Zach Roloff starred on Little People Big World alongside (most of) his family for 25 seasons, but the father of three revealed this week that appearing on the TLC series wasn’t something he always enjoyed.
On a recent episode of his and wife Tori Roloff’s Raising Heights podcast, Zach reflected on the early days of ‘Little People Big World,’ admitting that while it was “fun at times,” it was also “very stressful.”
“It was odd because there was always this expectation that I should be doing something right now,” he said, as reported by Monsters & Critics. “ … When people say reality television, I always think there’s a little caveat there because, at the end of the day, these people are paying for a crew to be here.”
Regarding the early days of ‘Little People Big World,’ Zach said his mom, Amy Roloff, “did a pretty good job” of keeping Zach and his siblings grounded, noting that the Roloff kids continued attending the same school and kept the same close friends as they had before the show began filming. He also admitted that it was “fun at times” getting to travel to different cities to promote the series.
“But it was also very stressful,” he added. “And some of that is the family dynamic, some of it is how I feel the family handled reality television. My mom and dad did a lot of good things, but then there are times where I’m like, we could have done that better, especially in the last, I don’t know, 10 years probably.”
Zach admitted that he “could not stand” filming the show in public– which he compared to being on a movie set in the middle of a public setting– as it would lead to “everyone staring at you.” He also said the dynamic changed as he got older, as filming the series became “more of a business” than it was in the early seasons.
“ … They did not just sit around all day filming, it was, ‘Hey, here are film days, two days a week,’” he said, calling the format “rigid.”
“I always say, it’s real, like what we’re doing was reality, in a sense, but it was like a scheduled reality,” he added.
As The Ashley previously told you, Zach and Tori announced in February that they were stepping away from the TLC series, citing their three children as “a huge reason,” along with the current situation involving Zach’s dad Matt Roloff and Roloff Farm.
As fans of the show know, Zach and Matt began feuding in May 2022 after Matt announced on social media that he was selling a portion of Roloff Farm, despite previously claiming that he wanted to farm to stay in the Roloff family.
Matt’s announcement seemingly blamed his and ex-wife Amy’s twin sons, Zach and Jeremy Roloff, for having to sell the farm, which proceeded to kick off a public feud between Zach and Matt that played out on both social media and the family’s TLC show.
In May, Zach revealed on an episode of his podcast that the situation with his dad had yet to improve since filming the Season 25 finale of ‘Little People Big World’ nearly a year ago. He also hinted that his father’s “narcissism” and inability to admit that he did anything wrong may be a big reason why the father/son relationship had yet to be repaired.
As of now, TLC has not announced whether or not there will be another season of ‘Little People Big World.’
