Amber de la Motte says her family was dumped by TLC, and that the network won’t be turning their special, Big Family Big City, into a regular series.
In a vlog posted to her family’s YouTube channel last week, Amber revealed that she wasn’t pleased with how the show— and her portrayal in particular— came across to viewers.
“We were on the TLC show ‘Big Family Big City.’ It didn’t go as I expected it to, honestly. I loved TLC from 2005. I remember watching the Duggars and the Bates…but reality TV has changed so, so, so much,” Amber said. “…if you’re just nobodies like us, something has to be a little dysfunctional or there needs to be some conflict.”
Amber stated that, in her opinion, that “conflict” came by making her appear like the family villain.
“I got the villain edit. If you look up the villain edit you’ll see,” she said. “…no shade on TLC, I understand— rage bait is the only way to get views.”
Amber explained that TLC made her look like a villain— in her opinion— because the network didn’t think viewers would want to watch a show about a nice family.
“I understand that TLC’s like, ‘Nobody’s going to watch some Christian conservative family make tater tot casserole anymore. We need to make this interesting,” she said.
“So, enter the villain edit. And it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” Amber said.
As The Ashley previously reported, Amber and her husband Marc received a lot of backlash after the special aired, with many fans taking issue with the fact that the couple makes their kids busk on the streets of New York to help out financially. Other fans were upset about some of the statements Amber made about how she would feel like a “failure” if her daughters decided to take on a career, rather than be wives and mothers.
@tlctv Amber’s daughters are talented musicians, but will they need to give up their career ambitions to become wives and mothers? Follow their journey on the new special #BigFamilyBigCity, ♬ original sound – tlc
Amber informed her fans that some of the things featured on the special weren’t exactly truthful, including her overreaction to her son Josiah‘s impending marriage.
“I wasn’t really so upset about Josiah getting married,” she said. “You know, as a Christian conservative, I believe that marital intimacy should only happen in marriage so it’s important to get married instead of giving into your passions. But at the same time I did tell him, ‘You know, it would be a really smart thing to have two years of law school under your belt.'”
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Amber admitted to being “a bit of a tiger mom” but stated that things with Josiah didn’t go down in real life as they were portrayed on ‘Big Family Big City.’
“What was portrayed was, you know, rage-bait, let’s be honest,” she said. “I don’t know why it always had to be me who was the bad guy.”
Amber mentioned that since the discovery of the horrors that former family influencer Ruby Franke had been subjecting her family to, TV producers think of mothers as “low-hanging fruit.”
“It’s easy to be like, ‘Obviously the mother is the problem!'” she said, adding that producers often asked her to say something a certain way so that they could edit the quote to fit the narrative they want.
“Then edits are like of an eyeroll or something from a different thing, not in response to what I said,” Amber stated. “So we’re basically actors playing ourselves. Yeah, that was a little contrived but that’s how the sausage is made nowadays. No one wants to see you make tator tot casserole. You know, you have to, like, add some spiciness.”
“A Christian conservative family just not breaking apart is uninteresting [to the TLC audience],” Amber added.
Despite getting booted by TLC, Amber hinted that her family may not be done with reality TV altogether. She mentioned that her pastor is working on a media company that’s Christian-oriented, which she said may have an audience that’s more willing to watch their family. She also made it seem like TLC passed on turning the De la Motte Family’s special into a full-on show, due to shows like The Baldwins and Baylen Out Loud getting better ratings.
“So they’re not going to make a series of our show, and on some level I was just relieved because…I thought people could see through the villain edit and be like, ‘Oh you know, this is acting.’ But a lot of people didn’t see it and so I’m like, ‘OK, people aren’t getting it,'” she said.
“I think it was not necessarily an inaccurate portrayal but it was an entertaining portrayal. And it was a rage-baity portrayal, but not too rage-baity,” Amber added.
Despite how unfairly she feels she was portrayed on the special, Amber said she doesn’t regret her decision to put her family on reality TV.
“I don’t necessarily think it was a mistake to do the TLC thing,” she said, revealing that she and her family had other show offers, including some from companies that wanted to do a show in a “documentary” style.
“That, in hindsight being 20/20, would have been a better fit for our family because then they wouldn’t have to, like, manufacture all the drama,” she said. “…I think it’s an experience the kids will never forget. I kind of would like to have not had the villain edit. But it’s OK, someone’s got to do it.”
You can watch Amber’s hour-long vlog below!
4 Responses
Nobody wants to see a couple of irresponsible fundies making their kids work because they had more than they could provide for. Get an actual job and stop complaining about reality TV
Rage-bait…that phrase, she uses it the way so many on reality tv use the word trauma, and it’s typically not even remotely applicable.
Here’s an idea, don’t be a villain, then no one will know you’re a villain. Nifty concept, but probably super hard to grasp and employ for people who live in their own little bubble and have zero understanding of actual reality.
Do better and be better, then go out and get an actual job so your kids don’t have to hustle to pay YOUR bills.
What a lunatic! She assumes people would watch the show and know she was acting and hamming it up for the cameras. Um, okay?!
Also, you’re still trying to get on another “reality show”. Lady, you desperately need attention (or money) and should get help for that. Maybe nobody wanted to watch your show because the audience could see through your sham values and got uncomfortable with your kids being the collateral damage.
She’s one of the main subjects on the subreddit FundieSnarkUncensored. She’s a monster. It wasn’t a bad edit.