Update: A surprising number of the responses seem to be coming from the same person (posing as several different people).  I ran through and marked “**spam**” at the top of all of these comments.  I would encourage anyone reading to disregard them, but after much thought I decided to leave them there, thinking you all may be interested to see what is “real” vs. not 

When my friends told me Jon and Kate Gosselin were coming to their church last weekend in Waynesburg, PA, I was PSYCHED at the chance to see them.  The drive is about 4.5 hours, but totally worth it to see my friend AND hear the parents of sextuplets and twins tell their story in person.

What do I like about the show?

• the kids are adorable
• I grew up in a family of 8 kids and some of their interactions remind me of my childhood
• my fiance kinda reminds me of Jon

Visiting my friends and their 1-yr old daughter was great!  We made the trek to PA early on Saturday with plans to hang out on Saturday, attend church on Sunday, go to lunch, and hang out a bit more before heading home.

Jon and Kate were part of two speaking events that day.  One was an hour to tell their story to the church members (which is what I went to), and another a few hours later that required buying $7 tix.  The latter sold out at 500 people.   Although I chose the free event, I thought I’d support them by buying their new book and gave to the donation bucket that was passed around after they spoke.   This made more sense for us since the later event would’ve left us driving home very late at night with work the next morning.

As church began, I looked around and noticed that the couple was nowhere to be found.  This was pretty understandable since their presence could distract from the ceremony itself, which seemed to be about 70% weekly churchgoers and 30% guests.  When it came time for the sermon, the pastor introduced Jon & Kate and an overhead projector flashed images of the Gosselins over the past 4 years.  Finally it was time to see the couple I’ve loved watching for the past year!

They walked out and took their seats.  Rather than doing what was initially expected, they opted to do something “different” and have a question and answer session for the entire hour.  I was a bit thrown off when they didn’t at least spend 5 minutes to sum up their story.  After all, several of the audience were simply church members who had never heard of “Jon & Kate plus 8″.  Although most of their answers were short (Ex: Q- “Where are your kids right now?” A- “At home.”), there were a few answers that reminded me of the Jon and Kate I see on TV, joking back and forth on their “interview” couch.

When the hour was up, they made their exit and church ended.  Clutching my book excitedly, I waited in the hallway with another 15 or so fans, hoping to say “hello” and possibly snag an autograph.  10-15 mins later the door opened and out they came, glancing indifferently our way before walking the other way, out the back door, and straight into their car.

A bit turned off, my mood lifted again when the (amazingly nice) youth pastor took my book and said he’d try to get me an autograph in the afternoon session.

I know I shouldn’t expect anything, but I was a bit disappointed.  They said they travel to various churches to “tell their story”, but while they were here they treated it as if it were just a job, and one they only do for the money.  They did only what they had to, and I didn’t see much friendliness from either of them along the way.   I know they don’t have to say hello to their fans, but without us they wouldn’t have the show.  PLUS they received quite a bit of $$ from the donations, ticket sales, and pictures.  Unfortunately for me I assumed they’d be much more friendly…maybe even thankful for the opportunity to earn money and “tell their story” as they claimed they wanted to do.

I can’t decide whether I want to watch the show anymore.  The kids will always be cute, but I can’t say I have quite the admiration for Jon & Kate that I had a week ago.

Lesson of the day: Reality TV doesn’t equal reality