Dakota Mortensen used the Monday, April 6 premiere of Alex Cooper’s Unwell Winter Games to push back against the image that has followed him off-camera. “I think people think that I am a really bad guy,” Mortensen said on the show. “I don’t feel like I am.”
He added a caveat that sounded like both a defense and an admission. “I think I do some villain things here and there. Every once in a while,” he said. The comments landed during a four-episode competition series built around 16 of pop culture’s most polarizing figures, with mental and physical challenges spread across four days inside a luxury chalet in Park City, Utah.
Mortensen’s appearance on the unwell winter games cast comes at a fraught moment in his personal life. News of his participation with Demi Engemann arrived amid a police investigation into an alleged February domestic violence incident involving Mortensen and Taylor Frankie Paul. In March, Mortensen was granted a temporary protective order against Paul and temporary custody of their son, Ever, 2. The two were scheduled to appear in court for a Tuesday, April 7 hearing.
The series itself was designed to package conflict. Alongside Mortensen and Engemann are other reality stars, influencers and public figures including Huda Mustafa, Ekin Su Cülcüloğlu, Eyal Booker, Joe Amabile, Serena Pitt, Juliette Porter and Gleb Savchenko. Mortensen’s behavior on the show included flirting with influencer Hallie Batchelder, and Engemann joined at the end of the episode. Mortensen and Engemann also joked that he was already “not officially” dating someone.
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That on-screen banter sits uneasily beside the off-screen fallout. Mormon Wives halted production on season 5 in the wake of the latest allegations, while The Bachelorette canceled Paul’s season days before its March premiere. Paul was previously arrested and charged over a 2023 altercation, and later pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault in exchange for dismissal of the remaining charges. Both Mortensen and Paul have denied the recent allegations and said they are committed to focusing on their children.
Engemann’s role also connects the two storylines. In March, Paul thanked her for checking in and for a wellness gift, and thanked her and Jessi Draper for staying by her side at a low point. Engemann had stepped back from Mormon Wives during season 4 after falling out with friends the previous season. On Monday, her appearance on Unwell Winter Games made clear that the cast’s real-life grievances are not staying outside the chalet.
For Mortensen, the question is no longer whether the allegations and the show overlap. They do. The issue now is how much the audience will separate the man in the chalet from the one heading into court on Tuesday.
