TLC Admits Breaking Amish Is Fake: “Some Of The Claims Are True… They Will Be Addressed”
September 24, 2012 by Hollywoodite
TLC’s Breaking Amish has been airing to a consistent (close to) 3 million viewers for its debut and second episode. And in only two episodes, it’s become painfully apparent that the cast are not what or whom they purport to be. And TLC has been caught in a lie.
TLC issued a statement saying this weekend saying: “There is a lot of information floating around about the group featured on Breaking Amish. Much of it is not true, but some of it is… and is addressed in upcoming episodes.”
Executive producer Shannon Evangelista previously told Today Show ahead of the premiere: “First of all, we were down in Lancaster County for over a year and a half doing research. We had an Amish and Mennonite producer that reached out to our cast and knew them personally. Each and every person on the show had already planned on leaving. It was something that was important to them. So we just made it possible for them to do that with a safety net and with others that felt the same.”
Eric Evangelista, also an executive producer on the show, said at the time: “You have to be very respectful of everybody. You have to go in with a small crew, similar to a news crew and really be respectful of the area and the beliefs of the people we’re filming.”
The production company, Hot Snakes Media, previously said in a statement: “Everyone’s relationship with their family is different, each of the stories on the show are personal. We never say they would be permanently shunned on the show, and the Mennonites do not practice shunning the way the Amish do anyway. But that doesn’t mean that their families do not strongly disagree with the decisions they are making or that their relationships with their families will ever be the same. The cast can always go back and recommit to the church if they do their penance and go through the process, but they all say that it’s their families that will be very unhappy with their decisions. They’ve all said it will never be the same though, with their families and their respective communities.”
As of this week, Hot Snakes Media is standing behind the authenticity of its show, telling Variety: “Our Amish and Mennonite producers that we hired introduced us to Amish and Mennonite men and women who were already determined to leave. They had already made the decision to go out and see the world, with or without us. They courageously allowed us to follow them on this journey.”
The production company bills Breaking Amish as “following the lives of courageous young Amish men and women as they experience life, for the first time, outside of the Amish community.”
TLC, however, tells Variety it will no longer advertise the Breaking Amish “cast as leaving the community for the first time [because] the members have all chosen to leave before the show.”
An old TLC synopsis said: “It’s a show about four Amish and one Mennonite, breaking away from their faith and traveling to New York City for the first time. By the end, they’ll be forced to decide whether to return home or start a new life. ” The synopsis has been revised to say: “Breaking Amish offers an unprecedented look into a rarely seen world, following four Amish people and one Mennonite as they forgo horses and buggies for New York City’s taxis and subways.”