TLC recently announced their popular reality series Return To Amish would be coming back for a brand new season on March 14. Fans were excited to learn who was coming back and who was being added to the cast. Unfortunately, fan favorite matriarch Mama Mary Schmucker was not among those returning — and she pulled no punches explaining why!
In a recent Instagram live stream, Mary was asked by a follower about whether or not she would be on the upcoming season. “No I’m not in the show,” Mary replied. “I’m done. Done. I’ve been done with the show for six years.”
Mary explained a little further during another part of the stream. “Why would you want to work for somebody that lies to you, right?” she asked. “They’ve lied to us so many times, why would I want to do the show?” She paused for a moment. “Yep. They lie through their teeth.”
The former reality star claimed that show producers promised to give her a cooking show, and also promised to give her son, Abe, a car. (Abe and his wife Rebecca were also on Breaking Amish and Return to Amish.) “TLC is a lie, lie, lie. They promise you everything you want until you do it, and then they don’t give it to you.”
Mary said she was also promised a finder’s fee for recruiting new Amish people to do the show. “I never got that either.”
In a different video, Mary said that another reason she didn’t do another season was because they didn’t pay nearly enough.
“You know what I told them? My saying I always say: ‘Money talks and bullsh*t walks.’ So, if you don’t pay –” Mary stopped herself mid-sentence. “They did pay, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying they didn’t pay. They did pay us, but not enough for what we had to go through. If I have to go through that garbage and do that stuff there, you’re paying me to do it.”
Mary’s comments were a bit more candid than previous comments about not being on the show any more. She may have provided a reason for the change in another response. “I guess my contract ran out, so I can say what I want because I say what’s the truth, right?”
Mama Mary Schmucker cancer update
Mama Mary Schmucker shocked her followers early last year when she announced that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. In May, she shared a concerning update.
“I had colon cancer. They said they did take everything out,” Mary said in an Instagram live stream on May 13. “Then yesterday the doctor called and said it’s in my glands.”
The topic of treatment came up later in the stream. “I’m so afraid to do chemo,” Mary admitted. “I’m so afraid to just take anything, so I’ll let it take its course and see what happens.”
In October, Mary was back on Instagram with another update. She confirmed that she did not have chemotherapy, but things appeared to be getting better anyways.
“I could not take chemo,” Mary said. “So, I had to do a different route for my cancer…which is good news because my tumor has shrunk forty percent and my level’s going down. So, I am just ecstatic.”
Late Last week, Mary was asked about her health and how the cancer treatment is going. “I go in on the 27th for a CAT scan and it will tell me if my cancer is better or not,” Mary said. Hopefully she will be sharing good news!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
