Taylor Frankie Paul is sharing her reaction to ex-fiancé Doug Mason’s tell-all interview about his Bachelorette experience.
Doug, 28, opened up about his romance with Taylor, 32, on her unaired season of The Bachelorette during a Tuesday, October 13, interview on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast.
Among his revelations, Doug said that he didn’t feel Taylor was over her ex, Dakota Mortensen, when they filmed the show in late 2025. (The season was canceled days before it was set to premiere in March after footage of a 2023 domestic dispute between Taylor and Dakota, 33, emerged online.)
Commenting on a preview of the interview shared via Instagram on Tuesday, Taylor suggested that she and Doug are on good terms after filming The Bachelorette, despite their broken engagement.
“We became closer after all this. He’s a good soul when he opens up ❤️,” she wrote.
During Tuesday’s podcast interview — the first of a two-part tell-all — Doug admitted he struggled being compared to Dakota.
Describing a group date filmed for The Bachelorette, he said, “I could not escape the Dakota comparisons. I walked that day. … Everything that we had up until that point was genuine and true.”
“I think over time I realized that I was the replacement for that two-month period,” Doug said. “And the reason that’s true is because as she says, the night that she left the engagement, she went back to Dakota.”
“But speaking about this group date, the reason I dipped — it had nothing to do with the lady. It was when Taylor agreed with the lady. After everything I’ve said and done, it didn’t mean anything to her. I reminded her of Dakota. I reminded Taylor of Dakota because somebody else said that I reminded her of Dakota. And that was really disheartening.”
On The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 5, Taylor admitted to sleeping with Dakota, with whom she shares son Ever, 2, after returning from filming The Bachelorette.
Taylor also shared some insight into her unaired season of the reality dating competition, telling her costars, “[Doug] was the one that I liked from night one. There was instant chemistry. The entire time, I didn’t think we were going to ‘get engaged,’ per se, but then at the last minute, he did propose and I said yes.”
Later in the season, Taylor confirmed she “broke it off” with Doug after hooking up with Dakota and exploring her connection with musician Ben Lambert, whom she invited to stay with her during a cast trip to New York City.
