Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[Julia]

Didn't she register for an awful lot of chain restaurant gift cards? If you're not paying for your Olive Garden meal, it's cheaper than peanut butter. And I suspect at least some of those were sponsored tweets.

[JenCarroll]

I, for one, don't believe that these People covers are a big payday for Jessa and Jill. I used to work for People magazine -- a long time ago, I admit -- and they did not pay for content. People has a huge audience, and people want to be in the magazine to keep their names in the public eye. As other posters have suggested, they may pay for "exclusive content," like the first pictures of baby Izzy, but I doubt it. There are way too many B- and C-List celebrities who are desperate to reamin in the public eye for People to resort to paying an F-Lister like Jessa Duggar for pictures of her baby bump.

The whole PR paradigm has changed, though, and the chase now is often to be the exclusive provider of content. There are so many, many online and print mags competing for the same readers, and there's much more content available nowadays with everyone having digital cameras on them all the time. Being the only mag to have certain content matters enough that they may well be willing to pay for some things. I know I read that they paid for Bristol Palin's engagement announcement -- speaking of F-listers. And they've pushed the Duggars awfully hard, for something they have no financial stake in. That they're continuing to cover them in a positive light suggests to me that there may be an arrangement. I would guess they have some kind of contract with the family for X covers and Y exclusives per year. BUT, I doubt it's really a lot of money. The bigger payoff for the Duggars is, as you said, in keeping their names relevant to bring in other offers.

Of course, I don't know this for sure. I do have a background in PR but I've never worked for People or any of its competitors. So this is just my theory, for whatever it may be worth. :-)

[dillpickles]

Anyone else think that Jessa probably had to be physically restrained from beating the crap outta Joshie? I can just picture her flying across the room, nails like claws, screaming at Josh while Ben struggles to hold her back. JimBoob screaming to be heard over Jessa while Joshie forgets not to look smug for a moment. Michelle glued to Anna's side, in her ear about how she has to step it up for poor widdle Joshie. While Anna sits on the giant couch, glazed eyes, alternating between bouts of hysterics and staring off into no where. While the howlers screech and scream around Anna and the shit show with one of the older howlers cluelessly film it for the "Duggar channel". On a missionary far away, Jill feverishly prays for her family, Derrik gives thanks that now he won't have to take his wife & lil Izzy back to the shit show. All while in an ivory tower/old shoe in Pennsylvania, a cackling Kate Gosselin screams at her kids that "it's SHOW TIME!" as she speed dials TLC.

ok, I can see Jessa totally going off the deep end and screaming at Josh at the very least.

I can see Jessa leaking things for a payday. Shit, i wouldn't even blame her at this point.

[Churchhoney]

Didn't she register for an awful lot of chain restaurant gift cards? If you're not paying for your Olive Garden meal, it's cheaper than peanut butter. And I suspect at least some of those were sponsored tweets.

 

Yeah, she did register for a bunch of gift cards and certainly got some. But at one point I understood them to say that they were eating out maybe the majority of days with one 'date night' special eat-out meal a week. And that seemed to go on for months, at least. Surely she couldn't have gotten that many gift cards? And gift cards in such big denominations that they would buy two people more than a meal or two? You may have a better take on this than I do, but I read some things about their eating habits that made me think that they were making awfully heavy use of restaurants. And they never expressed it in terms of -- We splurged tonight! -- either! ... Maybe my own over-anxious-about-how-we'll-eat-two-years-from-now nature is getting the best of me here, though!

The whole PR paradigm has changed, though, and the chase now is often to be the exclusive provider of content. There are so many, many online and print mags competing for the same readers, and there's much more content available nowadays with everyone having digital cameras on them all the time. Being the only mag to have certain content matters enough that they may well be willing to pay for some things. I know I read that they paid for Bristol Palin's engagement announcement -- speaking of F-listers. And they've pushed the Duggars awfully hard, for something they have no financial stake in. That they're continuing to cover them in a positive light suggests to me that there may be an arrangement. I would guess they have some kind of contract with the family for X covers and Y exclusives per year. BUT, I doubt it's really a lot of money. The bigger payoff for the Duggars is, as you said, in keeping their names relevant to bring in other offers.

