“Asking for a friend…” contestant Brandon Perce captioned his Instagram post directed at Draper.

Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette suitor shoots his shot at her Mormon Wives costar Jessi Draper

"Asking for a friend..." contestant Brandon Perce captioned his Instagram post directed at Draper.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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April 2, 2026 5:53 p.m. ET

Brandon Perce; Taylor Frankie Paul; Jessi Draper. Credit:

Disney/Evan Mulling; Getty (2)

One of the 22 eligible bachelors of Taylor Frankie Paul’s shelved season of *The Bachelorette* is hoping to find the rose from the thorn after not finding love on season 22 of the ABC series — with another *Secret Lives of Mormon Wives* star.

Brandon Perce decided to take to social media to shoot his shot with Paul's newly single costar Jessi Draper, whose husband Jordan Ngatikaura filed for divorce last month. "This message is for Jessi, from *Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,*" he began in his March 31 video. "Now that you're single, I have a friend who is interested. He's a dad, he's got tattoos, likes to work out. He has a job, doesn't like to golf. He's got history with one of your friends."

And of course, by "a friend," Perce meant himself.

Asking Instagram viewers to "do what you do" to get his message to the reality star, Perce added, "Let's make it happen." He even tagged Draper in the caption of his reel and wrote, "Asking for a friend..."

Luckily for Perce, his Instagram followers did their thing, and Draper entered the chat with a simple comment, saying, "Hi." Perce dutifully replied, "Oh hey there, I think my friend sent you a DM."

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Perce was one of the contestants who competed for the heart of Taylor Frankie Paul during her *Bachelorette* season, before a video of her 2023 altercation with her ex Dakota Mortensen was released, and led to ABC pulling the plug on the series' installment.

"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," said a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson at the time.

Taylor Frankie Paul on 'The Bachelorette'.

Disney/John Fleenor

TMZ published the video to its site March 19 amid news that police have opened a separate investigation into an alleged assault halting production on season 5 of*The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives*.

"It's sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child," Paul's rep told ** in a statement soon after. "Releasing an old video, which conveniently omits context, on their son's birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior. Thankfully, the public has seen this act before and knows who he is and sadly, many will recognize this pattern of manipulation, both in his actions on the show, and from their own experiences."

Mortensen followed up with his own statement to **, saying, "As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation. I am, unfortunately, used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny. I am focusing on our son and his safety, and hope that Taylor will do the same."

Paul shares a son and a daughter with her ex-husband, Tate Paul, who has never appeared on *Mormon Wives*. She began dating Mortensen, a real estate agent and the owner of a tiling company, years before the series premiere in September 2024. They share a child together and were on-and-off throughout the series, leaving things on uncertain terms at the end of season 4.

Taylor Frankie Paul and Jessi Draper on 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives'.

Fred Hayes/Disney via Getty

The mother of three was ultimately arrested on suspicion of domestic violence after the incident in 2023. She was charged with aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child and child abuse. Paul pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and the other charges were dropped. She is on probation until August.

Police confirmed that there is currently an investigation concerning Paul and Mortensen for an additional alleged incident that occurred in 2024. Mortensen has also been granted a temporary restraining order, as well as temporary custody of their 2-year-old son, as fallout from an ongoing domestic violence investigation continues.**

Paul and Mortensen are due in court on April 7.

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