Kate Plus 8



Kate Plus 8, which formerly featured as Jon & Kate Plus Eight, is a reality show produced by Figure 8 Films in the United States featuring the Gosselin couple Jon & Kate and their eight children. The show goes into their home catching their daily lives, focusing on the couple’s challenges of raising their large family of sextuplets and fraternal twins. The show was by all standards rated very high with the premiere of the fifth season being the most watched show for the evening that it premiered, gathering an audience of 9.8 million. Kate Gosselin was one of the contestants on the Dancing with the Stars show.

The show follows the life of Kate and Jon who both have middle class backgrounds. They met at a picnic in 1997 and married in 1999. Their desire to have a large family was compounded by problems of infertility. When Kate underwent medical testing and was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries, the couple decided to examine fertility treatments as an option. In 2000, Kate gave birth to twin girls. In 2003, after returning to fertility treatment in their desire to expand their family, they discovered that Kate was pregnant with six foetuses. In spite of the doctor’s suggestion to have selective reduction to ensure overall health of mother and foetuses, the couple decided to go ahead with all.

In 2004, Kate was operated on via C-section and six children were delivered in Hershey, PA earning them the moniker “Hershey’s Kisses”. When the children were about four, the family moved to a larger residence in Lower Heidelberg Township, PA.

The story of this family caught the attention and imagination of the viewers like nothing else. It was an awakening insight into one family’s struggle against all odds to be together and grow together and Kate and Jon were shown as “ideal parents”.

The twist in the tale came in 2009 when the couple separated. Allegations of extra marital affairs which the couple denied stating that they were devoted to their children crept into the show’s fifth season. However, they would not confirm where their relationship was headed. The episode announcing their separation was the most watched episode of the season reaching an audience of 10.6 million viewers. Viewer ship of the show steadily declined and the last episode was aired in November 2009.

Following their separation in 2009, the show was in jeopardy because of legal complications arising out of Jon’s desire not to continue production of the series. This put an end to the channel’s desire to rename the show Kate Plus 8 and go on with the series. After the final episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 which was aired in November 2009 it was announced that a series of special would go on air if this show did not go into production again.

In June 2010, Kate Plus 8 aired in television, focusing on the sextuplets sixth birthday. It brought mixed response but managed to retain audience curiosity on the efforts of a single mom with a large family trying to get a grip on her life and that of her children.

Kate’s intentions of continuing with the show alone have invited criticism as to whether the children are being exploited for monetary value and that they could be placed under severe emotional distress. Every US state has strict regulations governing the health, safety and welfare of little child performers. However, there are no clear laws in PA where Kate lives with the children. As long as certain basic guidelines are followed and a permit is obtained, children who are at least seven years old can work in the entertainment industry.

Kate maintains that the children are happy and that she and Jon, even though they are no longer together, are completely involved with all decisions concerning the children’s welfare. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Labour Law Compliance also found that the “activity being filmed was spontaneous” without threat or stress to the children’s safety and happiness.

A survey conducted to find out if the show will attract enough audience without Jon’s presence concluded that many of them felt that Kate was better off without Jon and the show would indeed be watched with great interest.

Kate has got a good thing going. She is also getting to make her own series called “Twist of Kate” which will show the single mom featuring women and their struggles to overcome the odds which will be loosely based on the reviews she received from other women who have watched the show.

As Kate says, “I want to be out there learning from them, helping to provide insight into whatever I can, even though I don’t consider myself an expert at anything”. I just took a loose concept and worked on it”.

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