We reported last week that MTV was filming the recent (and perhaps premature) wedding announcement photo shoot for Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant stars Ashley Jones and Bar Smith, sparking rumors that the show had been renewed for a second season. Now we have confirmation, as a reliable source reveals that MTV has officially given the green light to Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant Season 2!
The Ashley’s Reality Roundup broke the news moments ago. Her source confirmed that all five moms — Ashley Jones, Jade Cline, Lexi Tatman, Kayla Sessler, and Brianna Jaramillo — will return. The moms will also recieve a sizable pay increase for their sophomore run.
In addition to the photographer spilling the beans about an MTV camera crew being present for Bar and Ashley’s denim-on-denim shoot, there was also a post by an Oregon restaurant two weeks ago showing an MTV crew filming for Teen Mom, although it was unclear exactly which Teen Mom show it was or which cast member:
Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant star Brianna recently moved to Oregon, so it would make sense if it were her. The guy in the photo could be Brianna’s boyfriend Robert, but he sure does look a lot like Bar!
(However, Bar and Ashley are way down near Oakland, California, with no indication that they have been traveling recently, so I really don’t think that it’s him.)
The show’s renewal would have come as quite a surprise to me (and MTV I’m sure) halfway through the season, as the ratings seemed to be stagnant at best, if not on the decline. But things began to turn around after the new series changed lead-ins from Teen Mom OG to Teen Mom 2! For example, the show hit a ratings low with its third episode following the OG girls, managing just 534,000 viewers. By contrast, three episodes after the Teen Mom 2 premiere on May 7, the show hit its peak of just over 900,000 viewers!
I don’t believe it’s too far-fetched to think that the ratings increase drafting off of Teen Mom 2 is partly because the show features a lot of the same kind of cuh-razy outside-voice drama and messy relationships that have made Teen Mom 2 such a success. When the new season of Teen Mom 2 premiered, Young and Pregnant was CHOCK FULL of screaming and yelling and relationship implosions, so I’d guess that Teen Mom 2 viewers who stuck around after getting their Jenelle, Briana, and Kail fix liked what they were seeing.
For those of you curious about the actual numbers and correlations, here are the Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant Season 1 ratings week by week, with notes about the lead ins:
MARCH 12 – 666,000 (following Teen Mom OG)
MARCH 19 – 602,000
MARCH 26 – 534,000
APRIL 2 – 593,000
APRIL 9 – 718,000
APRIL 16 – 685,000 (following Teen Mom OG Reunion Part 1)
APRIL 23 – 708,000 (following Teen Mom OG Reunion Part 2)
APRIL 30 – 609,000 (following Teen Mom OG Unseen Moments)
MAY 7 – 854,000 (following Teen Mom 2 premiere)
MAY 14 – 818,000
MAY 21 – 901,000
MAY 28 – 672,000 (Memorial Day, so most all viewership numbers were down)
JUNE 4 – 838,000
JUNE 11 – 873,000
JUNE 18 – No new episode
JUNE 25 – 827,000 (Reunion Episode)
So, what do you think? Are you excited to see the moms and dads (and boyfriend, and grandparents, and babies, &c) of Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant return for another season? If so, who are you most looking forward to keeping up with?
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
