The Bates(es?) have a big announcement...

[Naga Viper]

I wonder what H.U.G.E. is being used as an acronym for... :D

Highly Unlikely Gestational Expectations?

[crassy]

Highly Unlikely Gestational Expectations?

You win a cookie!

[jesssnerch]

Woohoo! I predicted Nate and Erin (if I'm right, what do I win? Tater tot casserole? KKK memorabilia? A home made frumper?)

You get a wig shaped like Erin's glorious hair.

[Deleted07]

so did we ever find out what the announcement was?

[singsingsing]

so did we ever find out what the announcement was?

It'll be on the season finale tomorrow night. 9:30, I think.

[Esther]

Realistically, I think this will be a Duggar-style "big announcement" - i. e. something really lame and relatively unimportant.

On the other hand, I do think Kelly will have at least one more child. She's irritating and I wish these people would stop breeding, but she looks healthier than J'Chelle. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually made it to 20 (or 21) kids.

Not sure about a courtship, though I guess they might think selling off Princess Erin to the highest bidder would be good for the ratings. It might be, at that. I think the Duggars' show would have done better, ratings-wise, if they had shown some of the J-slaves courting. By this point, the Duggars are completely out of viable storylines - no babies, no courtships, And we all know those are the only "exciting" things that ever happen in QF-land.

[singsingsing]

The "very big announcement" line is gone from the episode description now. Now I want to watch the show, just to see if there IS anything. Was there something, and TLC edited it out at the last minute? Miscarriage? Another failed courtship/engagement? Too bad for the Bates, because that "big announcement" was probably the only thing that would give them a snowball's chance in hell of getting another season. I guess we'll see.

[luckystone]

It's the Season finale? Didn't they only debut a month ago?

[Pretzel]

They only agreed to filming 8 episodes in the first place, so the timing for the finale should be correct. I guess the pseudo-fame and tha moneyzz will change their opinion soon. I only hope they do something worthy with it, like paying back their second oldest son for buying groceries the past few years.

[Deleted07]

I'm thinking the big announcement may have been Sarah and Zack getting engaged, but that didn't happen... But you never know... How old is Jeb? Maybe # 20 on the way? or is it 21? I can't keep up!!!!

[pixydust]

Oh shit, those are from 4 years ago. Nate's 26! (reminds self to check dates of posts when figuring out ages from now on). :oops:

At any rate, 26 is a nice, marriageable age for a ATI guy. He could just well snag the Princess and if not THAT Princess, possibly Jana Duggar, who wasn't looking like the walking dead for a change on the Today Show last week (then again, she'd just returned from indoctrination camp so the cultish perma-smile may just now be wearing off).

Ok, somehow I missed out on Tabitha completely! Sorry! I really wish that these damn QFers would update their kids bios.....no one has too many kids to, on the birthdays, pop over to the blog and update an age!

[Pretzel]

They filmed those episodes around Jeb's birth therefore I assume that #20 is rather unlikely.

[Minerva]

I'm thinking the big announcement may have been Sarah and Zack getting engaged, but that didn't happen... But you never know... How old is Jeb? Maybe # 20 on the way? or is it 21? I can't keep up!!!!

Yeah, maybe TLC was just slow editing it.

[sassycupcake]

They filmed those episodes around Jeb's birth therefore I assume that #20 is rather unlikely.

TLC has never shown any hesitance with sloppily splicing footage filmed months apart with the Duggars. They do it with STFU Internets moments, damage control (gun-pic-gate and squirrel stew, anyone?), and breeding announcements all the time.

[NJMom]

Their family page announced a couple of days ago that along with Erin, Tori, Nathan, and Alyssa are also going to Crown College. I believe the girls are majoring in music, like Erin, but I'm not sure about Nathan..didn't he want to be a minister? If so, I'm pretty sure that college has the coursework necessary for that degree.

[marmalade]

The "very big announcement" line is gone from the episode description now. Now I want to watch the show, just to see if there IS anything. Was there something, and TLC edited it out at the last minute? Miscarriage? Another failed courtship/engagement? Too bad for the Bates, because that "big announcement" was probably the only thing that would give them a snowball's chance in hell of getting another season. I guess we'll see.

The "big announcement" is still a part of the episode description on my guide as of 5 minutes ago. I don't think they really distinguish between good and bad as most "normal" people do, so it could well just be announcing the break up of Zach's relationship. Remember, they taped the Bateses' show from Feb - approximately April. So, unless the crew came back and taped something over the summer, I still lean toward the "sad" type of "big" announcement, since in their world, a broken courtship IS big news.

