we had a really interesting, I think, episode with a legal expert coming in and talking through about the court case and all the stuff that's preliminary to the hearing that's going to be done on the 30th of this month. That was super interesting. But from that, I mean, I'm guessing here, it's my opinion. There is going to be, no matter what happens, no matter what the outcome, there is going to be some stipulation placed in the two of them being near each other for a period of time.
Speaker 3:
[07:17] Yeah, because they've got those orders of protection out against each other. So it would be a violation if they were filming anywhere near each other or something like that. So it seems like it would be more difficult from a production standpoint to constantly be having to film with them separate.
Speaker 2:
[07:36] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[07:36] Then just being like, if we go with her, you're out.
Speaker 2:
[07:41] You're out.
Speaker 3:
[07:42] And by the way, Dakota's only on the show because he was her boyfriend at the time that the show started. That is literally the only reason.
Speaker 2:
[08:06] An interesting quote from TMZ. TMZ, they work through the night. They break everything these days, it seems like. The headline reads, Taylor Frankie Paul, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, return will happen, family remains priority.
Speaker 3:
[08:23] Yeah, it said, similar to, I think, what the other quote said, that she will return at some point. However, her main focus right now is her family and kids. Production sources tell TMZ that Taylor's priority remains her kids and family, but she is not completely cutting off ties with the show and we're told she will film at some point. A source tells us cameras will go up nearly immediately, even as early as this week, and the entire cast and production crews are supportive of Taylor returning to the hit Hulu show when she's ready. So that is interesting, right? Because all we were hearing in this last month was that the cast banded together and said we will not film unless we can address and talk about this issue that was happening with Taylor. We also heard reports that they didn't want to continue filming because of what they had known or heard about the violent acts in question. So to hear now that TMZ is reporting that the entire cast is supportive of her returning, and some of her cast members have come out and made statements since the DAs have decided to not press charges against her. Some of her cast members have come out in support of her. So I think that's an interesting turn. Again, I don't think you have a show, this Utah cast, if you don't have her. And when they say that she is definitely returning to film at some point, I don't know, the verbiage of some point leads me to still believe this season, which makes me think Reunion.
Speaker 2:
[10:09] Reunion. That would make sense. And I think if, you know, it's like kind of sitting out of a sports team in my mind. You can sit out of a sports team because of an injury, because the healthy thing for you to do. But it's hard to sit and know that the game is being played without you, that the team is together without you. And at some point, it is nice to walk back into the locker room, even if it's for a short period of time, to let everybody know you still exist, to feel like you're a part of something, and to see if they desire you to be back or not. So I can see how that happens. In closing here, Heather, are all of them friends? That's one part of this I don't quite understand when it comes to Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. They're obviously on the show. I'm in the Real Housewives of Rhode Island Headspace still, where I'm like, okay, some of them are friends. They're all connected in some way. They have this web of connection. They don't all like each other, but they're there for a reason. Are the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast all friends?
Speaker 3:
[11:16] Yeah. I'm going to say a big no on that one. I think it's some of the similar dynamics. I think you're seeing some girls have closer connections to each other than some, but there is a lot of jealousy and animosity that we've seen play out between the women in seasons. A perfect example being Taylor got to walk her first red carpet, and this was a couple of seasons ago, and she posted it on her socials and none of the girls congratulated her publicly on her socials. That ended up becoming a very large fight between the women. So I think that there's animosity between some of them, but their connection is that they did TikToks together, and they all have known each other. The bond does not run nearly as deep as the Rhode Island cast. It's not like, I went to school with you in kindergarten, I know your brother, that kind of thing. Some of them have swapped boyfriends and things like that, but that goes, I think, more so that the dating pool is really small in Utah where they're at. But yeah, no, I wouldn't say they're all besties.
Speaker 2:
[12:32] Okay. Fair enough. Well, that's the big breaking news of today. To break it down, if you've just zoned out because our voices are so soothing that it's kind of made you take a nap. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are resuming filming after many weeks of being down and not filming. Taylor Frankie Paul, according to these headlines, has chosen not to resume filming with the cast, but has left the door open for some appearance of some kind in the future, either this season or the next. It's a big deal. Dakota Mortenson, there is pretty much right now, all we know is that he is not resuming filming. We don't know if he chose that or if that was chosen for him, but he is not resuming filming.
Speaker 3:
[13:26] Can I just say something, Ben, which will be interesting when we do end up seeing this season, because obviously they were filming before all of this went down. So it'll be interesting to see how much of Taylor and Dakota we see when season five ends up coming out. Will we see Dakota at all? Will we see a cut down version of him? So that's something that I'm actually kind of intrigued by when this season does eventually come out.
Speaker 2:
[13:53] We're all intrigued, Heather. The world is intrigued. We'll be back soon with more headlines, more tea, more breakdowns of everything happening in The Bachelor world. Along with what feels like the most interesting thing right now is The Rehaas Wives of Rhode Island. That we're breaking down week by week by week, episode by episode. It's good. If you haven't watched it yet, watch it and then listen to us talk about it because we are the spot to get all the info that you're wondering. So until next time, I've been Ben.
Speaker 3:
[14:37] I've been Heather. Bye.
Speaker 1:
[14:39] Follow The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcasts on IHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.