“Rise and Whine” Blog Relates Impressions of the Recent Gosselin Waynesburg “Engagement”
Nov 20th, 2008 by BohemianMoon
From the Rise and Whine (sounds like Kate, doesn’t it……rise and whine?) blog (http://high-five.net/?p=421)
Jon and Kate (minus their eight)
When my friends told me Jon and Kate Gosselin were coming to their church last weekend in Waynesburg, PA, I was PSYCHED at the chance to see them. The drive is about 4.5 hours, but totally worth it to see my friend AND hear the parents of sextuplets and twins tell their story in person.
What do I like about the show?
* the kids are adorable
* I grew up in a family of 8 kids and some of their interactions remind me of my childhood
* my fiance kinda reminds me of Jon
Visiting my friends and their 1-yr old daughter was great! We made the trek to PA early on Saturday with plans to hang out on Saturday, attend church on Sunday, go to lunch, and hang out a bit more before heading home.
Jon and Kate were part of two speaking events that day. One was an hour to tell their story to the church members (which is what I went to), and another a few hours later that required buying $7 tix. The latter sold out at 500 people. Although I chose the free event, I thought I’d support them by buying their new book and gave to the donation bucket that was passed around after they spoke. This made more sense for us since the later event would’ve left us driving home very late at night with work the next morning.
As church began, I looked around and noticed that the couple was nowhere to be found. This was pretty understandable since their presence could distract from the ceremony itself, which seemed to be about 70% weekly churchgoers and 30% guests. When it came time for the sermon, the pastor introduced Jon & Kate and an overhead projector flashed images of the Gosselins over the past 4 years. Finally it was time to see the couple I’ve loved watching for the past year!
They walked out and took their seats. Rather than doing what was initially expected, they opted to do something “different” and have a question and answer session for the entire hour. I was a bit thrown off when they didn’t at least spend 5 minutes to sum up their story. After all, several of the audience were simply church members who had never heard of “Jon & Kate plus 8?. Although most of their answers were short (Ex: Q- “Where are your kids right now?” A- “At home.”), there were a few answers that reminded me of the Jon and Kate I see on TV, joking back and forth on their “interview” couch.
When the hour was up, they made their exit and church ended. Clutching my book excitedly, I waited in the hallway with another 15 or so fans, hoping to say “hello” and possibly snag an autograph. 10-15 mins later the door opened and out they came, glancing indifferently our way before walking the other way, out the back door, and straight into their car.
A bit turned off, my mood lifted again when the (amazingly nice) youth pastor took my book and said he’d try to get me an autograph in the afternoon session. The next day I heard that after the paid event, the Gosselins sold pics of their family for $10-$20 along with signing them. The pastor asked them to sign my copy of their book, and Kate quickly autographed it (though Jon didn’t…I guess they figured one was good enough??) The youth pastor’s wife mentioned that when she thanked them for coming, they didn’t respond.
I know I shouldn’t expect anything, but I was a bit disappointed. They said they travel to various churches to “tell their story”, but while they were here they treated it as if it were just a job, and one they only do for the money. They did only what they had to, and I didn’t see much friendliness from either of them along the way. I know they don’t have to say hello to their fans, but without us they wouldn’t have the show. PLUS they received quite a bit of $$ from the donations, ticket sales, and pictures. Unfortunately for me I assumed they’d be much more friendly…maybe even thankful for the opportunity to earn money and “tell their story” as they claimed they wanted to do.
I can’t decide whether I want to watch the show anymore. The kids will always be cute, but I can’t say I have quite the admiration for Jon & Kate that I had a week ago.
Lesson of the day: Reality TV doesn’t equal reality
I still have to say that those people who don’t look into who they invite to speak at their churches need to have members of their congregation stand up and address those issues. I’m sure they’d get tired of me if anyone would be crazy enough to invite them to speak where I go. They’ve moved in that fancy house, gone on the extragaloosa of a vacation, and they’re still taking money from people at churches. When wil people wake up?
AMEN
I’m speechless !! Still asking for donations when they live in a mansion??? I abhor these people and I look forward to their comeuppance.
According to reliable sources, their contract / compensation is now at $60,000 per episode, and I’m sure that their agent negotiated a BIG portion of their home purchase be paid by TLC’s parent company.
