‘Teen Mom OG’ Season 8 Episode 23 Recap: A Bubby Visit & a Butch-less Birthday Party

“Bubby ain’t lyin’, bro!”

In a world of turmoil and uncertainly, there is at least a few things we can always count on, such as the stars of Teen Mom OG making bad decisions and saying ridiculous things. (Oh, and Amber Portwood‘s mommy-makeover’d butt leaving a permanent indention in her living room couch!) 

Let’s take a peek at what the gals and guys of ‘Teen Mom’ are up to, shall we? 

We kick things off this episode in Michigan, where Catelynn and Tyler are preparing to throw a first birthday rager for their daughter Vaeda. However, the festivities have been slightly soured by Vaeda’s arsenic-filled baby food by the fact that Butch has relocated back to Michigan. He was previously living in Texas, and has apparently barrel-rolled off the sobriety wagon he had been riding for a while now.

Cate says she is not sure if they should send a party invite to Butch. (Something tells me Tootsie Pops and plastic rings aren’t exactly the “party favors” Ol’ Butchy will be hoping to find in his goodie bag!) 

When your trashcan family members will never give you a damn break from their trashcannery…

Naturally, Cate’s mom April wants to know if Butch will be in attendance at the party, so she can “prepare mentally” to see him in all his salt-n-peppa haired glory. (We can assume by ‘prepare mentally’ she means spray herself with a little extra Febreeze and make sure she’s wearing her newest hair scrunchie.) 

Tyler says that, due to his recent shenanigans, Butch shouldn’t be expected a Scoobie-Doo invite to show up in the mailbox of whatever flophouse he’s currently “flopping” at. 

Tyler tries to decide what to do about his father and— shockingly!— his first inclination isn’t to run to the therapist lady who looks like Matt Baier in a bad Halloween wig. Instead, he decides to call Butch’s recovery coach at the rehab in Texas.

“I’m here if you need me!”

Tyler tells the rehab coach lady that Butch told him he’s not using drugs.

Well…at least, not like he used to use drugs. I mean, he’s still using, just not as much. (He still “ain’t no juicehead,” we can assume!) 

Tyler wants to know if letting Butch meet Vaeda would be enabling him, and the coach says yes. (Sorry Butchy…no Funfetti cupcakes for you!)

“Waaaa.”

Next, we head to Indiana to check in with Amber. As per usual, Ambie’s brother Shawn Bubby has flown in to meet her latest soulmate. Dimitri (said latest soulmate) is nervous to meet Shawn Bubby because Amber says he’s hard on her boyfriends. (We are treated to a few quick clips of Shawn Bubby meeting Amber’s various past soulmates, including Matt and Andrew.) 

Before Shawn Bubby can grill Ambie’s latest mail-order man, he grabs lunch with another previous Amber boyfriend, Gary. (If you’ll remember back to Amber’s 16 and Pregnant days, Gary was originally Shawn Bubby’s friend…until Gary started boning Amber.) 

Apparently they’ve since patched stuff up and are now ready to chat it out over a plate of curly fries.

“Don’t even think about it, bro. I ain’t sharing!”

Gary then delivers the understatement of the century, possibly the millennium.

“Amber can be a little unhinged at times,” he says.

Still, he insists that she’s a “completely different person” than the unhinged machete-carrying gal she was six months ago! Gary says that Amber felt “betrayed” by Andrew, but hopefully things with Dimitri will be different.

Shawn says that, with each of Amber’s soulmates, he’s seen the train comin’ down the track, about to wreck, but Amber wouldn’t listen to him. 

“Now all of a sudden this guy from Belgium shows up and it’s like, ‘Why are you talking to some guy from the other side of the world?'” Shawn says.

“Dude…are you sure you want to be saying that stuff when you’re not wearing a helmet? She could HEAR you!”

Shawn says he won’t be “all excited” for Amber’s newest live-in lover, and Gary agrees.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, Mackenzie says Gannon seems to be handling his emotions better. With that crisis wrongly handled averted, Mackenzie is now facing issues with the truancy officers at her children’s school due to their multiple tardies and absences.

Mackenzie decides to meet up with her friend to vent about this predicament and ask for some advice. 

