RETURN TO AMISH Was Daniel really Amish when filming, or is it fake? SPOILERS

On Return To Amish Season 7, viewers are introduced to Daniel Miller of Hopkinton, Iowa. He’s a member of a local Amish church founded by his father, who became the bishop.

Despite being the son of the church bishop, or perhaps because of it, Daniel says that he has always been a bit rebellious. “My game that I like to play is just to see how much things I can do without getting caught,” Daniel says in his intro as we see him in a barn shotgunning a beer — all while decked out in Amish clothes.

Daniel takes Return To Amish viewers on a tour of the schoolhouse he attended as he reveals that he used to look out at the highway as a kid and tell himself: “At some point in my life, I will definitely be one of the drivers behind the steering wheel.”

The trip to Florida has Daniel excited, but he’s going to have to get over one major hurdle before making the trip. “The hardest thing to do is to tell my parents that I’m leaving,” Daniel says. “I mean, my dad is the bishop, and it’s like, if his own son leaves, well, that makes my dad’s job a lot tougher because he’s trying to enforce the rules. And I don’t want to disrespect my dad.”

But Daniel isn’t about to let a little thing like telling his parents get in between himself and his dream of dating an English girl!

“I want to leave the Amish mostly so I can date an English girl and not have the pressure of the whole community, family, and everybody looking at me,” Daniel confesses in his intro. “So my friend Johnny is going to Sarasota. He invited me and one of his friends, Kenneth, to go along.”

Daniel says he’s known co-star Johnny Detweiler “for a while,” but he doesn’t explain how they know each other. Johnny lives in Pennsylvania and Daniel lives in Iowa, so I would guess they have texted via carrier pigeon?

At the end of the Return To Amish Season 7 premiere episode, Daniel packs up a single suitcase and catches a train to Florida to meet up with his co-stars — and hopefully get the ball rolling on dating an English girl.

The #BreakingAmish franchise has a history of stretching the truth a bit. Is that the case with #ReturnToAmish couple Rosanna and Johnny? Is their story line fake? #SPOILERS https://t.co/XorwTe7MBw

— Starcasm (@starcasm) March 21, 2023

Is Daniel Miller’s story fake?

Most of Daniel Miller’s story line on Return To Amish Season 7 is not accurate — at least not the timeline part.

As with his Return To Amish co-stars Rosanna Miller and Johnny Detweiler, it is surprisingly easy to find out that Daniel has not been Amish for quite a while. All you have to do is check out his social media.

On his Instagram account, Daniel’s earliest photo was posted in November of 2015 and features himself wearing a baseball cap. In June of 2016, Daniel posted a photo of himself wearing a baseball cap once again — and holding a beer?!

The photo is a little extra surprising because Daniel was just 17 years old at the time, which is under the legal drinking age — Amish or not. I will point out that Daniel appears to be wearing an Amish shirt. And you might be surprised to know that he was still Amish and living at home at the time!

Here’s a Facebook post from Daniel on April 23 of 2022 that explains the real timeline of his departure from the Amish:

As most of you know I grew up Amish. Today it marks 10 years that I graduated 8th grade in the year of 2012, no I didn’t go to high school or college. I started a full-time job at 13 years old doing Roofing, Construction, building pole sheds, concrete & some remodeling work. I lived at home with my family with all the money going to the family. I did get some cash for some food an drinks here an there.

But then April 23 2017 I made a life changing decision when I was 18. I left home with $200 cash an a suitcase with a couple belongings. But I had a mindset to win or win! With me moving 4 hours away from home I had to hire a driver an pay $240 just to get to my new home so already $40 down. I started my Journey an it’s brought me to here at 23 years old driving down the road!

I don’t want nobody feeling bad for nothing here but to see that anything is possible if you put your mind to it! But with all this being done it’s made me who I am today! Don’t doubt your worth an pick up your life an take it where god intended it to be🙏. #happy5yearbreakingamish

In June of 2022, Daniel shared a link to a YouTube video with a caption that confirms Return To Amish has scenes that are “acted out” and “weren’t 100% truthful.” Here’s the caption, followed by the video:

In the last couple years I have done a lot of research online to make sense out of how the Amish live and why they keep the rules like they do & overall gather as much information as possible. And that’s how I ended up joining a TV show myself last year but it hasn’t aired yet as of now. But I’ll say most of the scenes we acted out weren’t 100% truthful which is what it is at this point. But I know a lot of you have questions about the Amish lifestyle an I can’t speak for every community but this episode explains my Amish childhood church to a T!! I’m actually very surprised how Accurate this information is & also it should help explain how the church service would last for three hours lol

Daniel mentioned in his intro that he dreamed about being the person behind the steering wheel when he was a kid. He has made that dream a reality by becoming a truck driver.

After shearing llamas, Daniel got his CDL. He posted an on-the-job photo gallery on Instagram in June of 2019 when he was working for an Iowa directional drilling company.

Daniel has been driving 18-wheelers for a couple years at least, and he seems to absolutely love it.

I will wrap this article up with a photo Daniel posted in June of 2021, which was around the time he was filming for Return To Amish Season 7. It includes his co-star Kenneth Detweiler in the passenger seat.

“Wait an see, We’ll be y’alls favorite actors,” Daniel captioned the image, along with a starry eyed emoji.

Return To Amish Season 7 airs Tuesday nights at 10/9c on TLC.

Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com