Also, the Hawaii vacation, I can guarantee you, cost way, way more than $30,000 or even $40,000. Think about it — 10+ round-trip first-class tickets from PA to San Diego with a layover at a five star resort for probably a week, then round-trip / first-class to Hawaii. I guarantee that the airfare alone was $25,000 to $40,000. The layover in San Diego, with the room and accommodations (all the extras, like the paddle boats and activities) would have easily been $30,000. In the show, Kate noted that they were staying in Hawaii for 2 weeks. 10 days at the Grand Wailea in the suite that had would easily be $40,000, and with all the extras like the cooking lessons, ceremony, and so on, probably more in the range of $80,000.
So, if you were to do this on your own, complete with the San Diego layover, the ceremony, the dress, the accommodations, the 5 star meals, the Presidential Suite at a hotel where a regular room is $350/night, first-class airfare, and a total vacation time of probably 15 to 20 days, I would estimate it would be close to $200,000 and perhaps much higher. Pathetic and disgusting.
#4 Matt
Actually, I agree. I do think it was more a long your lines of accounting.
Sham all the way around any way you dice it!
Thanks for your comment
#3 Laurajean~
Yep! Still taking those donations freely.
Nice attitudes, too.
What asses!
What a pair of morons! They have no gratitude for all that they receive. Keep on calling them on their behaviour.
Wonder what all their defenders will say when they find out they are still taking donations and signing pictures for a fee…probably it will be something like ‘that person is lying, they didn’t really go and hear them…’ I loved the quote at the end: “Lesson of the day-reality tv doesn’t equal reality”…I find it to be especially fitting when describing the G’s b/c Kate always says they want to show everyone what they are REALLY like-yet we never see the complete, unedited version…what must the REAL Kate be like? I shudder to think, since all we get are snippets of how she acts-can you imagine the 24/7 version?
Going by the Grand Wailea website, it looks as though they stayed in one of the Grand Suites in the Napua Tower. Rates for those rooms range from $16K-17,710 per night (not including a $25 per night resort charge). I’m sure TLC was able to negotiate a special rate (remember, they didn’t just pay for the Gosselins, they paid for the crew, too), but you’re still looking at a six-figure tab JUST FOR THE ROOMS.
(source: http://www.grandwailea.com/accommodations/rates.aspx#rates)
This was perfect - it didn’t bash them, and they didn’t “do” anthing extraordinarily wrong, they just took a perfectly nice church service and turned it into a confusing, disappointing waste of time for this kind woman. This disillusionment is the growing problem for those two. So - yah. Keep it up Jon and Kate
What in the world are they doing in a church service answering questons? And the ENTIRE service?? To me, church time is praise and worship time, and believe me, it’s not praise and worship of people.
I think I would have felt all dirty and “robbed” when I left - robbed of my worship of God time. Where was the message, the inspiration? The life lesson? The challenge? What, exactly, are Jon and Kate DOING in the name of Christ? And does this church consider J & K missionaries? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!
Having worked in the hotel industry I would be willing to bet the GW comped most, if not all of the stay for the G’s, regardless of whether the GW offered an invitation or TLC approached them with an idea for a show. This is a common practice within the hospitality business.
Same with the airlines.
The relatives rooms were probably offered at a discounted rate which TLC probably picked up. It looked like it was only for one night anyway.
Having said that though, a vacation of this sort, for a regular family would cost an arm and a leg.
The show isn’t about how they cope on a daily basis with 8 kids,etc. It has become a rich & famous traveloge. Like Cribs on MTV or Housewives of , J&K+8 is simply a window into a world most of us will never be able to afford.
#11 Lisa~
Thanks for your comment, it is appreciated
Regardless if it was barter for advertising, those 8 children still paid for it. And paid for it at a cost in which the extent of the damage may not be known for years.
It is sad………
Point well taken Moon!!
No kids-no show-no money!!
Plain and simple.
Lordy beeeee! Pass the hat so I can put my heat oil money in it. I don’t mind being frozen so Jon and Kate can go on a vacation from their vacation. They deserve it..they have 8 kids! God should be a little embarassed that Jon and Kate can outdo him. You can bet Jesus never passed the hat AND sold pictures of his family. Genius. And God never thought of selling Jesus’s potty training video. Long live the Gosselins! Blessed is he who has butt crack for he shall inherit 8,000 square feet and dwell in the house of the Gosselin! This scripture is sponsored by V-Tech.
