Kelsey Anderson has no notes on Taylor Frankie Paul being cast as the season 22 Bachelorette.

“Oh my gosh, I’m not kidding, I was jumping up and down this morning,” Kelsey, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly, while kicking off New York Fashion Week with a Raising Cane’s runway event at The Standard High Line. “I am so excited for her. I think she’s gonna be amazing.”

Kelsey, who found love with Joey Graziadei on The Bachelor season 28, noted that Taylor, 31, could “really bring the franchise back up.”

“It’s kind of been dwindling,” Kelsey said of the franchise. “I’m super excited for her. I think she’s gonna be amazing. She’s such a lovely person.”

Kelsey noted that the franchise used to include “men that they just found out on the streets.”

“I guess, I don’t know, warmed them up, gave them a cookie,” Kelsey quipped. “But no, I mean, I think that that’s amazing. Honestly, I don’t think it always necessarily needs to be in the franchise. I think that obviously it builds people’s stories. But we’ve seen a lot of Taylor’s story on [The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives], so l feel like we still feel connected with her, and I’m super excited for her.”

Taylor made her reality TV debut on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 1 before being announced as the next leading lady of the Bachelor franchise. Ahead of her casting reveal, Taylor spoke exclusively to Us about her mindset heading into the season and admitted that it’s “definitely” the goal to get engaged.

“As my mom likes to say, I do fall in love quickly, and that’s also the reason I did it. I always call myself a lover girl because I, like, fall for people and I have done that in the past,” Taylor, who is a mother of three kids, told Us. “Obviously, I got married young, and the first guy I dated was my second baby daddy — so it was just very quick, and this time, it’s going to be really cool, because, yes, I have been opening up to dating, but now I’m about to date, you know, 20 [or] 30 guys, and I’ve never done that before.”

She continued, “I’m going to take my time, I’m going to kind of, like, get to know people. Maybe I learned things I didn’t like or do like that I didn’t even know. So I think this is gonna be really good for the long-term effect.”

With reporting by Katerina Cotroneo

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives caused a divide between Jessi Ngatikaura and Demi Engemann — but they have since sparked rumors that they are fixing their friendship.

Eagle-eyed followers noticed that Jessi, 32, and Demi, 30, are following each other on Instagram again. In fact, Demi has made an effort to refollow several of her costars — including Jen Affleck and Taylor Frankie Paul — after she being on the outs with nearly everyone in the cast except Whitney Leavitt and Miranda McWhorter.

When The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premiered in September 2024, Demi was close with almost everyone on the show. Outside of a falling out with Whitney (Whitney’s exit from MomTok left all her friendships fractured), Demi started off season 2 on good terms with her friend group.

Season 2 took a turn for Demi after Jessi brought up their offscreen argument over their compensation for the show. It got worse when Taylor, 30, revealed to Jessi on the show that Demi allegedly insulted her salon JZ Styles. By the time season 2 came to an end, Demi’s future with MomTok remained unclear amid speculation that she was romantically involved with Vanderpump Villa‘s Marciano Brunette.

Lisa Vanderpump‘s Hulu series premiered weeks before The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returned to the same streaming network in May. Season 2 of Vanderpump Villa showed Marciano becoming smitten with Demi. They ended the season on good terms, but Demi has since called out Marciano for perpetuating rumors that she was unfaithful.

“Nothing happened with Marciano. At the expense of sounding rude, there wasn’t even a remote attraction to him. It sucks that women can’t be kind and friendly and even playful with men in this world without it being taken as like you’re open. I had a rock on my finger the entire time I was there,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “I brought up my marriage multiple times and they were told that we were married women — so it sucks that we couldn’t just go and have a good time and that he couldn’t respect that.”

Marciano made a cameo on season 2 of Mormon Wives — but instead of discussing Demi he claimed Jessi was the one he had an alleged affair with off screen.

“We have tried meeting up [to continue the affair],” he claimed. “[Her husband] Jordan doesn’t know the truth about how extensive it was. It was not just a one-time hookup thing. It was not some one-night stand.”

Jessi, however, denied Marciano’s version of events. “That was definitely a hard watch. We are continuing filming, so you guys will see this story unfold,” she told Bustle in an interview published on Thursday, May 22. “I would say that viewers can look forward to me being very vulnerable and going behind the curtain of my real life and marriage.”

Jessi clarified that there was more to the story, adding, “I will say that it’s not what he made it sound [like]. What he said was not accurate. I wish I could speak now. Honestly, yeah, he’s a piece of s***.”

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu.