It’s a girl for Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth. The September 15 episode of Counting On features the couple’s great gender unveiling celebration for their daughter Evelyn Mae Forsyth, who was born on August 21. However, critics who saw a preview of the episode had some issues with how the couple decided to announce the gender of their baby.
In the episode, Joy-Anna and Austin decided to reveal the gender of their baby in an unforgettable way. The couple had a helicopter piloted by her brother John Duggar drop loads of pink confetti all over the field as they and members of their family watched.
Gender reveal is something of a tradition for the Duggars. Joe and Kendra Duggar hit their first child with the cake on her first birthday. Lauren and Josiah Duggar used balloons filled with confetti to reveal the gender of their first child. John and Abby Duggar used a plane with a banner to reveal the gender of their baby. But with so many babies, coming up with a new way to announce whether it’s a boy or a girl has been a bit of a challenge.
“We feel that the family has used up just about every possible gender disclosure,” says Jessa Duggar in the episode. “It’s so hard to come up with something original,” says Austin Forsyth. “So many babies.”
But Joy-Anna and Austin have proven they can do the job with their helicopter stunt. The moment was especially meaningful for the couple given that Joy-Anna had a 20 week miscarriage in 2019.
Counting On: Critics react to Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth’s gender reveal
Although the unveiling of the Joy-Anna and Austin gender was a hit with the Duggar family, some commentators on a TLC Instagram post promoting the episode were less impressed. They accused the pair of littering.. “What an excellent way to mess up planet Earth,” wrote a critic on Instagram.
Several also pointed out that an episode celebrating a dramatic gender seemed inappropriate given that a recent wildfire in California was started by revealing a gender gone wrong.
“A fire recently started in CA bc of a stupid gender revelation. Guess what, it could be 1 of 2 genders. Exciting,” another remarked. “Can we stop this? The world is on fire. Some of them because of the gender reveal nonsense. Seriously TLC. Read the room,” wrote a fed-up viewer.
A few had a problem with the concept of gender reveals completely. “Announcing to the world what the shape of your child’s genitals is with balloons, smoke, confetti and pyrotechnics seems exaggerated, unnecessary and rather archaic,” one person explained.
Why do you call her Dugger? They are married. Did she not change her name?
The major fire that was caused by the gender reveal gone wrong is even more tragic now. It was announced this weekend that a firefighter died yes died trying to fight the fire caused by the gender reveal. So think about it for a second. A man lost his life who probably had a family just so you could tell the world what your baby’s sex was. A life lost because you felt it so necessary to have an over the top sex announcement.
Even the woman that is credited for the first gender reveal is asking people to stop stop stop doing gender reveals. What happened to just waiting until the baby was born or if you know what your baby is, telling your friends and family in person, via a telephone call or an email. And what’s up with all these screaming siblings mad because the baby’s going to be the wrong sex in their opinion. Please. Wait until the kid’s born and then let the sibling see it. If they’re unhappy at the gender reveal because it’s the wrong sex they’re really not going to be any happier when you bring that baby home so you might as well put it off for a few months.