Like son, like father?
About two years after Jacob Roloff walked away from Little People, Big World because he said the show was scripted and his relatives made out to be people they were not…
… Matt Roloff has echoed this sentiment.
Returning to social media after a brief hiatus late last week, the family patriarch engaged a bit with fans on Facebook.
With a new season of Little People, Big World set to (finally!) premiere on April 3, Roloff responded to a complaint on his official account that referenced his ex-wife, Amy, and how recent scenes between the two have been filled with “stress” and “tension.”
This individual said such moments were unpleasant to watch.
And not only did Matt agree, he blamed producers for artificially creating such scenes, implying that if this continues, he and his loved ones will quit the series.
Yikes!
“I totally agree [with your assessment],” Matt responded, continuing as follows:
“We’ve been pushing the new producers to stop making our show negative and keep the family love and togetherness in the forefront.
“For some reason, these new producers/editors that come in to work…don’t know the show and want to amplify the negative…
“I’m not sure we (the Roloff family) can take that kinda of editing much longer. Errrrr.”
Whoa there!
That’s quite the statement.
We’ve been writing for several weeks that social media users often go after either Matt or Amy on a regular basis.
Even through this couple divorced way back in May of 2016 and have both happily moved on with new significant others, many fans simply can’t accept this scenario.
It’s not surprising, therefore, that producers may have picked up on this reaction and used the manufactured feud as a way to sell new episodes of the show.
In a clip from the season, for example, we see Matt and Amy arguing over family farm issues.
(You can watch the complete new season preview above.)
Amy, conversely, has also taken to Instagram in anticipation of upcoming episodes.
But she isn’t blasting anyone behind the scenes of them.
She’s expressing extreme excitement over what lies ahead.
“Woohoo! It’s here. LPBW new episodes,” Amy wrote as a caption to a photo of the Roloff farm, adding:
“What a season it will be – life being new parents, managing life after divorce and relationships, Farm, learning to work together and always a family.
“Yep there’ll be some moments but always in telling a story. So hope you’ll be watching NEW episodes of #LPBW, premiering on @TLC Tuesday, April 3rd at 9/8c!
“You can catch up on past seasons now on TLC.com/LPBW! You’re awesome! Thanks for all the years of support and encouragement. Couldn’t do this without you.”
It is expected that these new episodes will focus primarily on Zach and Tori Roloff raising son Jackson, along with Audrey and Jeremy Roloff preparing to welcome daughter Ember, who arrived in September.
But Amy does also cite “life after divorce” and “relationships” in her own tease for the show.
She has been dating Chris Marek for about a year now and Matt has been with Caryn Chandler, the former farm manager.
For those unfamiliar with Jacob’s rant from July of 2016, Matt and Amy’s youngest son said at the time that he had enough of filming Little People, Big World.
He said he simply could not handle the phoniness.
“For the sake of ‘the episode’ and ratings I’ve seen a lot of STORYLINES drawn up (loosely) about our lives,” he said that summer.
Jacob continued, holding nothing back:
“And when I was standing here, behind the scenes and watching it from an outside perspective I just couldn’t stop laughing.
“Laughing at how hard the producers have to try to get us to follow the talking points, and at how ridiculous the talking points are.
“The family that is filmed is not my family.
“They are the Roloff Characters and I have scarcely anything in common with them, nor do I want to be a character myself.”
According to Matt, not much has changed.
But will he and others actually follow Jacob’s lead and leave the show?
Stay tuned to find out.