According to latest “Alaskan Bush People” headlines, the Brown family is a big scandal for living in the wilderness, for not living in the wilderness, and about everything else that can be criticized about a family appearing on a reality television show. Really? Whether it comes to the personal or professional life of the Brown family living in the Alaskan wilderness, some reporters are having a field day in criticizing every aspect of 63-year-old Billy, his wife Ami, and their seven children.

Fortunately, thanks to the responses by “Alaskan Bush People” fans, the reality television show does not only spark criticism, but a lot of compassion – and many heartbreaking confessions.

The Alaskan people money scandal

Most viewers of the Brown folks living in the Alaskan bush have found out that Billy Brown and his second-oldest son Joshua “Bam Bam” Brown were sentenced to 30 days of ankle monitoring after pleading guilty to having deceived the state of Alaska for money. What most viewers are not aware of is the timeline of the events and the role Discovery Channel plays in the money scandal.

Billy and Ami Brown came to Alaska in 1983 in search for a life for themselves and then two children, 3-year-old Matt Brown and 1-year-old Joshua.

Billy Brown, who had grown up in an affluent family in a Fort Worth, Texas, knew all too well about the benefits of having money. However, after losing his sister and parents in a private plane crash and left orphaned, Billy learned that what mattered even more than money was family.

After raising his seven children in the Alaskan outback and self-publishing his book “One Wave at a Time” in 2007, Billy Brown was able to take his family to other places in the United States. The fact that the Brown family did not actually continuously reside in Alaska from 2009 to 2012 was investigated in 2014 when “Alaskan Bush People” started airing on Discovery Channel.

The show  claimed that the Browns had been living in Alaska for the past 30 years.

At the beginning of 2016, Billy and Joshua took a plea deal and were sentenced to 30-day ankle monitoring for lying to the state of Alaska on a Permanent Fund dividend application. In lieu of their guilty plea, the other Brown family members were spared of any charges.

How Discovery Channel describes the Brown family

Discovery Channel’s description of “Alaskan Bush People” today still states that “deep in the Alaskan wilderness lives a newly discovered family who was born and raised wild.” The network continuous to say that “ Billy Brown, his wife Ami and their seven grown children - 5 boys and 2 girls - are so far removed from civilization that they often go six to nine months of the year without seeing an outsider.”

Fans’ heartbreaking confessions

Fans of “Alaskan Bush People” are not deceived by the above description provided by Discovery Channel.

Instead, fans of the Brown family are feeling empathy and are sharing their own struggles on the Brown family’s website pages. How many reality television shows have achieved that?

In regard to the Brown family’s legal trouble with the state of Alaska, fans are confessing that while politicians claim that the economy has improved, the reality is that most everyone is struggling and trying to do the best that they can. Why should the Brown family be any different?

In regard to Matt Brown dealing with a drinking problem and deciding to go into rehab, many more fans are opening up about their own struggles with alcohol and how drinking has destroyed their lives. The mere fact that someone can write a post about their problem on Matt Brown’s fan Facebook page is a positive aspect of the Brown family’s life.

In regard to calling the Brown family “creepy” for living in the Alaskan bush together, fans are expressing that they would love to live away from an impersonal technological-advanced civilization and instead in a family where family members support each other. As one fan shares, “My favorite show. I would love to live this way.”