Of course, I don't know this for sure. I do have a background in PR but I've never worked for People or any of its competitors. So this is just my theory, for whatever it may be worth. :-)

 

Thanks for sharing your view. I'm fascinated by the whole question of the relationship between the Duggs and the various media outlets. If we ever get to the real facts, we'd not only learn a lot about our culture but about how much money Duggardom actually has and to what extent they're setting themselves up for grinding poverty five years from now!

[Julia]

I totally hear you on that. I have a survivalist/depression baby amount of food in my pantry, largely because I remember us living until payday on a huge pot of stone soup...

[Chicklet]

Jessa and her boytoy are going to experience some grinding poverty because the Bobster set her and the whole family up for poor financial management due to the spending spree they have been on since the TLC gig. Buy used and save the difference, pfft thats for losers unless someone thinks they are buying used macs and iphones. Living debt free was just a load of sound bites because they wanted to impress the masses with their specialness. Jessa learned nothing about living frugally.

When I see Johanna living in her own house on the compound I'll believe they had a plan and followed it.

[Julia]

I wonder how much of the swag they kept, though. I went looking for Jessa's registry on The Knot (lots of gift cards, she didn't get about 2/3 of them). She asked for some things she clearly had no place for, unless there's some regional custom I don't know about which would require four 45-piece flatware sets for a couple who only planned to use four place settings, two pizza stones, three sets of mixing bowls...

[NewDigs]

Maybe she's planning for a quiverfull

Or she returns stuff for the benjamins.

[Buggin]

I wonder if Bin has enrolled in school this fall to finish his education. Obtaining a Bachelor's degree now before they have too many kids would be the smart thing to do now that he gravy train has come to an end for now.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Buggin

[Almost 3000]

Maybe she's planning for a quiverfull

Or she returns stuff for the benjamins.

Oh, that could be read another way. Returning stuff for Benjamin because he doesn't seem to bring in many on his own.

[Defrauder]

I have a feeling that Fire and Binstone are going to be scrambling for ways to come up with some kind of reason for fans to donate to them and fund them.  A baby registry perhaps. Or maybe  they'll start a lottery of who can guess the baby's name and/or sex first - $1.00 to play, 50% of the cash to the winner.  They'll say it's a way for them to thank their fans and celebrate their new life with them.

[GeeGolly]

I have a feeling that Fire and Binstone are going to be scrambling for ways to come up with some kind of reason for fans to donate to them and fund them.  A baby registry perhaps. Or maybe  they'll start a lottery of who can guess the baby's name and/or sex first - $1.00 to play, 50% of the cash to the winner.  They'll say it's a way for them to thank their fans and celebrate their new life with them.

Or how about pay to name the baby. We could all pitch in and think of a wonderful name for the baby to grow into.

 

Edited to add that Fire & Binstone (love that) are, like another poster mentioned, too immature to know they're broke or what the cost of living really is.

Edited August 23, 2015 by GeeGolly

[Churchhoney]

I have a feeling that Fire and Binstone are going to be scrambling for ways to come up with some kind of reason for fans to donate to them and fund them.  A baby registry perhaps. Or maybe  they'll start a lottery of who can guess the baby's name and/or sex first - $1.00 to play, 50% of the cash to the winner.  They'll say it's a way for them to thank their fans and celebrate their new life with them.

 

Fire and Binstone. Perfect.

[Defrauder]

Or how about pay to name the baby. We could all pitch in and think of a wonderful name for the baby to grow into.

 

Edited to add that Fire & Binstone (love that) are, like another poster mentioned, too immature to know they're broke or what the cost of living really is.

Highest bidder gets to name the kid!  Bids start at $10.00. 

Fire and Binstone. Perfect.

It just suits them doesn't it.

[CarolMK]

I bet they still will get a People magazine story and some form of payment from them when their baby is born. There won't be a tv show about it but they'll probably also have a lot of their fans sending them baby gifts, too. 

I know I've said it before, but now with the gravy train over, I doubt Jessa will have more than 2 or 3 kids. 

[Churchhoney]

I bet they still will get a People magazine story and some form of payment from them when their baby is born. There won't be a tv show about it but they'll probably also have a lot of their fans sending them baby gifts, too. 

