Needless to say, the youngest crew of Bates growing up still has a high school diploma to collect before suing the future mother and father of the child.
Like the oversized dagger brood, evangelical and conservative Christians embrace more philosophy when it comes to raising a family.
“We both came to the conclusion that we wanted to trust in God in how many children we had,” Gill explained in a 2011 Nightline interview. “But we didn’t really think we had 18 people. We thought maybe one or two, maybe three.”
Instead, they filled the 4,000-square-foot Tennessee home with an entire baseball roster, counting TLC’s hit series 19 kids, and featured an invitation camera to capture all the chaos.
“Every year, I just added another person, you know,” eldest son Zack Bates explained to Nightline, “it doesn’t feel unusual for me.”
Of course, now he and his young brothers are going out and multiplying. Ten years after the UP TV series wrapped up its 10th and final season, he and his relatives are still raising new Bates descendants.
Keep reading to meet their team.
