‘Counting On’: 5 Times the Duggar Family Admitted to Staging the Show

‘Counting On’ — a spinoff of ’19 Kids and Counting' — follows the older Duggar kids as they make their way through life. Cameras follow members of the Duggar family as they court, marry, and start families. But it is not all real. Here are 5 times the Duggars have even admitted to staging scenes.

by Perry Carpenter

Published on April 13, 2021

3 min read

It’s no secret that Counting On is just like every other reality show on TV when it comes to authenticity. How much of the show is real and how much is fake?

According to the Duggars, they’ve staged scenes on multiple occasions. Here are five examples.

(L-R) Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar, Jill Duggar, and Jana Duggar, sisters from the Duggar family, providing Duggar news while on the set of 'Extra' — ‘Counting On’ stars Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar, Jill Duggar, and Jana Duggar visit ‘Extra’ | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra

5. ‘Counting On’ edits Josh Duggar out of family events

When Jinger Duggar married Jeremy Vuolo in November 2016, it was just one year after Josh Duggar’s molestation scandal. TLC cut ties with the oldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle at that time. And they refused to include him in future episodes of Counting On.

When Jinger and Jeremy were leaving their wedding, the camera crew had to reshoot the scene multiple times to make sure Josh couldn’t be seen. They tried filming with Jeremy driving the car. They also tried filming with an unknown man as the chauffeur. According to The Daily Mail, they also used phony sun glares to cut Josh out.

4. Josiah Duggar and Derick Dillard admitted scenes are scripted

Josiah and Joseph Duggar once sat down for an interview to discuss how Counting On has changed the Duggars’ lives. During the discussion, Josiah spilled some major tea about how they film the show.

“We walk through a door, okay, hey, we gotta walk through it again, we didn’t do it the first time,” Josiah explained.

Josiah’s brother-in-law Derick Dillard has also claimed on social media that the show is semi-scripted. He told a fan: “If you only know our family from a semi-scripted show, then you are either assuming things that aren’t there or believe that all you see is all there is.”

3. The ‘Counting On’ stars faked a charity donation

This one hurts. According to Radar Online, back when the Duggar’s reality show was known as 19 Kids & Counting, the family allegedly staged a scene at a food bank charity. An insider revealed that the scene featuring the Duggars carrying boxes of food into the donation center was shot three times.

The insider also claimed that producers coached the needy family who received the food about how to act in front of the cameras. But it gets worse. After they shot the scene where the Duggars put a box of food into the family’s car, something crazy happened when the cameras stopped rolling. The reality TV stars actually took the box of food back and put it in their own car.

2. Jinger’s proposal wasn’t a surprise

Jeremy surprised Jinger with a marriage proposal on a New York City rooftop during one episode of Counting On. But when the Duggars posted behind-the-scenes pics on the family blog, fans quickly noticed the tape on the floor.

There was a spot marked “V” and another marked “J.” Which made it clear that the proposal was scripted.

“Anyone else notice the J and V tape on the floor so they ‘hit the mark’ for filming,” one fan wrote in the comments. “Not sure I like a proposal that scripted. They would have rehearsed to hit the marks … how did she really not know?!?!???”

1. The ‘Counting On’ stars faked an entire scene

Once again, Jinger is caught up in the fakery. There was an episode of Counting On that featured her fixing up an old car and selling it to a man named Eric. But he later revealed online that the scene was completely scripted. Eric wrote on Facebook that a crew hired him to pretend to be interested in the car.