I know I've said it before, but now with the gravy train over, I doubt Jessa will have more than 2 or 3 kids. 

 

I kind of think that, too. Sure hope you're right. A nice manageable number that makes a family, not the population of a city bus in rush hour.

[Sew Sumi]

Well, I guess we know what they talked about in homechurch today. Keep on underlining, Fire (or is it Brimstone?). And keep on forgiving that unrepentant sinner in your midst and look like the doormat poor Anna is turning out to be. 

 

https://instagram.com/p/6u5WrwDfgc/?taken-by=jessaseewald

[NewDigs]

Does it have to be a "J" name?

Or a "B" name?

DuggarFans say the ultrasound shows twins. Poor kids.

Say it isn't so!

[Julia]

Well, I guess we know what they talked about in homechurch today. Keep on underlining, Fire (or is it Brimstone?). And keep on forgiving that unrepentant sinner in your midst and look like the doormat poor Anna is turning out to be. 

 

https://instagram.com/p/6u5WrwDfgc/?taken-by=jessaseewald

Yes. Point. If you say you have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, you do indeed lie and do not the truth.

Bless your heart, darling. You aren't helping. Not even a little bit.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Julia

[JoanArc]

I know we joked about it, but 90% of that bible is underlined. She probably underlines the the table of contents and publication credits too. Everything is important, so nothing is!

[Sew Sumi]

I know we joked about it, but 90% of that bible is underlined. She probably underlines the the table of contents and publication credits too. Everything is important, so nothing is!

I was *this close* to pointing that out because I'm such a bitch. :D

[Marigold]

Whoa...that's a creative SLAM to Josh. 

That's a backhanded way of saying that Josh does not have God in him. And if we say we have no sin...

 

Pretty harsh. Guess those are her feelings about her brother. Well, we know what she thinks now. 

 

Poor girl has to express herself though Bible verses. 

[Buggin]

I'm not seeing twins on that ultrasound but I could hardly recognize parts on my own kids' ultrasounds so who knows. Being young and adjusting to parenthood with one baby is hard enough. Two is definitely a challenge. If it is twins, I hope they're ready for it.

[Churchhoney]

Does it have to be a "J" name?

Or a "B" name?

DuggarFans say the ultrasound shows twins. Poor kids.

Say it isn't so!

 

I'll say. Because these two are so frigging stupid and clueless that they're likely to give one a B name and one a J name and adorably refer to them as the BJ twins, without having any idea what the hell they're saying. ....

 

Let Mei Xiang the panda have the twins. You stick to singletons, Fire and Binstone.

[NewDigs]

I'll say. Because these two are so frigging stupid and clueless that they're likely to give one a B name and one a J name and adorably refer to them as the BJ twins, without having any idea what the hell they're saying. ....

 

Let Mei Xiang the panda have the twins. You stick to singletons, Fire and Binstone.

That is hysterical! Thank you for putting that together. Did not cross my mind.

Wonder what Josh would think if he heard the twins were BJ twins.

Edited August 24, 2015 by NewDigs

[zenme]

Funny thing is that Jimbo would probably unwittingly use "bj." But Josh would probably actually know what a bj is.

[JenCarroll]

Fire and Binstone. Perfect.

Which one is which, or does it just not matter? :-)

(I see Jessa as Fire and Ben as Brimstone, myself. Brimstone Ben.)

[Churchhoney]

Which one is which, or does it just not matter? :-)

(I see Jessa as Fire and Ben as Brimstone, myself. Brimstone Ben.)

I think that's it. Jessa is clearly Fire!

[cmr2014]

DuggarFans say the ultrasound shows twins. Poor kids.

 

I'm sure they'd be ecstatic about twins -- it's all a competition, you know. Jill had her baby first -- and it was a boy!!!! -- but if Ben and Jessa have twins, they win!!!!

 

I'm sure they think that having twins right out of the gate would be "such a blessing." They have more than enough on their plates right now with dealing with Josh-Gate and trying to figure out how they are going to pay the bills going forward, and for their sakes (and the baby's sake), I hope they don't have twins.

[roamyn]

She doesn't look big enough for twins.

I'm guessing what people are actually seeing, is vagaries in the placenta wall. That 3-D imaging picks up every little detail and magnifies it.

