The COVID-19 pandemic made the Busby Family, stars of TLC’s OutDaughtered, rethink their reality TV stardom and led parents Adam and Danielle to make the decision to walk away from the show that features their lives as parents to six daughters.
While Adam and Danielle and their daughters— pre-teen Blayke, and eight-year-old quintuplets Olivia, Hazel, Riley, Parker and Ava— eventually went back to the show to do another season (which premieres later this month), it was not a decision they took lightly.
In a new interview with Today, Adam and Danielle talked about their decision to restart with the show after a long absence away from the cameras.
“It just started to weigh on the kids, and us. You could feel it in the room,” Adam said of filming for the show during the pandemic. “So we were like, ‘Man, let’s take a break. Let’s take a breather.’”
“We just kind of had to reassess, like, ‘What are we doing?’” Danielle added.
The season filmed during COVID aired its last episode in May 2021. After filming that season, Adam and Danielle reevaluated what they wanted for their family.
“Honestly, it wasn’t just TV, we said no to a lot of things. We said no to a lot of projects– very lucrative projects that we could have stepped into– business opportunities that we had, and we said no to it all, and we just wanted a time of rest,” Adam said in a video the couple posted to their It’s a Buzz World YouTube channel in early June following TLC’s announcement that their show would be returning July 11.
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One venture they did say yes to during what this time was opening a brick-and-mortar storefront for Danielle’s Graeson Bee clothing boutique. The store recently celebrated its first anniversary and is going to be featured heavily in the upcoming season of ‘OutDaughtered.’
“It’s just opening up a whole new set of dynamics with now opening up a local store in Graeson Bee where Danielle’s going to be at a lot,” Adam said in the video. “I mean she’s the face of the store so she’s going to be there a lot, which changes the dynamic of our home as well.
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The couple has stated that they weren’t sure if they wanted to return to TV. They credit interactions with neighbors and strangers, as well as their Christian faith, with encouraging them to get their family back on TV.
“We were like… ‘we’re not going to seek it out, the next time [the network calls], we’ll hear them out, hear what they have to say,’ and this time around it was literally two days later…” Adam said in the video. “…it was a lot more serious call, like, ‘We really want you all to come back.’
“So that’s what really got us talking and, obviously, negotiating because, at that point, like contracts and everything was expired just because we didn’t think we were going to go back and we didn’t think we were going to need to renew anything. But it lead to where we are now.”
As part of the Busbys’ new deal with TLC, Adam and Danielle are now executive producers of ‘OutDaughtered.’ These new positions will give them more say in the creative direction of the show, they stated.
Even with this new role on the show, the parents still had some concerns about getting their family back in front of the cameras.
“I think that there was some anxiety in the, ‘OK, are we going to go back to this being the life again, we’ve had this time off, we’ve found a new direction and just, like, replenished our souls?’” Danielle said in the YouTube video.
She shared similar concerns in an early June Instagram post announcing the show’s return.
“I really am still shocked at the journey God places our family on,” she posted. “When we thought we were done filming ‘OutDaughtered’ years ago…here we are again with a new season airing July 11th. I have to say, this decision was not easy for me…to go back into production BUT you know what I have learned in this life ? *We can’t CONTROL GOD’s plan for our life**”
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Following their break, the Busbys have a new excitement for their show and what it means to viewers.
“Our job as a family, as the Busby family, is to go out and put something out there that is entertaining, that families can sit down and watch together, and it brings joy to their homes,” Adam said in the YouTube video.
The new season of ‘Outdaughtered’ premieres Tuesday, July 11 on TLC.
You can watch Danielle and Adam’s recent YouTube video below!
RELATED STORY: TLC Announces the Return of ‘OutDaughtered’: Catch Up With the Busby Family & Watch the Season 9 Trailer
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
The comments above are an example of why the Busbys got out of the reality tv business.
Love the Busbys! Finally a wholesome family on tv.
Surprised by God’s plan for our family… Translation: we have to reconsider our decision not to film anymore, because we missed the big paycheck. We didn’t want to come across as jerks who go back on their words, so we say it’s the fault of the big invisible puppeteer who controls everything.
“And, this time, god made sure we also got that executive producer
moneytitle AND ensured we’d get all that free advertising for our store. God IS good.”It’s totally god’s will and not at all the impending writers’ strike that serendipitously led producers to call them, and anyone else who’d ever been on and left reality TV and might just need some more cash and perks to draw them back, at that time.
But good for them to have gotten themselves–er, I mean, for god to have placed them–into the position to be able to renegotiate how *they’d* be compensated for exploiting their kids on TV; otherwise, they’d just be appearing in a bonus season whatevernumber-B, like the notTeen Moms, but without the oversized salary to balance out the network shadiness for pulling that shit.
Being filmed is hard on their kids, especially when they are in school. School bullies and their moms like to torture these kids on reality shows. The moms because “Why should the Busbys make all that money, our family is just as good, etc.” and the kids because, just because.
One of the daughters, Parker seemed to have a big problem with the cameras. She would clam up. They were getting her therapy when she wasn’t even school-age. I think it was that big camera being shoved in her face that upset her. She objected.
….so comments like the one above are better left off this site. The Busbys have done NOTHING to you and you don’t have a right to try and hurt them.
Yup, god wanted y’all back on TV exploiting your children. Had absolutely nothing to do with the money. Yup, we believe you. How disgusting. These 2 are gross. Their kids are clearly unhappy.
LOL. You really spun out of control and hit the wall on that last sentence.