It saddens me to see all the people ripping this family apart–”what we put up –we must bring down”– for anyones information–TLC also put up the other family on its station in the same set of suite rooms–the family that are small people. –They went to Maui last year–Oprah has bought this station –its part of her huge network–I dont blame the Gosslins to get paid for their show–it must be overwhelming the thought 8 kids almost the same age hitting college together.
#14 Dirtydisher~
OMG, you made my day!
That was hilarious, just hilarious. I am still chuckling!
Ah, thanks, I needed that
#15 Karen~
Perhaps these two parents should go out an get jobs to support their children like every parent, instead of depending on their children to support them.
Blatant exploitation aside, Jon and Kate Gosselin are doing those poor children no favors whatsoever. What happens to these children once the show stops? Do yourself a favor and read some of the articles from Paul Petersen’s site concerning children transitioning out of the entertainment field. I am not even talking about the money issues. I am talking about what happens to these children who have clearly been privy to carta blanche 5 star service every where from Thomas the Train to private charter snorkling trips. What happens when all of the sudden these children actually have to wait in line for something, or the don’t get special treatment at every establishment they go to. The sextuplets don’t know ANYTHING else, and you can clearly see their attitudes of self entitlement in their behaviour. The older girls as well.
Do you honest feel that there will be NO ramifications regarding the way these children have lived for the last 3+ years?
As for college, perhaps Pa and Ma Gosselin should have throught about that before they bought a million plus dollar home. What was the purpose of buying a mini estate when that money could have gone to the children’s college funds. Plus, I am sure you do know that Ma and Pa are still selling pictures of their children for $20 a pop in the name of college funds as well as taking donations.
I would not worry about the children going to college. Unless, of course, Jon and Kate has blown through it by the time they are to enter, which would not surprise me whatsoever.
You know what bothers me most about Jon and Kate? It’s not all the free stuff, frankly, I’m far to lazy to travel around even for free..and it’s not the exploitaion of their children, I have my own problems to worry about, so until they start punching the kids in the head and starving them, well, yawn..what pisses me off is that Jon and Kate are borderline retarded. I don’t get how people worship these two losers. Jon is smarter than Kate, but, that’s not saying much, is it? It’s like saying, gee, my pet rat is smarter than a fence post. But, there she is 20 times a week correcting his speech, making up douchey words, and looking at the camera with that dull brain dead cockeye she has and people eat it up. They even take her advice on things. You can see the wheels are just not turning, they’re rusted to a dead end track. If this is any indication of collective America’s need for celebs to run their lives, then Heidi Montag will be president one day. And Kate Gosselin will still think she’s better than all of us. TLC should run a contest where the winner gets to smack Kate in the face with a bagfull of toddler poo. They could make a million.
Karen & Moon:
I can almost guarantee you that some corporation has already started a college fund for them, and it will probably have more than enough money in it by the time they’re 18 to pay for 4 years anywhere they’d like to go, including all expenses. This is probably something their agent/attorney contracted for years ago for the sextuplets and the twins. It’s pretty obvious that TLC/Gosselins look for every avenue possible to take any opportunity to get “legit” money that they don’t have to cover and lie for. A corporate college fund would be something that they could defend pretty easily if it were ever brought up to attack them, and there are IRS tax shelters to protect college funds that I am sure the Gosselins were advised to take advantage of in order to hide a portion of their wealth from the IRS and Pennsylvania. That money will probably eventually end up being spent on “study abroad” “college education” when the kids hit 18 so that they can re-live the extravagancies of their childhood.
Karen: You have a valid point about the Roloffs, but at least they don’t (or haven’t, to my knowledge) make pathetic and disgusting attempts to blatantly lie about the freebies they get. Where the Gosselins frame the whole thing as “Being invited by the resort to come and renew their vows!,” which is probably what the writers for Jon & Kate thought up one afternoon.
