Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People is not canceled. Why?

Alaskan Bush People

Do the Alaskan Bush People get paid? We asked! Read our interview with the Brown family.

Alaskan Bush People Season 1 Recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | The Wild Life

Season 2 Recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2Episode 3 | Episode 4Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8  | Wild Times | Episode 9 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 14 | SHARK WEEK! | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Lost Footage | The Wild Year

NEW! Is Alaskan Bush People Fake? Does It Matter?

Alaskan Bush People
There were a lot of things about Discovery Channel’s unscripted series Alaskan Bush People that didn’t pass the smell test. Now there’s more foul air surrounding the Brown family, and it’s very likely we’ve seen the last of them on TV.

 

Commenter Talkeetnachris tipped us to this:

Billy brown was just charged with stealing over $13000 filing fraudulent PFD claims in Alaska. His near life will be in prison. A few other family members were also charged. This guy and his family are frauds. I have lived off the road system for years and these people won’t last a year. You have to be self sufficient. Hell, I even had to stitch a band cut on my leg once. Many of these shows only have entertainment value with no real practical lessons on what really living on your own is about.

Many commenters doubted that the Browns were actually living off the land, as the show depicted. Instead, it appears the Browns may have been living off of fraudulent Alaskan Permanent Fund Dividend applications. According to Anchorage’s KTUU, patriarch “Billy Brown alone faces 24 felony counts and is accused of illegally obtaining $13,080 in dividend cash for himself and others. The charges do not describe why investigators believe the Brown family was not eligible for the dividends that some members received between 2010 and 2013.” Also indicted were five of Billy’s seven children: Amora Jean Snowbird, Joshua “Bam Bam,” Gabriel “Gabe,” Solomon “Bear” and Noah.

This will come as disappointing news to the many fans of the show who appreciated the Browns’ family values and the off-the-grid lifestyle that they claimed to represent. The credibility of Discovery Channel and Park Slope Productions has to be questioned, as they apparently weren’t diligent about checking the Browns’ backgrounds (even before these indictments came to light) and then aired a special episode with the family defending their authenticity. And personally, recapping Alaskan Bush People has been great fun, and I’m going to miss writing about it and reading all of your comments.

I’m so mad, I could punch a fish.

Update: Get this. Discovery Channel says they are “currently filming new episodes.” From the Alaska Dispatch News:

Stair said that between October 2009 and August 2012, the family did not meet the “physical presence requirement” to receive PFDs. This means the state believes the family spent more than 180 days a year living outside of Alaska and lied about it on their applications, Stair said.

Sean Martin, director of communications at Discovery Channel, wrote in an email Thursday that “we don’t divulge our actual shoot dates, so cannot let you know when filming concluded on season one, but can confirm that we are currently filming new episodes, but have not announced those air dates yet.”

I don’t even…

 

34 Comments

  1. Bush family is entertaining and showing what family could be like, they are not murdering people, running around naked or doing drugs . They are being accused of fraud which I don’t think makes them bad people and deserve a chance to make things right. I bet if you look closely you will find many more Alaskans defrauding the system, only think is they haven’t been caught. Can’t be easy living under the watchful eye of so many people ready to condemn others, have you looked in your closet lately. Living in the public eye I am sure they knew all this would surface, yet they tried. God Bless you Brown family and I pray all works out for you.

  2. The Browns have worked hard to provide a great show. Once a week I can experience what it is like to attempt to be self-sufficient, relying on hard work and teamwork in a family. Of course some of it is made up but the scenery isn’t made up. The deer being hunted and skinned and cooked isn’t made up. The boat problems, heavy lifting, trees coming smashing down to the earth weren’t a fraud. OK so they lived outside of Alaska and were kind of foolish in thinking the authorities (or whistle blowers) wouldn’t notice. But they likely worked harder in Alaska when there were there than many people there now just collecting the funds and living off of them without contributing to anything. The show is great. It’s not for everyone. But once a week it’s like I am in Alaska and trying to decide which one of the group is my favorite character. They’re all unique and the family is wonderful. Meanwhile, the oil company’s have polluted the seas and grounds and wreaked havoc on the land and how many of those executives are in jail. Let these people film their story in peace !

  3. I feel like all the comments I’ve read have been posted by retards, foreigners, 6 year olds, or drunks. Grammatical errors aside, grow the hell up people. It’s a T.V. show it doesn’t matter if it’s 100% real or not and everyone makes mistakes, It just so happens these mistakes don’t have jack shit to do with us so we have no reason to be scandalized by it, this is between the Brown family and the state of Alaska. My Father and I really like this show, it’s one of the only things on television that doesn’t make me want to go to confession after watching it. I say keep it going.

