When the Duggar family returned to television with Counting On, it was unclear if they would be able to find an audience.
Their first reality series was beloved by millions, but many of those fans turned their back on the family in response to the horrors of the Josh Duggar sex scandals.
The family’s new show has cobbled together decent enough ratings to remain on the air for three seasons, but it’s widely believed that many of the new viewers are “anti-fans” who “hate-watch” Counting On.
For the most part, we imagine that it’s all the same to the Duggars, so long as people are tuning in.
However, on several occasions, they’ve experienced the downside of their new anti-fan base:
These people are quick to pick up on and point out any and all deceptions or questionable behavior revealed on the series.
The latest has to do with Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard’s missionary work in Central America.
After ten months in El Salvador, Jill and Derick made a temporary return to Arkansas earlier this year, but they assured fans that they would be returning to Central America in due time.
Several months later, the couple is still in Arkansas and planning to spend the holidays at home with their families.
Which would be fine – were it not for the fact that they’re still collecting donations for their mission work.
Last week, Derick tweeted about being at the San Francisco airport on a layover en route to somewhere else.
The Facebook page Duggar Family News: Life is Not All Pickles and Hairspray pointed out that he doesn’t seem to be headed to Central America – and he seems to have no shortage of travel funds.
“The Dillards said they would be back in Central America by now. They lied,” wrote the page’s administrator.
“For some reason Derick flew to San Francisco on his way to somewhere else. I didn’t do great in geography but I’m pretty sure you don’t fly from Arkansas to San Francisco to get to Central America.”
The page added:
“He doesn’t think he needs to give his donors any information about how he spends their money. He’ll drop clues but he won’t come entirely clean.”
If the family issues any statement on this at all (big if), they’ll likely dismiss it as overly-concerned nit-picking from some obsessive fans.
But misappropriation of charitable donations is a huge deal, and while it may not prevent you from getting elected president, it cold signal the start of yet another Duggar scandal.
Watch Counting On online to remind yourself of just how much the family has swept under the rug in recent years,