I’m sure they’re charged with having to think up all kinds of Freeibe Justifications along with setting up scenes and lines for the show–think about the Banana Republic episode — “WE SAVED UP FOR THIS AND ITS OUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO EACH OTHER LOL!!!!1111″ as they walk away from the register with a 4 foot long receipt and the clerk looks at them in disgust as Kate says “Oh no! We went over our ‘budget’ [read: we have to pay $50 because went over the $10,000 comp budget Banana Republic gave us!”
At least the Roloffs don’t pull this Spiral of Lies that the Gosselins attempt to weave in such a sad and thinly veiled fashion. When they went to the Carribean to go sailing, they didn’t once say “We went because we clipped coupons and ate ramen noodles for the first years of our marriage!.” They just went on the vacation, enjoyed it, and kept their mouths shut about the comps.
Also, their shilling of corporate labels and products isn’t near as bad as J&K. They certainly do it (the heating system they had installed, for example, seemed like just a big commercial for that new way to heat one’s home), but the kids aren’t decked out in designer clothes every episode (nor are the parents, in fact, they often wear the same stuff frequently throughout the shows), and while they haven’t said anything directly, if you asked them how they paid for their house, they’d probably openly admit it was money from TLC. They definitely are much more honest people than J&K, and for that, deservingly people haven’t attacked them (think about Matt’s DUI — he didn’t hide it under the rug as J&K would do, he let them film the trial and was completely candid about the whole incident). The truth will set you free, and lies will make you the enemy of man. These two shows are a perfect example of that dichotomy.
#19 Matt~
It is interesting that on the TLC boards, at least a couple of years ago, Matt Roloff would post there periodically. It was confirmed by TLC moderators of the forums that it was, in fact, Matt Roloff posting and not a sock.
Anywhoo, he stated that inre: to the vacations, they only got paid for the parts of the vacation that the Roloffs allowed to be filmed, which, rarely, was a lot of their vacation. As such, they also only got part of the vacation costs comped from the actual venue. I thought that was interesting. He stated that they would limit the filming in its entirety because they, as a family, wanted to enjoy their vacation without cameras, and as such were willing to pay for it.
#18 Dirtydisher~
You too slay me!
I swear, I have the most witty readers here, and I so appreciate you all!
I just love you gals!
That’s cool that Matt Roloff posted and explained that to interested people. Again, I think they’re relatively honest and genuine people. Even though they’re not the most exciting people on earth, at least they have personalities and can be funny or interesting at times — unlike Jon & Kate who both have the personality of a dead moth.
The Roloff kids, too, are worth watching and seem pretty well grounded and genuine. They don’t rely on paid vacations from TLC to create footage for the show, because they don’t have to. The Roloff boys, for example, organize local trips on their own and participate in enough activities that the production crew can put together episodes without resorting to what comes off as obvious staging and prompting. Virtually every single thing Kate or Jon says on camera sounds like exactly what it is: a response to the producer prompting them (usually through a question) to talk about a certain thing. I’m sure they have at least one writer on location to make points that Jon & Kate can then repeat on camera to make some semblance of personality. It’s like having a personal assistant for someone who is personality-challenged, haha.
#22 Matt~
I really like Matt Roloff, though I don’t watch the show all of the time. He is dreamer for sure, and works hard to bring his dreams to fruition. He is highly creative, resourceful, and fear never rules nor runs his life.
There is no doubt that their show has helped in building their farm and businesses, but that is one of the keys here. He and Amy were smart enough to use this gig to not only raise awarness of little people but to invest further in and grow their businesses. The Roloff’s never depended, nor do they now, on the show for their income, but they were smart enough to use it to their advantage to secure themselves a financially solid future through it (and their hard work, of course).
I like his brother Sam, a fine artist, as well.
Matt & Moon,
SO glad you are talking about the Roloffs…I actually enjoy their show, although have not had a chance to watch it since the DUI episodes, my daughters night time routine interrupts now. A friend of my older sisters and her boyfriend went to the Roloff farm for the Pumpkin patch opening they do every year and took pics with Matt and Amy and talked to the kids and they said they were lovely people. Gracious and polite and happy to have everyone there to buy pumpkins….that THEY ACTUALLY MAKE..imagine that reality TV stars really making things. Unlike the G’s Organic Chef cooking meals that K*&^ takes credit for, and no I cannot even bring myself to type her name anymore, it feels like a curse word, LOL.
Oh and Matt, your pretty funny, welcome to the party