Taylor Frankie Paul’s Ex-Fiancé Doug Mason Spills on Unaired “Bachelorette”: Meeting Her Kids and Proposing Despite Doubts

Julia MooreTue, October 13, 2026 at 5:40 PM UTC

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Taylor Frankie Paul; Doug MasonCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty; Bachelor Nation/Instagram -

Doug Mason, who got engaged to Taylor Frankie Paul on The Bachelorette, spoke for the first time about his experience on the show on the BachelorHappy Hour podcast

He detailed their relationship — including that he met her three kids and her ex-husband, Tate Paul — and revealed the one major doubt he had throughout filming

“The main reason I doubted Taylor was I had this inkling that Taylor was not over her ex,” he said, referring to Dakota Mortensen

Doug Mason is not holding anything back.

The winner of Taylor Frankie Paul’s unaired season of The Bachelorette broke down his experience on the show for the first time on the Oct. 13 episode of Bachelor Happy Hour with Charity Lawson and Rachel Recchia.

The season was pulled from ABC’s schedule before its planned March premiere following the release of a video showing a 2023 domestic violence incident involving Paul and her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.

Mason, who Paul confirmed on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives she had gotten engaged to before they split, said he was initially “trying to be respectful” of Paul, 33, and the series by not speaking about his experience, but decided it was time to address it after he saw her “watering the experience down” on SLOMW. “I realized that, okay, hold on a second, I need to jump out here and express to people that it was heartfelt, and I leaned in fully.”

Their connection on the show was “gradual,” but from their first meeting, he said he felt a sense of “safety” with Paul. “I didn’t want to go into this experience judging her at all, so I feel like I just had a soft spot for Taylor.”

“The Taylor that I met during The Bachelorette was sweet. She was sweet and kind and generous,” Mason, 28, said. “I loved Taylor for who she was during the show, but of course, since then, I’ve realized what true love is and that wasn’t it. What me and Taylor had on the show was not real love.”

Doug Mason on ‘Bachelor Happy Hour’Credit: Bachelor Nation/Instagram

His feelings grew stronger around halfway through filming, particularly after he met her three children — Indy, 9, Ocean, 6, and Ever, 2 — which he knew was an “important moment,” things got even more serious. “I was terrified,” he said of how he felt after meeting her kids, knowing what a future with Paul would hold. “I knew I was ready [to meet them], but it was exhausting — mentally draining, emotional. The emotional toll that took on me was a lot.”

Mason also met Paul’s ex, Tate Paul, with whom she shares Indy and Ocean. “I was fully invested once I met her kids and her parents and her ex – we met off camera,” he shared. “[Tate asked me], ‘You ready for this? ‘Cause it’s a lot. I live it every day. Being with Taylor will change your life.’ He really wanted to look in my eyes and see my sincerity,” Mason recalled of his conversation with Tate.

“At that point, I was all in. I was not going to BS,” Mason said. “It was as clear as day: this is going to be my life.”

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Mason also spoke about the doubts he had during filming. “There were a couple key moments that made me doubt if Taylor and I could make it long-term. The main reason I doubted Taylor was I had this inkling that Taylor was not over her ex,” he said, referring to Mortensen, with whom she shares son Ever — with whom she said she slept with the night before she left to film the ABC dating show. Taylor and Mortensen, 33, are in the midst of a contentious legal battle following mutual allegations of abuse. “I had this strange gut feeling.”

Comparisons to Mortensen also weighed on Mason. “It’s not like getting compared to an ex that was full of love – [you’re] getting compared to an ex that was a cheater and a liar, based on stories,” he said on the podcast. “It was disheartening to be compared to somebody that was so bad to Taylor.” During one group date, he said the comparisons became so overwhelming that he “walked” out.

“Over time, I realized that I was the replacement [for Dakota] for that two-month period. As she says, the night that she left the engagement, she went back to Dakota.”

Mason said Paul told him she had slept with Mortensen the night before she left to film The Bachelorette, to which he told her: “It had nothing to do with me. I think I told her, ‘That was before you met me.’ ”

Still, “over and over, I kept having this [thought], ‘She’s not over Dakota. She’s not over Dakota,’ ” Mason said. “My intuition was right. However, I get caught up in romantic gestures.”

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Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen appear in court in Salt Lake City on April 30, 2026Credit: Bethany Baker - Pool/Getty

Mason said he didn’t decide to propose until the last minute. “I knew in my heart that we would have to work through some trouble to get further in our relationship and I felt like [proposing] would be rushing it,” he recalled. “In every interview, I never said I was going to propose. That’s why it was such a shock when I did.”

Mason thought about the “conversation that I have with myself every night” during filming. “I would ask [myself], ‘What kind of a man are you?’ ” He knew, too, that Taylor came on the show “for a proposal,” so he decided, “Damn it, she’s gonna get one.”

Arriving at the proposal destination, he said it “looked like I was walking into heaven” and “that’s legitimately how I felt.” The choice to propose, he explained, was “a grand gesture basically to eliminate any doubt she could have.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”