    • me and my daddy like this show , and if anybody dislikes that , I will type out mean things to them onto a computer screen .

      Signed , Josh3

      Lol

  4. Enjoying the show very much. Keep it on. They live in the bush. They are imperfect. Figure out thepdf situation. Poloiticians steal millionsm from the people, get real. Stop the nonsense.

  5. why not get paid 4 being on a show . what i dont understand they can hunt any time know i think thats bull shit .the fines r to high .look at what the inter net says about poeple hell i m on it 4 1 minuate n the internet would find somethomg to say about me . bush poeple i hope your not a fike or do fraud i dont like poeple who lie about something there not

  6. I like the show and so hope it is real.One thing that is questionable they are always struggling money wise and if Discovery pays them why are they struggling.The Dad gives me the creeps!

  7. Reality shows are only for entertainment only, there is no way a camera crew is going to eat better than the cast of characters Survivor, Amazing Race, Bachelor, a lot of what you watch is geared for individual mentality. Ask yourself, would I take leave from work to participate in something you won’t get paid for ? I like the Discovery Channel, and they are guilty of telling half- truth and lack of being candid all for the sake of entertainment, and keeping behind the scenes just that, behind the scenes. I worked for the movie industry, and television industry for a few years, you would be amazed what these two industries can do to create belief or chaos on a believable scale.

  8. I can’t stand people that try and play off the Discovery Channel bringing in such nonsense as the Brown. Billy Brown is not a man that has lived in the wild of Alaska. He was born to an affluent family in Texas. His parents and sister were tragically killed in a plane crash. He and his wife obviously have indulged in some sort of drugs when she was conceiving the children. Each of the child other than the eldest have speech impediments and/or hearing deficits. Just like Ami it is a shame that they were never given the opportunity to have medical treatment as children and evaluations that could corrected their individual issues. I am tired of Discovery posting all these stupid supposed reality shows for entertainment. This is NOT ENTERTAINING

    • Sandy, here’s a news flash……IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SHOW………WHY ARE YOU WATCHING IT???

    • You are so right, there have to be something wrong with them! Why haven’t child services ever busted their buts for 32 yrs of child abuse? Not one of those kids could survive on their own and non of them can work together. When the parents die I wonder if the Discovery Channel will still be there to support them because not one of them have ever had a job. In addition not one of them have the intelligence to have a job. There Father is just a damn control freak and when he is gone they will all be on public relief unless the film crew stays on to keep the free money coming in. Their all just old three year olds!

      • why does people want to start something outa nothing . if you don’t believe any of this well go try it yourself see how you can survive in your back yard

      • I really like the idea of the show but as stated else where,
        the old man is creepy. You do not ever see him and Ami
        doing any real work let alone cook. They are all fed pretty good. Why doesn’t Billy cut that blasted hair. It is
        hanging a foot down from his mouth. Ish!!! He is a control
        freak.

      • Who cares if these kids aren’t perfect !!!! You implied 32 years of child abuse,The kids couldn’t survive without their parents,not one of them have the intelligence to have a job….and they will be on public relief ///Dumb —- the word NONE has an E in it ! You and your 10 kids with 8 different women are on welfare but,people of your decent pretty much all do that!!!! Take the focus off of yourself (and your kind) and put it on someone else.The kids are smarter than you Chris Brown !!!! They are survivors,supplying their own food -without food stamps like you– They got it together individually and as a team….(ABOVE) And for Sandy Stewart (ABOVE) to say that the parents used drugs while conceiving the children—–Wow –A speech impediment equals drug abuse ?—are you perfect ? How do you know that they never had an opportunity for medical treatment ? Then you said, “IT’S NOT ENTERTAINING” Then don’t watch it !!!! Hey here’s an idea —- why don’t you and Chris Brown have a few kids and get under the microscope so that the rest of the world can learn how it’s done correctly !!!!

  9. Bring back The Browns! Me and my boyfriend love the show. Family values are evedient.
    No matter what happened everyone deserves GRACE.
    There is no perfect show out there.
    Bring them back!!!

