If you are a regular viewer of TLC’s hit show “19 Kids and Counting,” then you know Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are not the only parents in America juggling life with a controversially high number of biological children.
Gil and Kelly Bates have guest starred on the Duggar’s show many times, but that may be changing very soon.
The couple from Lake City, Tennessee, now has 19 kids of their own, plus… a new TV special.
All together now: “It was just a matter of time!”
New baby = new show.
You had to see that coming.
According to PEOPLE magazine, the Bates just welcomed their 19th child on February 1st. Mom Kelly delivered son number 9, Jeb Colton. He reportedly weighed in at 7 lbs., 8 oz. and is set to make his TV debut during an hour-long special airing March 27th on TLC.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the supersized family, 47-year-old Gil and 45-year-old Kelly are parents to Zach, 23; Michaella, 22; Erin, 20; Lawson, 19; Nathan, 18; Alyssa, 17; Tori,16; Trace, 15; Carlin, 13; Josie, 12; Katie, 11; Jackson, 9; Warden, 8; Isaiah, 7; Addallee, 5; Ellie, 4; Callie, 2; Judson, 1, plus newborn Jeb.
The entire clan lives in the same home, which incidentally, the Duggar family helped build. But the Bates/Duggar connections don’t stop there. Both fertile families are devout Baptists, who believe God is in charge of how many children they will bring into the world.
Interestingly, though, while they have the same number of children, Kelly Bates has been pregnant more times than Michelle Duggar (who miscarried her 20th child two months ago). That’s because the Duggars have two sets of twins while the Bates have none.
In addition, both families have children named Jackson and Josie… because if you are going to have the same number of children, it’s just cool to share the same names too.
Like the Duggars, the Bates live a debt-free life and stand to profit from their new TLC special, which may or may not segue into a spin-off of “19 Kids and Counting.”
Of course, if Kelly Bates goes on to spawn another child before Michelle Duggar, it might prove to be quite a quandary for the folks at TLC.
Personally, I think they should join the two families and create an entirely new show called “38 Kids, But Who’s Counting?”
Will you be watching the Bates’s new show?