“Well for starters, you could send your dang kids to the ding-dang school.”

Mackenzie explains that she has a hard time going to sleep at night because of her anxiety, which causes her to oversleep in the morning and make her kids late (or absent) from school. Now, the kids are one tardy or absence away from her having to report to truancy court.  

“If only I had someone around to help me tend to these kids. Oh, wait… “

Mackenzie’s friend asks what we’re all thinking, “Why the hell isn’t your husband doing anything besides mumbling, emotionally damaging your son and grindin’ up on rodeo groupies?” Mackenzie tells her the one time Josh was left to take care of the kids on his own, they were three hours late to school. 

Yet somehow he’s never once been late to a get-down at Billy Bob’s…

After talking to her friend about the importance of being punctual, Mackenzie shows up late to a meeting at the cheerleading gym she works at.

“I’m here! I’m late,” she tells her boss, who in turn tells Mackenzie they’re buying her a planner and setting alarms on her phone to help her stay on top of things. 

“Umm, we were thinking more along the lines of a reminder text or something… “

In an effort to make some positive changes, Mackenzie lays out her kids’ outfits the night before school and manages to get them ready and out of the house the next morning at a reasonable time. While patting herself on the back for a job well-done, Gannon chimes in to remind his mom of her stellar record when it comes to morning drop-offs. 

“Just like dad taught me!”

Mackenzie tells Gannon and Jaxxxeee it’s important that they be on time because “we’ve been getting into some trouble lately” – and by “we” she means her. Before the kids get out of the car, Mackenzie says she can’t read with them that night because she has to work, but assures them that their dad will fill in for her.

When Jack-C reminds Mackenzie that Josh is sick at home with a cold, Mackenzie tells her it won’t be a problem (in so many words). 

“Toughen up, Josh! Certainly you can muster up the strength to mumble these kids a book!” 

Over in Los Angeles, Cory is back from The Challenge, so Cheyenne no longer has to film exclusively with her sister, R. You Guys Getting My Good Side?, and can resume hangin’ with her BFF baby daddy. 

Baaz, looking for his mom and trying to figure out why she isn’t here getting this camera time herself?

After fishing for compliments on his looks/outfit (probably) Cory talks to Cheyenne about the gender reveal party he’s making MTV pay for her throw for himself and Taylor. Despite not having any actual planning to do himself, Cory is stressed about the party, specifically all of the family coming to town. 

“You did this to yourself, Super Sperminator!”

Through all of the “stress,” Cory says he’s thankful for Taylor and the fact that she’s so great with Ryder.

“I love her for that,” he tells Cheyenne, who is stunned almost to the point of showing actual emotion to hear Cory say he loves someone other than himself.

“Say what?!”

Cheyenne teases Cory for “saying the L-word” and says he’s growing up… because apparently the almost two kids he has didn’t already do the trick. In a true example of one step forward, two steps back, Cory then refers to his unborn child as his “son” before Cheyenne reminds him that there’s a 50 percent chance the baby could be a girl. Cory, however, doesn’t see it this way. 

“It’s a boy,” he says. “It’s gonna be a boy! Flash forward, blue confetti everywhere! … It can’t be a girl.” 

Cory, trying to explain this scene to his second-born daughter one day.

Finally, we head to Tennessee, where Maci is in full dance-mom mode in regard to Bentley’s wrestling. She has shelled out some of that hot MTV cash for a private wrestling coach for the kid, and has put Bentley on a strict diet so that he can make the kiddie wrestling championships.

Maci is sitting there (downing a beer, as you do…) yapping at Bentley as he gets his private lesson. She explains that Bentley “doesn’t commit” to a wrestling move (or something), and the instructor is just like, “Really, lady? Let me do my job.”

“Now Bentley, if you would just commit to that move like I commit to this beer, you’d be sittin’ in butter right now, kid!”

She proceeds to instruct him (over his instructor) not to “get sloppy” with his moves. Bentley looks about as embarrassed as he was last episode when Taylor was talking to him about the sex. 

“Really, Mom? You’re gonna embarrass me two episodes in a row? What’d I ever do to you…except burst out of your underage hoo-ha!”

