'The Bates Get Candid' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "The Bates Get Candid"

• Small groups of Bates family members sit down with executive producer Matt Hightower to talk about what it’s like to film Bringing Up Bates.
• Gil and Kelly go first. “If we watch a show…Gil’s usually in tears,” says Kelly. “It really is tender because we realize now more than ever with five kids married that our kids are growing up fast, and there’s going to be a day, even though it’s hard to picture, that we’re sitting in an empty house.”
• “I don’t know if the house will ever be empty because I don’t think we can ever get the boys married off,” adds Gil, jokingly.
• “When I’m having a gloomy day, I want to call one of the kids or just talk to somebody, and it just kind of cheers you up to know that somebody’s just thinking of you or going through the same thing,” says Kelly. “And I think that was the goal for this show. It certainly wasn’t because we had it all together, by any means, because we don’t. It was just to say, ‘Hey, we’re going through some trials, some lessons, some growing pains, as well.’ And maybe it will encourage some other families to just stick it out.”
• What’s Gil and Kelly's secret to having a close-knit family? Praying together, playing together, and laughing together. “Laughter is a big part of our house,” says Gil. “I’ve got some really unusual laughers, some loud laughers, but we do a lot of laughing.”
• Next, Zach and Whitney, Erin and Chad, and Tori and Bobby come on set. What’s it like to have small children who have been on reality TV for their entire lives?
• “Carson, I think he still freezes up, even though he’s used to it like three days a week,” admits Erin. “He doesn’t quite act himself yet.”
• “Kaci, I don’t know what she thinks about it, but she just stands behind the cameras,” says Whitney.
• The last interview is with Lawson, Carlin, Josie, and Katie. Matt asks them what it has been like to live life in front of a camera.
• “Not growing up with a camera in my face when I was really little made it a harder adjustment, but little guys like Jeb and Jud and Callie…I think sometimes they may be just a little too loose on camera,” shares Lawson.
• Do the Bates watch all the episodes? The older kids admit that they don't, saying they would be too critical of themselves. Kelly approves them, and she sometimes gives the children who are featured in a particular episode a heads up so they can watch it. 
• When asked when she expects to get married, Carlin answers, “Definitely within the next year.”
• And the million dollar question: Which Bates is Matt’s favorite? “I love you guys, all of you,” says the executive producer. The Bates and their crew say they have become family.