Is TLC Unfairly Editing 'Sister Wives'?

Gettyimages | Gabe Ginsberg

Anybody who has been watching the new season of TLC's Sister Wives has likely seen the conflict between Kody Brown and his wives. In the latest episode, Kody pitched the idea of living in one large home to his four wives.

While wife Janelle was enthusiastic about the idea, Christine was anything but. After viewing the episode, Christine felt that TLC was making her look bad. Was the editing deceptive or did it reveal the truth? Is this the first time the sister wives have taken issue with TLC?

Gettyimages | Stephen J. Cohen

Kody has presented a plan for him and his four wives to live in a single home where each wife has her own "quarters." Christine was quick to discuss how much living in a single home is sure to ruin intimacy and privacy in a plural family.

On screen, Christine revels in how happy she is to be the "master" of her own "domain." She is confident as a mother and a wife, and she does not want that to change by living in a single home. She tries to convince Kody that his plan would be terrible for her--but he's not buying it.

Christine reveals that she loves living separately and hopes that the family continues to do so in the future. To Sister Wives producers she says, "Every wife deserves to be loved in her kitchen, and her living room, and wherever, outside. You could never really be an intimate couple, because there was always a chance that another wife could and would and did walk in at any time."

Years ago, three of the wives lived under one roof. Apparently, it led to some awkward situations Christine does not want to revisit.

Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Brown%27s_house_in_Lehi,_Utah.jpg

Christine clearly has bad memories of living in their shared home in Lehigh, Utah. But is TLC being honest?

In a Tweet that emerged since the last episode aired, Christine claimed that she's only edited to be a brat. She claimed that watching her own reaction to Kody's plan simply makes her cringe.

While Christine's Tweet is lighthearted, is she trying to say that TLC is portraying her in a bad light? Are they trying to make her look like the "difficult wife" in order to entice viewers? Are they using her disagreement to create a contentious story for the Brown family?

TLC has been called out for editing before. In December 2019, TLC allegedly edited a conversation on 90 Day Fiance to make a dinner more awkward than it actually was.

Michael Jessen and Juliana Custudio met with Jessen's ex-wife, Sarah, to discuss parenting Sarah and Michael's children. Sarah claimed that TLC edited the dinner to make her look jealous of Juliana. Sarah says this is not the case. In fact, Sarah actually officiated Michael and Juliana's wedding and seemed happy to do so.

Gettyimages | Frederick M. Brown

TLC has even been blamed for deceptive editing on Sister Wives in the past. Fans have called out TLC for hiding Meri Brown's catfishing situation until they were forced to reveal it in the aftermath of news reaching the public. Fans also wonder if TLC edited a story in which Meri was forced to move out of a home due to a rude neighbor.

Some fans of the show have even hinted that the family's financial woes have been largely edited. They frequently discuss the need to sell their former homes while paying nine house payments. In fact, one home Kody and Robyn recently purchased was worth a whopping $900,000.