Bentley then tells the crowd that he’s hungry, and Maci quickly snaps back that he “knows what he can eat.” 

Bentley does a few starved somersaults, as Maci informs him that he will be going to another two-hour practice that evening. Maci tells him he can have a salad in between practices, but Bentley begs for grilled chicken. Maci informs him that he has lost his ding-dang mind.

Jesus….I’ll bet even Amber got fed better when she was in Gel than this poor kid does! 

Meanwhile…the Oopsie Babies be like…

“He’s on a very strict, good, healthy calorie diet,” Maci tells the group of Bentley. The kid informs them that he’s getting about 1,000 calories a day, but Maci is quick to add that she does give him a lot of water and makes him workout a lot to “cut weight.” 

“As long as he uses the bathroom every day, you cut like a pound when you do that!” Maci announces, as a red-faced Bentley looks for a hole to crawl into (or a chicken bone to gnaw on).

Back in Indiana, Shawn has arrived at Amber’s place to meet her Belgian boytoy. (I love how they film the scene like it’s an episode of Catfish, with suspenseful music playing as Shawn walks up the driveway.) 

“If I’m being honest, instead of seeing Nev pop out of the bushes, I’d rather see Ashton Kutcher, telling me that I’m being punked!”

Meanwhile, Ambie and Dimitri are— you guessed it!— sitting on the couch, waiting for Shawn. Amber is overwhelmed with emotion seeing her brother, and Dimitri does his best to communicate with Shawn, telling him that Amber talks about him all the time.

They all sit down to chat at the table, and Shawn asks Dimitri if he knew English before meeting Amber. He says no, and Amber proudly adds that she has taught him to say “motherf**ker.”

I think that’s nice…

“I thought all American mans bring condoms the first time they meet you, no?”

Shawn asks Dimitri if he wants to stay in America (and on Amber’s couch) permanently, and Dimitri says he doesn’t know. Shawn reminds the long-distance lovers that, between them, they have a litter of kids scattered all over the world, which makes it difficult for one of them to move.

Shawn then asks Dimitri if he has a job outside of flying to America to be with random reality TV stars. He informs Shawn that, back in Belgium, he’s a mailman. 

“Dimitri deliver special Belgian package nightly to Amber! Now…where is condoms?”

Amber declares that she will never leave the United States or her kids, so if they’re going to be together permanently, Dimitri is going to have to move. Dimitri says he has no idea if his baby mama(s?) would allow his kids to come to America if he were to move. He does say that if “relationship is good enough” he will try to get a work visa so he can stay in the USA.

(Sooooo…basically if Ambie refrains from throwing assorted footwear at Dimitri’s head for a few months, he’ll try to get a job.) 

He admits that, yeah, Amber is crazy, but she already knows that.

I think that’s nice…

“He’s crazy too!” Shawn points out. “He’s with you!” 

Later that night, they wheel Gary back out so they can all go out to dinner together. Shawn and Gary begin grilling Dimitri like a Belgian waffle about the USA, and the poor dude just looks so confused.

“Dimitri just keep saying ‘Yeah’ in hopes that big American man and brother don’t hurt him.”

Dimitri declares that his favorite English word is “I don’t care.” (Yessssss!

Bro, trust me, that will serve you well in your relationship with Ambie. Just keep saying that! (Maybe also learn the phrase, ‘Ouch, ouch, stop hitting me!”…just in case.)

Shawn warns Dimitri that he never wants to learn what the “Portwood way” is. (Again, learning that ‘stop hitting me’ phrase may come in handy.) 

Well…yeah…

Dimitri nervously asks what the “Portwood way” is. 

“When you end up in a pine box!” Shawn says, as everyone else laughs.

Um.. can someone please bring poor Dimitri a new pair of Fruit of a Looms? I’m sure he just soiled himself. 

Later, Shawn expresses his concerns about Dimitri to Amber. He tells Amber to picture how she would feel if someday her daughter Leah orders herself a Belgian guy and he’s shipped across the world to her. Wouldn’t she wonder if the guy was only there to stay in the USA.

Amber assures Shawn that’s not happening here and that they’re doing a great job of communicating, what with her strapping him to a lie-detector test and her brother threatening his life over spaghetti and meatballs and whatnot. 

