For months now, fans of the Duggar family have been expressing their concerns about Derick Dillard’s health.
There’s been no official word on what’s ailing Derick, but fans have noticed that the soon-to-be father of two appears to have lost a good deal of weight in a short amount of time, and often appears pale and tired.
At first, the Duggars refused to acknowledge the controversy, but while Jim Bob likes to exercise complete control over his family’s privacy, he likes ratings even more, so it looks like we’ll finally start getting the inside scoop on the curious case of Derick Dillard.
The first promos for the new season of Counting On hinted that Derick would confront his health problems after a series of scary incidents.
The preview shows Derick vomiting while running, an episode that appears to have resulted in an emergency visit to the doctor.
“It feels great to be home and run like I used to,” Derick tells the camera at one point, “but it is difficult sometimes.”
Jill is seen explaining that physical exertion makes her husband “gaggy.”
The strange symptom, coupled with Derick’s rapid and unexplained weight loss, has left fans worried.
Adding to the problem is the fact that Derick’s appearance has changed not only as a result of his weight loss, but also because of extensive oral surgery.
In late 2015, Derick had several bones in his face broken as part of an orthodontic procedure.
The 27-year-old has been wearing braces ever since.
Amidst all of these changes, the Dillards spent several months in El Salvador, performing missionary work in one of the Central American nation’s poorer sectors.
So it’s possible that a series of major life changes have simply manifested themselves in Derick’s appearance and there’s no one thing majorly wrong with the reality star and substitute teacher.
But whatever the case, you can be sure the Duggars will mine his health issues for ratings gold.
With no weddings on the horizon and Jill’s baby not due until July (Jessa’s is due next month) storylines were reportedly tough to come by during the latest round of filming, and fans’ interest in Derick’s health shows no signs of letting up.
Watch Counting On online to get caught up in time for this week’s episode.