I haven't seen a pic of Kelly of late though, so it may well be her (please no). They wore those getups that they're wearing on the website so they've had them since spring and Kelly fit into that fitted short sleeved jacket-blouse then (and whenever they did the formal pictures for the website). I hope Erin found a nice IFB fundie at Clown College and she is saddled with 7 kids in 9 years (like Esther Shrader), with no time to attend to her music or her hair until her oldest slave daughters are old enough to start doing chores for her. She's totally a fundie version of Michelle Duggar when Boob "landed" her.

eta: DWOP leghumper SuzanneDeAZ has just appeared as a noob on TWOP. She took on p8712's post about interracial dating at fundie colleges and as usual was a total bitch about it. I can't wait until she gets her comeuppance there. Leghumpers have found it a hostile place for their insipid fawning.

[eeemkaaayy]

Their family page announced a couple of days ago that along with Erin, Tori, Nathan, and Alyssa are also going to Crown College. I believe the girls are majoring in music, like Erin, but I'm not sure about Nathan..didn't he want to be a minister? If so, I'm pretty sure that college has the coursework necessary for that degree.

I'm seconding this one; I'm a little disappointed that all the girls are doing music. I was hoping one would be a rebel ;) I wouldn't be surprised if it's a courtship though.

[marmalade]

I'm seconding this one; I'm a little disappointed that all the girls are doing music. I was hoping one would be a rebel ;) I wouldn't be surprised if it's a courtship though.

I dug up Clown's admission requirements and it appears that if you have a GED, you have to be 18 to enroll. Last time I checked, Tori and Alyssa were underage. I wonder if mention on the show was enough for Clown to bend the rules for the girls because they certainly don't have traditional high school diplomas (in which case they could have registered without me questioning this).

http://thecrowncollege.com/admissions_requirements/

I guess this is what an unaccredited "college" can do; no oversight, rules broken to accommodate a "famous" local family to boost enrollment.

[bettertomarry]

I dug up Clown's admission requirements and it appears that if you have a GED, you have to be 18 to enroll. Last time I checked, Tori and Alyssa were underage. I wonder if mention on the show was enough for Clown to bend the rules for the girls because they certainly don't have traditional high school diplomas (in which case they could have registered without me questioning this).

http://thecrowncollege.com/admissions_requirements/

I guess this is what an unaccredited "college" can do; no oversight, rules broken to accommodate a "famous" local family to boost enrollment.

I think they're considering homeschool to be separate from a GED and if you have some sort of high school degree or equivalency, you only have to be 16.

[marmalade]

I thought the only equivalency for extreme Christian homeschoolers that did not affiliate with a school district in any way WAS a GED. Correct me if I'm wrong. IIRC, the older Duggar kids got GED's. Not sure about what Jinger and Joseph got in order to "graduate," or what College Minus requires (other than cash or endorsements) to enroll to do CLEP testing.

I remember someone looking up Arkansas' homeschooling requirements and they were pretty lax. I expect TN to be even moreso.

[eeemkaaayy]

I dug up Clown's admission requirements and it appears that if you have a GED, you have to be 18 to enroll. Last time I checked, Tori and Alyssa were underage. I wonder if mention on the show was enough for Clown to bend the rules for the girls because they certainly don't have traditional high school diplomas (in which case they could have registered without me questioning this).

http://thecrowncollege.com/admissions_requirements/

I guess this is what an unaccredited "college" can do; no oversight, rules broken to accommodate a "famous" local family to boost enrollment.

Wow, I just browsed their website. If this college every becomes accredited, I'll become a fundie. Even with their 'celebrity' status, I doubt enrollment would ever boost. Do we know know what diploma the Bates children have/are working to? I don't remember if they do what the Duggars do or not.

[MaroonMandy]

So the big announcement is they're getting chickens?

[sassyNoz47]

no the big announcement is in the 2nd episode of the night, chickens is first episode

[Maude]

So the big announcement is they're getting chickens?

I don't think so. My TV listings say the announcement happens in the second half hour, when they visit the Paine family.

ETA: Oops. Sassy beat me to it!

[MaroonMandy]

I don't think so. My TV listings say the announcement happens in the second half hour, when they visit the Paine family.

ETA: Oops. Sassy beat me to it!

Ah, thanks. My online guide is down so I wasn't sure. I also wouldn't put it past TLC to count chickens as a "family addition."