Back in Michigan, it’s time for Vaeda’s Butch-less birthday party. April has shown up, as has Tyler’s mom Kim and Ashley, the live-in felon. (To be fair, though, Ash is probably just there waiting until everyone gets off the couch so she can take a nap.) Ty’s sister Amber and whatever assorted leashed felon she happens to be humping at the moment are nowhere to be found, though.

That cake is about to get more smashed than Butch on New Year’s when he has an MTV check in his pocket…

Naturally, the first birthday of Tyler and Catelynn’s third baby girl quickly turns into a conversation about why Cate can’t squeeze a male spawn from her hooter. Catelynn tells Tyler’s mom that she is willing to spit out one more youngin, but after that she’s marching Ty down to “get fixed.”

(Why, why, why must she always use that terminology when she’s talking about forcing Tyler to get a vasectomy? It makes it sound like Ty’s dog-groomer sister is going to be the one performing the procedure in the back of a mobile grooming van or something.)

And you KNOW she’s serious because she’s drawn on her ‘serious’ eyebrows…

Tyler’s friends start to question him about Butch’s whereabouts. Ashley wants to know where he’s staying. (Obviously, she needs to know if it’s about to get all ‘Hunger Games’ in the house in a battle for the Baltierra couch!) 

Tyler says he has no clue where Butch is staying, and he doesn’t really want to go back to the days where he had to worry about his dad all the time, and have his dad asking for money to buy smack or other assorted drugs.

“By the way, um…can I borrow some money?”

Back in Los Angeles, Cheyenne and her sister are talking about the gender reveal, particularly how unique it is for Cheyenne to be throwing her “child’s father’s gender reveal for his girlfriend.” 

Cheyenne can always count on her sister, R. U Kool With Me Turning This Place Into A Gym, for support.

Cheyenne has been sending Taylor photos of balloon designs and photo booths in preparation for the gender reveal and we can tell she’s taking this job really seriously because she seems to be on top of everything. Oh, and also because she’s wearing her “Business Woman” sweater. 

“I should wear this to the local diner and see if they have any sort of ‘business woman’ special…”

After flexing her Business Woman muscles all day, it’s finally time for the gender reveal; however, Cheyenne is running late. Cory is annoyed, so much in fact, that when Cheyenne finally arrives, he thanks her for showing up – to the party she threw for him and his girlfriend – “late as hell.” 

Rather than getting mad at Cory’s annoying remark, Cheyenne happily agrees to take a photo with Cory and Taylor before the festivities begin, during which she also sneaks in a little joke at Taylor’s expense. 

Now say something, Cory.”

Next we see Cory and Taylor gather their friends and family around to reveal the gender of their baby – a girl, just as Cory didn’t predict. 

Moments before Cory’s backpedaling tour began…

After the gender reveal, Cory tells Taylor as the two of them get a place together, he wants to make sure Cheyenne is OK, because according to him, all she wants is to have more kids and “have the white picket fence and the house with the husband.” Cory says he wants to make sure they’re not shoving anything in Cheyenne’s face, to which Taylor casually replies, “I’m sure she’s fine.” 

Guess someone’s still salty over that surrogate comment…

Finally, we head back to Tennessee, where Ryan is discussing Bentley’s strict diet with his parents and Mackenzie. Almost on cue, Bentley comes in and robotically announces that he needs exactly 12 ounces of water. He regales the group with the tale of a kid who cut 11 pounds so he could wrestle in a lower weight class.

“I ‘member that time I cut 11 lbs of…um…never mind…”

Dr. Ryan then informs Bentley that “wrestlin'” is all about technique, and that Bentley should be gaining weight to be strong, not losing weight. 

Um…can someone let Ryan know that Bentley isn’t a WWE wrestler? I think he thinks Bentley is going all “Hulk Hogan” on other kids, smashing chairs over their heads or something. 

“You’re gonna stunt yer growth, and when it’s time for you to get bigger, you’re gonna be a late bloomer and it’s gonna suck for you!” Ryan tells his son.

“I know all about wrastlin’, boy! Just look at all them Oopsie Babies I’ve done made!”

Bentley just stares at Ryan, almost like he’s wishing someone would tell him that he’s adopted or something.

