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Taylor Frankie Paul’s Love Life After ‘The Bachelorette’ Cancellation: Doug, Ben, and a Very Complicated Picture

Amanda Orlando

They got engaged on a show that never aired. They broke up a month later. Now they are hanging out again. The duck emoji did a lot of work here.

Taylor Frankie Paul’s “Bachelorette” season may have been canceled before a single episode aired, but the man she reportedly chose at the end of it is apparently still in the picture.

Here’s the full story of how Taylor and Doug Mason went from a filmed finale in St. Lucia to a breakup to apparently trying again — all without a single episode ever reaching television.

Who Is Doug Mason?

Doug Mason is a 28-year-old EMT ocean lifeguard from San Diego, California, who grew up in a Christian household and spent his childhood moving through seven different states because of his mother’s career in the Navy.

He attended Boise State University, graduating in 2019, and has since built a life around the beach — working for Camp Pendleton in San Diego, instructing at F45, and pursuing acting, modeling, and music on the side.

Doug has appeared in an episode of “Magnum P.I.,” modeled for various brands, worked as a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, and releases original music under the stage name Tonedbone. His Instagram is exactly what you would expect from a San Diego lifeguard-slash-musician — surfing, sunrises, and the occasional original song.

His road to “The Bachelorette” was apparently years in the making. Heather, a reality TV casting producer and friend of Bachelor Nation alum Ashley Iaconetti, revealed on an October 2025 episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast that she had been chasing Doug for years before he finally agreed to appear.

When he announced his casting on TikTok in February 2026, he went directly to Taylor: “Hi Taylor, I’m Doug. Heard you were looking for a husband. Look no further.” He was cast as one of 22 men on Season 22.

The Season That Never Aired

ABC announced Taylor as the “Bachelorette” lead in September 2025. Filming wrapped in December 2025 in St. Lucia, where, according to Bachelor spoiler site Reality Steve, Taylor reportedly got engaged to Doug at the final rose ceremony.

Before filming, Doug had already been asked the obvious question — would he relocate to Utah to be with a Mormon mother of three? His answer was straightforward: “I’m very used to the mountains, very used to cold temperatures. It’s right there. I don’t see any issue with moving to Utah. Heck, I might just do it anyway. Taylor or no Taylor, I might just move to Utah.”

Reports indicate that whatever happened in St. Lucia didn’t survive contact with real life. Taylor and Doug reportedly broke up in January 2026, about a month after filming ended. Doug had visited her in Salt Lake City. It didn’t stick.

In February 2026, Taylor and Dakota Mortensen were involved in a new domestic violence incident. In mid-March, TMZ published footage from a 2023 incident showing Taylor throwing a barstool at Dakota while one of her children was heard crying in the background.

Three days before the March 22 premiere, ABC canceled the season entirely. A Disney spokesperson said: “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.”

Doug’s Response

What made Doug stand out in the aftermath was what he chose to do after the cancellation. Rather than go quiet or distance himself, he posted an Instagram video the day after the announcement. “In light of everything that has happened, I am just sending prayers to Taylor because that was her moment and her moment was blocked,” he said. “All we can do right now is just be hopeful. I hope you guys have a great day and let’s stay positive and show nothing but support for people in need.”

A SLOMW fan account reposted the video. Taylor commented: “Aw my heart goes out to him. So sweet.”

When fans began pushing for Doug to be cast as the next Bachelor, he responded to a comment with “Let’s goooo.” He was not playing it subtle.

The Deuxmoi Added Context

Here’s where the story gets more complicated. Deuxmoi noted that Doug was spotted at The Nines with a group of three women — which is what actually prompted the headlines. Then Deuxmoi published a tip suggesting Taylor may still be connected to a different person entirely: musician Ben Lambert, who was in her life before she ever stepped on a “Bachelorette” set.

The tip reads: “Ben and Taylor were talking/flirting in March literally during the entire mess when it went down. He texted her to reconnect and she specifically called him on the 23rd saying ‘I had butterflies when your name came on my phone.’ Also not sure if they will show it in the next season, but she brought him to New York to see Whitney in Chicago and they filmed the whole thing. Also filmed a bathtub scene together.”

The “butterflies” quote that had been floating around the internet in connection with Doug’s name appears to actually be about Ben.

Who Is Ben Lambert?

Ben Lambert is a country musician and songwriter who first appeared in Taylor’s life — and on SLOMW Season 4 — after she commented on one of his TikTok Lives where he was playing guitar and taking song requests.

“He was singing and playing guitar,” Taylor said on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I was like, ‘This guy’s got a voice!’ I’ve never sat and watched a TikTok Live, really, nor do I write on them. But I was the one who was like, ‘You have a really good voice, can you play this song?’” After she commented, he asked where she was from. When she told him Utah, he said his ex-girlfriend used to watch The “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Taylor played it cool and said she had “made an appearance” on the Hulu show once.

Ben on ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’

Their TikTok exchange turned into phone calls, which turned into Ben flying out to visit her in Salt Lake City. On SLOMW Season 4, Taylor confessed to Jessi that she had a crush — “immediately I was like, crush, crush” — and the two were filmed together, including a practice rose ceremony where Taylor gave Ben the flower and the two kissed.

In September 2025, Taylor posted and quickly deleted an Instagram photo of a man holding a guitar — widely speculated to be Ben — with the caption: “Life’s a little lighter when you’re surrounded by a village and someone who can sing your favorite songs to you.” She deleted it within a week and was announced as the “Bachelorette” lead shortly after.

She kept things casual with Ben because she was about to film a dating show. He was, by his own account and hers, someone she had met twice before The “Bachelorette” became her reality.

In March 2026, he released two original songs on Spotify — “Oh My God” and “Scream or Shout” — with a caption that read: “These two little songs are a result of a lot of trial, failure, and growth. For the first time in a long time, I actually tried my hardest.”

The March Timeline

According to the Deuxmoi tip, the March reconnection with Ben happened throughout the exact period when everything publicly was falling apart for Taylor — the barstool video dropped on March 19, ABC canceled the season the same day, and the “Bachelorette” premiere that was supposed to be March 22 never happened. Ben texted Taylor to reconnect. She called him on March 23, the day after the premiere that never aired, and told him she had butterflies when his name came up on her phone.

If the tip is accurate, she then brought him to New York to see the Broadway musical “Chicago” and SLOMW filmed it. A bathtub scene was also filmed. Whether any of this makes it into Season 5 is unconfirmed, but the source seems to believe at least some of it will.

What the Full Picture Looks Like

Doug Mason was spotted at The Nines with a group of women. Headlines said Taylor was trying to make it work with him. A Deuxmoi tip then suggested the butterflies quote was about Ben, not Doug, and that Ben and Taylor had been in contact throughout March and may have been filming together for Season 5.

None of this is confirmed by Taylor or either man. What is confirmed: a reported engagement that did not survive January, a public flirtation via duck emoji in March, a Us Weekly source in April, and a Deuxmoi tip that suggests the man she had butterflies for in March was someone who predates the whole “Bachelorette”f chapter entirely.

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Season 5 does not yet have a premiere date on Hulu.

Read next:

For more “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” click here.

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