[doodlebug]

 

I'm not seeing twins on that ultrasound but I could hardly recognize parts on my own kids' ultrasounds so who knows.

I'm an OB/GYN who has training in obstetric ultrasound and have personally done thousands and I don't see twins, either.  It's a 3-D ultrasound, looks like it was done at one of those vanity pay-per-view ultrasound places; hope Jessa paid full price herself.  Anyway, the 3-D ultrasound has all sorts of 'bumpy' looking stuff in the background because of the nature of the study, it doesn't mean there is another baby in there.

 

Also, having practiced OB for more than 30 years and delivered 8000+kids myself, the only way Jessa is carrying twins is if one of them is in her purse or under Bin's ballcap.  Lord knows we've gotten plenty of close ups of her belly, that is not the belly of a woman carrying twins.  Jessa, like the rest of the Duggars, is way too short to not look huge if she was carrying 2.

[Wellfleet]

I'm sure they'd be ecstatic about twins -- it's all a competition, you know. Jill had her baby first -- and it was a boy!!!! -- but if Ben and Jessa have twins, they win!!!!

 

I'm sure they think that having twins right out of the gate would be "such a blessing." They have more than enough on their plates right now with dealing with Josh-Gate and trying to figure out how they are going to pay the bills going forward, and for their sakes (and the baby's sake), I hope they don't have twins.

 

Wow, Jessa absolutely does NOT look as though she's 9 or so weeks away from having twins. This one, I think, is just a pipe dream. Someone, somewhere, trying to find something positive to say at this oh-so-not-positive time.

 

Edited to add - Oh, I'm glad to see Doodlebug has weighed in here with her expert opinion. Give it up, Bin & Jessa. Sierra's flamingo will only be dropping off one little bundle at your house this Fall...

Edited August 24, 2015 by Wellfleet

[Chicklet]

This twin nonsense is just "look over HERE , NOT at our fathead idiot of a brother, and we hate his guts but Jesus probably doesn't but right now we don't care "distraction. We aren't that dumb Jessa.

And don't mention carrying a baby in a purse, you know JChelle will want to try that.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Chicklet

[Sew Sumi]

 

OTOH, I note that the final verse pictured there is the one about confessing sins and being cleansed. I read that whole thing as a FU to the world as the Duggs circle the wagons again. My take on it, is that she's saying Josh has confessed and is forgiven and cleansed.

Yeah, that's how I read it. And she's a moron to believe that. 

[SomePity1066]

Well, I guess we know what they talked about in homechurch today. Keep on underlining, Fire (or is it Brimstone?). And keep on forgiving that unrepentant sinner in your midst and look like the doormat poor Anna is turning out to be. 

 

https://instagram.com/p/6u5WrwDfgc/?taken-by=jessaseewald

Wowie, even if the DuggarHumpers seem to have backed off in light of the AM revelation, the second sexual scandal, of Josh's, they're still pushing full steam ahead with the comments on Jessa's Instagram ! 

 

One slobbering sycophant named "goochnora", which sounds like an STD you can only get in Tonitown, went as far as to use the "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" argument...

 

Wasn't it Josh who was lobbing freaking motor shells at the Godless LGBT community, heathen sexual deviants, pagans who find pleasure in the sins of lust, and on and on, ad nauseam... ?!?!

 

Before you attend to the speck in my eye, attend to the plank in thine own, asshole.*

 

 

*Not a direct Bible quote  ;)

[Almost 3000]

Which one is which, or does it just not matter? :-)

(I see Jessa as Fire and Ben as Brimstone, myself. Brimstone Ben.)

The funny part of that is the play on names. Ben's name is commonalty pronounced as Bin = binstone which is a play on brimstone.

[charmed1]

Wow. I'm just seeing Ben's little sister's photos. Short shorts and swimming with a shirtless man? Very Kardashijenner ha ha! Steve Carell-Seewald is okay with this?

[Skittl1321]

I'm an OB/GYN who has training in obstetric ultrasound and have personally done thousands and I don't see twins, either.

But saying things like this isn't going to keep them in the gossip columns!