Later, Mackenzie and Ryan discuss Bentley’s weight-loss venture, and Ryan says he doesn’t think it’s healthy for an 11-year-old to be doing that. He says it would be different if Bentley were in high school, and trying to get a college scholarship, but that he’s too young to be doing that.

Oh dear GOD. I actually agree with Ryan. We have just entered the ‘Teen Mom’ Twilight Zone, y’all!

Over at Maci’s MTV Mountain Mansion, Bentley is being grilled about what he ate that morning. He confesses that he did have a muffin…and a glass of chocolate milk. Maci looks like she’s about ready to strangle the kid. She orders him into the bathroom to weigh himself.

“I’ma ’bout to whip that muffin right outta you, boy! Taylor, hold my beer!”

Bentley announces from the bathroom that he weighs exactly 72 pounds, and Maci immediately calls him a liar. (She does this as she sucks down a fatty Starbucks coffee drink, mind you.) 

“You can’t learn that boy nothin’!” she proclaims. (The Ashley feels like that quote was literally just for her.) 

The next day, Taylor and Maci talk about all the sports Bentley has done in the year. They include football, cross country, golf, wrestling and baseball. They say they encourage sports so that Bentley doesn’t become a street hooligan, or a video game addict. Maci says that, when Bentley first started cutting weight for wrestling, the was a “feisty little fella” because he was so hungry. 

She says wrestling has helped Bentley mentally, because it’s the one thing Bentley can control. She adds that he can’t control some things from getting messed up (or, you know, some people), but he can control that. 

“I do reckon she’s talkin’ about me!”

To read The Ashley’s previous ‘Teen Mom OG’ recap, click here

(Photos: MTV) 

38 Comments

  1. Are we betting when CAtelynn will be knocked up?


  2. Bentley cannot catch a break! Ryan needs to leave him alone, and Maci needs to feed that little child. He asked for chicken and didn’t get it. He then sneaks a muffin, and Maci gets upset. She should have fed him what he asked for, and maybe he wouldn’t have had to sneak a damn muffin.


    1. The worst part is that the whole,family is living good because of Bentley. Bentley has been working since he was in utero. He has been Maci’s storyline for the last few years and yet the young man can’t get some grilled chicken on his salad?


  3. Seriously Blubby??!! “The Portwood way” is ending up
    In a Lou e box?? You talk like that but then expect us to not believe your sister is a psycho man beater? She probably beat the fuck out of you many times and it was clear you weren’t wearing a helmet!


  4. I feel like Bentley’s diet is extreme. He’s a very active and growing eleven year old boy. There’s no problem with keeping him on a diet of healthy foods like vegetables and grilled chicken, but he should be able to eat as much of it as he wants. All her talk about how it’s something he can “control” makes it seem like the beginnings of an eating disorder.


    1. Yes! Add in Maci immediately freaking out, making him weigh himself, and calling him a liar for eating a muffin. The kid is 11 years old and already a beanstalk. There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating healthy and all kids should, but Bentley is a healthy boy. He doesn’t need to be using an extreme diet to lose weight when he is a growing child.


  5. So Bentley can’t have grilled chicken but she gives the little one whippets?!(obviously a joke but wtf?!) How does she expect little Bentley to focus, concentrate and perform at his best if he is hungry? I am all for healthy eating but starving yourself to fit in a certain weight class doesn’t fall into that category no matter what age you are, and if he is claiming to be hungry and is denied protein, I would consider that starvation.


    1. I agree. And if he’s so active and involved in multiple sports he needs to be eating more and not less (Healthy foods of course). This whole thing was really uncomfortable to watch.


      1. Right! It’s not like he is asking for deep fried bacon bits on his salad, just grilled chicken!!! Sounds like a balanced healthy meal for an active child. It is really confusing to me why she would deny him that.


    1. Cheyenne is wayyy nicer than I would be to Corey’s girlfriend! Just like Briana her problem is her nebsh*t family whispering in her ear! Let her think for herself!


