Before ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’ Dakota Mortensen Starred in a Short-Lived NBC Reality Series
Dakota Mortensen has been in the news thanks to his volatile relationship with his ex, Taylor Frankie Paul.
The pair – who both appear in Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives – are at the center of a domestic violence saga that’s led to the cancellation of The Bachelorette Season 22 (in which Paul was supposed to star) and a pause on filming of SLOMW Season 5. Both have accused the other of abuse and have been granted protective orders against the other. She’s also accused him of leaking footage of a 2023 fight that led to ABC yanking her season of The Bachelorette shortly before it was due to air.
Dakota Mortensen cut from ‘Vanderpump Villa’
The chaotic situation has affected Mortensen’s career as well. In addition to an uncertain future on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, he was also due to make an appearance on the upcoming season of Vanderpump Villa. He’s since been edited out of those episodes. And he does appear in the new YouTube competition series Unwell Winter Games.
Mortensen’s string of reality TV appearances didn’t start with Mormon Wives, the show that chronicles the world of swinging MomTok influencers. Way back in 2015, the then 21-year-old Mortensen was part of the cast of NBC’s The Island.
The Island was a series hosted by Bear Grylls that dropped a group of 14 men on a deserted island for a month. With only limited survival tools, they had to create shelter and find food and water in order to survive.
Future ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ star appeared on ‘The Island’ in 2015
In press materials for The Island, Mortensen was described as bird farmer who’d dropped out of college after losing his basketball scholarship due to his partying.
“He knows that opportunities have been handed to him, but his lack of focus and inability to look to the future have kept him down,” read his bio. “He feels he’s done nothing but disappoint his family, girlfriend and himself. Despite a life full of setbacks, he is full of energy and is hoping his struggles on the island will make everyone believe in him for the first time in his life.”
In a clip from the show’s that’s resurfaced on social media, Mortensen explains why he signed up for the show.
“I’m from Idaho and I’m a bird farmer. I’m at that point right now where I don’t want to be a bird farmer for the rest of my life,” he said. “I work for my dad and this reached out to me to where I felt like, ‘Why not give it a try?'”
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