Breaking Amish Season One Episode 11 The Shunning Truth Part One Recap
November 12, 2012 by Hollywoodite
The first part of the Breaking Amish reunion special, The Shunning Truth, aired after the season finale. In this instance, TLC’s Breaking Amish requires a two-part two-hour explanation because it’s mostly been contrived for ratings (admittedly, like all shows of its ilk).
Here are some highlights from part one of the reunion (which in some instances acts as their revised cast bios).
* Rebecca Byler: Asked whether her life is better or worse for TLC ameliorating her back story, Byler says fans have been judgmental. Moreover, viewers feel they have the right to judge her life. Asked about her relationship with Abe Schmucker while in New York City, Byler admits they slept in the same bed during filming (and, presumably, had premarital sex the whole shoot). Insisting the scenes where she returned to an empty house were real, even though it was allegedly an empty house staged for filming with actors playing some of her family members, Byler says she now talks to her grandparents every few weeks although she’s mostly shunned.
* Abe Schmucker: Schmucker defended his incessant use of the word “skanks” and expounded that he made those assumptions based on NYC women’s clothing. Schmucker thought Raber was “cocky” at first and they didn’t like each other in the beginning. Schmucker says his mother was shunned for two-months for allowing herself to be filmed but they’re talking again (she’s supposed to be keeping her distance in order to be accepted again by her church). At some point, with more to come in part two, Schmucker is asked a question he doesn’t like and he angrily walks off-stage.
* Jeremiah Raber: He was touchy after being asked to remove his gum. Raber says he found it easy to live in NYC. Although that’s probably because he’s been out of the Amish for 14-years and he’s been faking leaving for the show. Moreover, “leaving” a fake girlfriend who appears to be an ex-Amish girl hired by the show and “leaving” a community he hasn’t been part of since he was 18-years-old (he’s now 32). And he drank, as much as Kate Stoltzfus, although Raber says it’s okay for him because he can hold his liquor. The “skank” conversation pertained to Raber too, who apologised, sort of: “I didn’t meet any skanks in New York City. Now I did meet a lot of chicks and I did meet chicks that acted like sluts. I called some chicks sluts (including my roommates) that I shouldn’t have and I regretted it and I apologized for it.” Raber also says he thought Schmucker was a “dork” at first. And he no longer has feelings for friend Sabrina Burkholder.
* Kate Stoltzfus: She blamed her drinking on peer-pressure. Which would explain her D.U.I. but not why she hasn’t learned from it. She appears to be somewhat estranged from her family, they’re no longer close, although she’s not entirely shunned. Stoltzfus also says she didn’t like Byler at first.
* Sabrina Burkholder (née High): Says everything’s changed since the show aired because people know who they are and it’s stressful. She hated NYC and admitted she was probably wrong about the flipcam incident. Burkholder admitted she was cruel about Byler’s dentures because of comments Byler made about Burkholder’s eating habits (Burkholder used to weigh over 200 pounds and developed an eating disorder, anorexia, thereafter). Burkholder also admitted hooking-up with Raber about which he said “If the world wants to know… we did it and we enjoyed it, okay?” Although Burkholder’s account sounded more like drunken or other non-consenting date-rape. She explained “And I made you stop… I did. And he knows it. I was drunk both times. We were both trashed and started messing around. He sticks it in and I was like, ‘No!’ Well, everybody’s been asking, and he just stuck it in and I make him take it out. I don’t consider that actually doing it.” She continues, Raber is now only a friend and sort of like a brother.