  6. I don’t think the issue is Bentley “eating healthy” like Maci is trying to spin it now that she is facing backlash, it’s that she was very psychotic in the “cutting weight” episode referring to Bentley as a liar and cheater because the 11 year old kid GASP ate a muffin! Ryan and Mackenzie sound stupid every time they open their mouth. It doesn’t seem like they genuinely care for Bentley’s wellbeing but more so like they just want to use the opportunity to shit on Maci. Which is hard to do with Ryan’s bulging eyes that make me question whether his drug addiction is truly in his past.
    Bubby is just as nuts as Amby. And their relationship has always struck me as creepy. The way Amber paws all over him is weird. Catelynn and Ty really don’t need to have more kids simply because they want a boy. It already seems like they ignore Nova for the most part because Vadea is newer and shinier to them. They seem to have a hard time staying focused on anything for very long. I’d have a hard time staying focused on anything to do with this stupid show if it wasn’t for these hilarious recaps!


    1. Lets just see how driven and motivated Maci is gonna be when Teen Mom is cancelled and,she has tongry an actual job. I hopes she has a boss that treats her just like she is treating Bentley.


    2. Bubby is just as dense as his sister. Is he finally admitting how much of a crazy violent psycho his sister and family is bringing up the “Portwood Way” and pine boxes. The whole family is really disgusting.


    3. Also she is cutting out even water. WATER! That has no calories and is actually healthy for you. And is vital especially in hotter days. What does she want, him faint of dehydration in the summer because he isn’t aloud to drink enough water too?! And she’s talking about this while chugging a beer. Classic Maci. Stop being a hypocrite.


      1. And she’s here in Tennessee like I am. It was 89 today…and this bitch is cutting WATER?!


  7. Mackenzie and Ryan have some nerve discussing that Bentley shouldn’t have to worry about adult issues like managing his weight….ummm how about the stress of having a HEROIN ADDICT FATHER who has been to jail a few times?!?! How do they sit there and seriously criticize ANYTHING Maci does?! They are such an embarrassment. Bentley is more mature than both of them combined.


    1. This show is so WRONG in every way. I feel they enable the addict, Ryan, and the domestic abuser, Amber. The storylines are so lame anyhow. Please cancel it and force these spoiled brats to get real jobs!


  8. Did you hear where Mackenzie had to put a diaper on her youngest? He’s like 3 or something. Pull up – maybe I could understand but not a diaper.


  9. Why do people act like feeding a child in a healthy manner for something HE wants is child abuse?


    1. Speaking from experiance as a foster parent IT IS ABUSE! A child his age should be ingesting around 2000 calories a day. He’s getting 1000. That puts the body in starvation mode and actually can make losing weight HARDER. It CAN stunt his growth and make puberty hell. That’s NOT healthy AT ALL. I worry that you think it is. The medical community would disagree with what you call healthy. She’s in Tennessee and she might end up getting a visit from CPS after this. I had temporary care of child that was pushed too hard in sports and dieted like this. Two months later the dust cleared and the boy went to his grandma. His parents were given supervised visits and lost any say in health or sports team decisions. This was in Tennessee. Maci has opened a big can worms.


  10. WWF is the world wildlife fund, WWE is wrestling. It added to the comedy of the recap (which I always enjoy reading and laughing over).


    1. Fun fact: the WWE was known as the WWF (World Wrestling Foundation) until 2002. However, unless it has edited this since your comment, I’m seeing WWE in the article.


      1. @Photo Captions— I think I just showed my age because I KNEW it was once WWF!!! But yes, I changed it to WWE following that comment so that more people understood what I was trying to say! -The Ashley


  11. Ryan and Mackenzie are the absolute worst. Ryan is a 12 year old in an adult’s body, raising FOUR children (including poor Hudson), and all he does to Bentley is talk down to him and confuse him. Mack Truck on the other hand, will never get any positive feedback from me. The whole situation on their shotgun wedding day with Ryan high out of his mind and her allowing it for so long is unforgivable. I wish she was never given a contract. She’s a disgusting opportunist.


    1. They have some nerve to criticize anyone. I thought they quit the show, why are they even there? I don’t watch anymore just read the recaps here when I have the chance.


    2. Ryan is a sperm donor.
      He’s not really raising kiddos
      But he sure thinks he knows how
      🙃🙃🙃😆😆🤔🤔

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