[Aja]

Wowie, even if the DuggarHumpers seem to have backed off in light of the AM revelation, the second sexual scandal, of Josh's, they're still pushing full steam ahead with the comments on Jessa's Instagram ! 

 

One slobbering sycophant named "goochnora", which sounds like an STD you can only get in Tonitown, went as far as to use the "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" argument...

 

Wasn't it Josh who was lobbing freaking motor shells at the Godless LGBT community, heathen sexual deviants, pagans who find pleasure in the sins of lust, and on and on, ad nauseam... ?!?!

 

Before you attend to the speck in my eye, attend to the plank in thine own, asshole.*

 

 

*Not a direct Bible quote  ;)

What's hilarious is that's pretty much the leghumpers' ONLY argument now. They're just repeating it over and over again like Rain Man. Even more ironic is that "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is pretty much the antithesis of everything the Duggars and their leghumpers believe. 

[Defrauder]

 

OTOH, I note that the final verse pictured there is the one about confessing sins and being cleansed. I read that whole thing as a FU to the world as the Duggs circle the wagons again. My take on it, is that she's saying Josh has confessed and is forgiven and cleansed.

That's how I read it.  Since it's Josh, and he 'confessed' (NO- he GOT CAUGHT) then all is forgiven!  Spread the good news everyone!  Of course those of us who don't commit adultery or molest their siblings and others, well we've got nothing to confess to so we're all going to hell - for eternity.  Isn't that right Fire? All while the wonderful 'confessor' Josh enjoys eternal paradise. Jessa's idea of a perfect world. 

If Josh wants to become even more of a saint, with guaranteed heaven entrance, all he has to do now is commit murder  and then confess after he gets caught! According to Fire herself that's works out just fine.

[Julia]

Didn't Jessa say that it wasn't showing love not to helpfully point out to people that they were going to burn in hell?

[graefin]

It's becoming more and more clear that Jessa shares the smug trait with her brother.

[BitterApple]

It wouldn't surprise me if Jessa used an ambiguous ultra sound pic to create twin speculation. She probably figures her leghumpers will send her double the gifts if they think she's expecting two instead of one.

Edited August 24, 2015 by BitterApple

[Quilt Fairy]

Wasn't it Josh who was lobbing freaking motor shells at the Godless LGBT community

Do you mean mortar shells, SP? Or is it some kind of metaphorical Molotov cocktail I'm not familiar with?

[Julia]

I always think that's a bizarre argument in situations like this. Somebody already cast the first stone. As it turns out, he probably wasn't best qualified for the job, what with being an imperfectly repentant child molester, a liar, an adulterer, and a profoundly dishonest human being and all, but that kind of didn't stop him.

So: let's recap: Jesus apparently didn't see fit to cast the first stone at a woman taken in adultery. Josh Duggar, who let his wife wrangle their four young children by herself while he looked for women to take in adultery and fapped to the internet, threw first stones not just at sinners but at people who he swore false witness were guilty of his own sins.

But you don't even need that second part, because the first stone thing? Already happened. And yes, it was unbiblical of Josh. And while the jews have a law called lashon hara (basically, you're not supposed to say true but destructive things if your intent is to do harm) which Jesus would have followed and which arguably would make it a problem to point that out, it's not a law the Duggar family follows. And you never get a second chance to throw the first stone.

If it helps, think of it as gum.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Julia

[dillpickles]

I actually interpret Jessa's scripture as a fuck you to Josh.

He didn't confess, he got exposed. He didn't ask for forgiveness, he isn't sorry. He just got caught. He was walking in the darkness, he didn't actively choose to stop cheating, he was exposed.

[toodles]

I find it interesting that someone who has been married a few months is preaching about marriage with so much hubris. Wait until bin does something really crappie and then let's see what type of posts come out. It may not happen until the duggars are far in the rear view mirror, but I'll be willing to bet money it will happen

[BitterApple]

Oddly enough I think Jessa will be the one who cheats, not Bin.

[barbedwire]

If only JackassJessa and BlowhartBen knew enough to keep their mouths shut and not comment on anyone else's marriage.  But nooooooooooooooo!  They are such a tight family.

[DangerousMinds]

I don't know HOW Bin and Jessa are going to slow down the baby train, without using birth control of some kind.