  10. I really miss the show, I got to be honest I do not care if the show is all real or not, I enjoy watching the show and it gives many family spirits in a lot of people. You do not find that very often today where a family is happy as the Browns and they are living the dream of many people out there and one may be mine, So, my take on the show is let the Browns film the show and live the way they want no matter if they may stay in a hotel a night or two don’t we the people cheat at things in life? Face it people we are not perfect; we are all from perfect that is why we are either here leaving the post or even reading them.
    I personally work in a nursing home as a cook and believe it or not some of them people also looks toward to watching the show and if the show is not on ; what do they have look forward to watch?
    PLEASE LET THE SHOW RETURN BACK ON THE AIR

  11. Why would the browns need to claim PFD’s they are all getting paid by the production company

  12. I will truly miss the show The Alaskan Bush People if in fact the Discovery Channel does cancel it. I don’t really care if it is 100% authentic. It beats the heck out of crap like Naked and Afraid!! I would rather warch Noah invent something than view repeated closeups of someone’s rear end covered in bug bites or a rash from an unknown origin! Come on Discovery Channel, grow a set and bring back the Alaskan Bush People!!

    • I agree. I’d like to see Ami lose a few more teeth , and Billy gain a few more pounds , and Matt become a
      “34” year old ” kid”

  13. If they didn’t qualify for the dividend because they haven’t been in Alaska the amount of tjme required where have they been???

  14. If the browns are such self supported bush people why did the 5 young men have to drive all over town to bum 1 cord of wood to trade for a generator????!!!!!

    They was given a brand new sthil chain saw by the production company which they was seen using and a cord of wood is only 4 foot x 4 foot x 8 foot.
    Since they claim to live off the land wood heat should be natural to them as duck to water and only take about 4 hours at most for a 50 year old man to Hual, cut, split and stack 1 cord.
    I know as my husband does this about 20 cords per season for our own wood heat.

    So 5 young men could easily get it done in less than a hour but yet they drive all over burning lots of gas, begging, begging, begging locals to give them a cord of wood so they can trade for a generator which the production company had already bought for them

    If that does not tell everybody how cityfid the whole family is, something is wrong

    • Begging is what they always do. Daddy has taught them all how to do it. They will all be in Hell when Pappy dies!!! Why does Discovery air a show about homeless people begging???

    • Betty, do you recall why they went all over trying to find, in your words “begging”, a cord of wood? The man they were bartering with wanted a particular species of tree that the Brown’s didn’t have at their disposal. I believe the species of tree was poplar. Whatever species that tree seemed to burn hotter and longer so that’s why this guy wanted it.

  15. The family left season 1 in mid November 2012 and went to live the winter out in Dallas tx
    That’s how Alaska bush they are.

  16. The Alaska Bush People are as fake as it gets
    During season 1 they only stayed in the so called trappers shack they built for 1 week or so, the eat food from hotel in churns that feed and housed the production crew, about a week after they started shooting season 1 in mid October temp dropped to below freezing and they moved to the hotel in chit a until the Parkslope production company found a place for them at mile .1 old Richardson hey where they all lived in warmth and comfort, only a few meals was ever cooked outside, they did not live off the land, in fact there was a home only 200 feet from there reapers shack which was owned by true Alaskans who lived in Alaska for about 40 years

    They built very little of their home, just the floor and not even all that, the rest was contracted out to 2 local copper center carpenters.
    The house or shell of a house was completely removed shortly after filming stopped in mid November 2012 at their trappers shack located at mile 93.5 Richardson hwy on the road system. They did not live off the road system in the bush as they claimed, that was all fake as fake can be. If they was such bush people why did the production company pay for armed hunters to surposely protect the brown family for bears that did not exist in that area.

  17. I enjoy every episode and watch them over and over. It is refreshing to see a family who lives a very rustic, subsistence lifestyle, complete with hunger, cold and hardship. Most of us won’t tolerate that, but it is their chosen lifestyle. What is really neat is the loving family relationship they have been raised to value as well as their Christian beliefs. Will it be challenging for these young men to find wives who want to live this type of life? You bet….but it will sure be fun watching it unfold if there are more episodes. Please don’t cancel this unique show.

  18. I am sad if the Bush People truly have been cancelled. The Brown family values & life style was refreshing. I enjoyed every episode & hope the charges will get drop.

    Please bring The Alaskan Bush Family back.

  19. I love the browns and miss seeing them everyweek. If I can find out about browntown I would move in a heart beat and leave city life behind. So for now please bring back the show. PLEASE BRING THEM BACK

Comments are closed.

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.