Jinger Duggar Reveals How ‘Duck Line’ and Penny Games Corralled 19 Siblings on Reality Show
I’ll untangle this for you, since heaven knows you’d be lost without a guide to Duggar family etiquette. Jinger Duggar Vuolo just peeled back the curtain on the Duggars’ reality-show prep in a recent episode of The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, and it’s every bit as meticulous as you’d expect. She admitted that when cameras first rolled for 14 Children and Pregnant Again! in 2004, her parents had her and her siblings scrubbing their white baseboards until they gleamed. You heard that right—these kids weren’t just keeping their rooms tidy; they were enlisted to deep-clean walls and moldings to meet television-ready standards. “We cleaned like crazy,” Jinger confessed, crediting her mom’s chore-driven household with teaching them the art of spotless presentation before any on-camera magic began.
But cleanliness was merely the opening act. According to Jinger, Jim Bob turned van rides into competitive sport by rewarding the first kid who clicked their seatbelt with a penny—and bonuses for junk-busting the family’s 15-passenger shuttle bus. She described a running tally that made buckling up feel like a carnival game, complete with cash prizes for chores. And just in case the Duggar brood looked like a chaotic mob on camera, her parents introduced “code O,” shorthand for “code order,” so the 19 children lined up by birthdate—youngest at the front, eldest at the back—“like a pack of ducks.” Any straggler got a sharp, “Hop in line. What are you doing?” from Jim Bob or Michelle, ensuring that opening-credits shot was always picture-perfect.
Throughout the podcast, 10-year-old Jinger admitted she felt “nervous” about strangers filming every meal and chore. Producers would instruct them to act natural once the cameras were rolling, which, she said, was harder than it sounds when you’re not even supposed to glance at the lens. Over 17 years on TLC, the Duggar clan ballooned to 19 kids, and Jinger only grasped how unusual her upbringing was once she became a mom herself. Between homeschooling marathons, a shuttle-bus convoy for family outings, and her mother’s record-shattering brood, the Duggars played by their own rulebook—one that left viewers simultaneously fascinated and bewildered.
So there you have it: chore charts, penny incentives, duck-style formations and white-glove inspections were all in a day’s work for the Duggars when reality TV fame beckoned. Glad I could clear that up for you.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and People Magazine, Dotdash Meredith
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
