Joseph Duggar: Is ‘Heartbroken’ Duggar Son Courting Tori Bates In Wake Of Josh’s Cheating Scandal?
Joseph Duggar and a few other male members of the Duggar family make a surprise appearance in one of the promos for the new three-part TLC special, Jill & Jessa: Counting On. Most Duggar fans assumed that the special would focus solely on Jill and Jessa Duggar, but numerous other members of the family have appeared in promos for the show. If Jill and Jessa’s siblings get a chance to update Duggar fans on what’s going on in their lives, is it possible that Joseph Duggar will reveal that he’s courting Tori Bates during tonight’s special?
In a Jill & Jessa: Counting On preview shared by People, Joseph Duggar doesn’t get to talk about what’s he’s been up to since 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled. Instead, the 20-year-old is asked to share his feelings about his older brother’s cheating scandal. This summer, Josh Duggar was forced to admit to having an extramarital affair. Hackers leaked the account information of millions of people who were using the Ashley Madison website to cheat on their significant others, and Josh’s name was discovered in the data dump. Members of the Duggar family, including Joseph Duggar and Jinger Duggar, are using the upcoming Jill & Jessa: Counting On specials to share their feelings about their brother’s cheating scandal.
“It blew my mind. I had no idea,” a teary-eyed Joseph Duggar says in a Jill & Jessa promo. “I don’t think that there’s any way any of us would have known that my brother’s living such a secret life.”
“Whenever somebody you respect the most is willing to get up and proclaim what we believe as Christians, about being true to your wife, you never would expect that person to be the one that’s involved in it, and it broke my heart.”
Josh Duggar was the only male member of the Duggar family whose courtship was featured on the Duggar family’s TLC reality series, 19 Kids and Counting. TLC cancelled the show shortly after it was discovered that Josh had sexually molested a babysitter and four of his sisters, so viewers never got to see the other adult Duggar sons — Joseph, Josiah, and John-David — attempting to woo any potential future wives. However, this doesn’t mean that Duggar fans have lost interest in the boys’ love lives.
Joseph’s presence in the Jill & Jessa: Counting On promo will likely make many Duggar fans wonder what’s going on with the former 19 Kids and Counting star. Unlike Jessa and Jill, Joseph doesn’t use social media to keep Duggar fans updated on what he’s been up to. However, he does occasionally pop up on Instagram, Tumblr, and other websites. In fact, Duggar watchers on the Freejinger website recently discovered an Instagram photo that appears to show Joseph Duggar getting pretty cozy with 19-year-old Bringing Up Bates star Tori Bates. The Duggar and Bates families are very close, so Joseph and Tori have known each other for quite some time.
The Dedicated to the Duggars Tumblr reports that the photo was originally shared by a girl named Devonna Killin on Instagram. She has since deleted it, so perhaps it reveals something that the Duggars and the Bateses don’t want people to know about.
The last known Duggar courtship fizzled out fast, it’s possible that the Duggars have now decided to keep all courtships under wraps until things start getting really serious. As the Inquisitr previously reported, 19-year-old Josiah Duggar and 17-year-old Marjorie Jackson called off their courtship shortly after the news about Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation scandal broke. The teens’ relationship only lasted four months after they first announced their courtship in a YouTube video that featured a guest appearance by Josh Duggar.
The photo of Joseph Duggar and Tori Bates was taken at Crown College of the Bible in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joseph became the first member of his family to leave home for college earlier this year, and it just so happens that Tori Bates is also a student at Crown. Her family’s home is just a short drive away from Crown, so Joseph spends a lot of time with the Bates’. Back in January, Tori’s brother, Lawson Bates, shared a photo that shows Joe and Tori enjoying dinner at Cracker Barrel with a few other members of the Bates family.
Can’t beat @CrackerBarrel pic.twitter.com/ZSWEu3oZ6Z
— Lawson Bates (@lawbates) January 26, 2015
During a February interview with ETonline, Tori’s older sister, Erin Bates Paine, possibly hinted that she knew something was up by saying that a future Bates-Duggar wedding is “almost inevitable.”
On Thursday, Devonna Killin shared another photo of Joseph Duggar and Tori Bates together. It was seemingly taken on their last day of school before heading home for Christmas break.
If Joseph Duggar and Tori Bates are courting, there’s a very slim chance that Joseph will announce the courtship on Jill & Jessa: Counting On. If this happens, it creates quite the predicament for the Duggar and Bates families. If Jill & Jessa: Counting On performs well ratings-wise, TLC might decide to film future specials focused on other members of the Duggar family. The Wrap reports that Jill Duggar’s wedding set a rating record for 19 Kids and Counting, so TLC would likely want to follow a Tori-Joe romance in hopes that it would result in another wedding. However, Tori’s family could also stake a claim on filming the courtship for their family’s UPtv reality series, Bringing Up Bates.
No students at the Crown College of the Bible have reported seeing cameras following Tori Bates and Joseph Duggar around, so if they are involved in a relationship, it likely isn’t being filmed for TLC or UPtv just yet.
If Joseph Duggar and Tori Bates do announce that they’re officially a couple, do you think TLC will jump at the chance to film another Duggar romance?
[Images via Duggar Family Official Facebook, The Bates Family/Instagram]
