Alaskan Bush People

The first two episodes were somewhat believable, but when daddy Brown was so ill and recuperated within hours, to find that the town's people he had just met came and completely built the cabin they filmed (for five grand, ha)...well it was just too much.

That's when I decided to do a search and found their official website. To say the least I was a bit surprised to find out they own their own publishing company, and that Billy Brown has written dozens of children's books and several others on his adventures (and to think I was suckered into feeling bad that his kid had a toothache).

This last episode that closes with them grieving over their capsized boat, while several of the boys are trying to poke inside of it with sticks to salvage anything they can find, including a poor, sopping wet pink teddy bear takes the cake. As they close the episode the patriarch of the family announces "we have lost everything we own" and "now we are homeless". It made me question why anyone would chose to live like they do.

Now I know why. THEY DON'T. They have a mountain home with a greenhouse, and each of the seven kids has their own bedroom, the mother is getting ready to publish her cookbook.

And they bartered some salmon for a tooth filling? They lost everything they own? The brand new generator that was sitting in the junk yard pretty much gave it away.

Like I said, I feel like a sap.

I am a 4th generation Alaskan out of the Southeast, that grew up in a remote logging camp. I've logged, commercial fished, and worked jobs all over the state. I have even actually seen the Brown Family in local communities. First off, this show is completely staged. I get that many Americans respect and admire their way of living but this is completely fake. Do people in Alaska live successfully in the bush?... Yes, I grew up doing it. Currently, the Brown family is all over local Alaskan news because they are wanted for Perma Fund Fraud (Collecting State Resident Benefits) when in fact they are not officially state residents. Yet, court dates have been pushed back due to the power of the Discovery Channel and the media. Last I heard they are set for court in July on Felony charges. I know the Browns were living in a cabin in Craig during part of season 1 according to the local community/family friends out there and filming episodes in the bush temporarily. I know the also resided in Myers Chuck before being kicked out. This leads to where they now. Among the Alaskan community they have little respect. After all the they tried to barter fish with my local dentist who claimed the show was fake. To state it simply for those Alaskans out there... who sets crab pots in Alaska without knowing the proper depths and sinks their own pots?? And then goes out at dusk to pull them... later to be rescued. Seems idiotic, clueless, and staged. This is a money hole show that is allowing this family to thrive.

This show, while it may be staged, is uber cringey and horrifyingly entertaining; much like a train wreck.

They leave all of their idiotic, uninformed, asinign decisions/choices up to "The Good Lord" and take absolutely no personal responsibility (because the "Good Lord will take care of us") Then they make up ridiculous excuses for every single thing that fails (ie: everything.) They seem to be immune to learning from their mistakes which they make over and over again, often in the exact same way) yet they have gigantic egos and would die before they'd admit they were wrong.

At every opportunity the parents proclaim that they live this way in order to be free yet they've created an unhealthy codependent demi-cult out of their kids who have absolutely zero freedom. Can you say Stockholm Syndrome?

None of them have the ability to survive in the real world or to live independently- isn't that the antithesis of freedom?

Adults playing with dolls? A grown man acting like a hyperactive four-year-old? Declaring that you are the modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci?

Billy and Ami are so excited to finally have grandchildren. They must have forgotten that they already had two grand daughters from Twila, the daughter Billy abandoned before marrying Ami. Billy was supremely selfish in all that he did while consistently claiming it was all for the family. He groomed under-aged Ami for brainwashing and raised their children the same way.

To be fair, never once do they claim to be year-round "bush people" so I don't have a problem with that as some do. Another plus is they produced some of the best quotes I've heard on any tv show: Mr. Cupcake, get out of my teepee! (But don't even get me started on how horribly trained that dog is.) And: (Bear) I don't mind leaving all my weapons because I AM a weapon! (Gabe responds) No, you're more of a tool.

Yeah, Gabe. Astute as always. (Look it up.) Oh, and great drinking game potential: drink every time Bear days Extreme, or every time Billy says I really am, or every time Bam is negative or every time someone says the good lord or every time their hair-brained psudo-plans go off the rails or every time they mispronounce a basic word or use a long, drawn out nasal Uhhhh as a sentence filler. (Warning: the above suggestions will definitely result in alcohol poisoning.) PLEASE BIRD- GET THEE TO A DENTIST! If Gabe deserves braces, so do you. Your parents both have full dentures but there's still hope for you.

After seeing how socially incompetent they are, I also understand if some of it was staged with the "townies." Normal people would need to be forewarned about these people so they wouldn't just run away upon meeting those boys.

Ugh, the wives. They are just overbearing enough to make the boys feel like they're marrying their mother (or their sister,) but whatever. You do you.

I've wondered how they'd do on an actual survival show such as Alone (Jordan rules.) I doubt any of them would make it a single day. It would be more interesting, maybe, to see them try to live in the real world but without the "wolfpack." I think the youngest daughter, Rain, is the only one with any potential.

If any of them escape to live a truly free life it's going to require years of therapy. Shame on Billy and Ami and shame on Discovery. Exploit idiots much?

I watched a little of this show. I know some people claim it's fake, but I would be far more concerned if it was real. The kids have speech defects. They don't appear to have social connections outside the family. Some of the children are old enough to be married. The whole thing seems like a desperate attempt to control one's children and keep them at home. It looks like a cult. Is this really legal?

Phony show written about ficticious family living off the land in Alaska. It took me two years to convince a friend that this show was totally scripted. This family has not owned land in Alaska and when not filming live in the lower 48. This got them in trouble with the State of Alaska when it was determined they took advantage of a state program that is only available to full time residents. Crooks they are.