Zach Roloff’s memories of filming for reality TV aren’t exactly fond.
Zach and his family shared their personal lives with TLC viewers for nearly two decades.
Season 25 of Little People, Big World left viewers wondering whether the long-running series had ended for good.
Zach, his wife, Tori, and their kids, Jackson, Lilah, and Josiah, have hung up their hats on filming for reality television.
These days, Zach is still sharing some of his personal life with LPBW fans, but in a different format.
He and Tori launched their own podcast, Raising Heights, where they share an unfiltered journey into their real lives off-camera.
Zach Roloff dishes on filming for Little People, Big World
In their most recent episode, Zach opened up about filming behind the scenes for LPBW from a young age and how much he despised being in a “fishbowl.”
Tori kicked off the conversation by asking Zach what it was like filming day-to-day as a young kid.
“It was odd because there was always this expectation that I should be doing something right now,” Zach shared.
“When people say reality television, I always think there’s like a little caveat there because, at the end of the day, these people are paying for a crew to be here.”
Zach admitted that filming was “fun at times” but also “very stressful.”
Zach explains the ‘fishbowl effect’
The father of three added that he “could not stand” filming in public, calling it the “fishbowl effect.”
“You’re in a fishbowl [and] everyone’s staring at you,” Zach shared.
According to Zach, when it came time to film in restaurants, producers picked a table smack dab in the middle of the room with the best view and the best lighting, where “everyone around you at the restaurant is staring at this now-movie set.”
Admittedly, Zach felt extremely uncomfortable filming anywhere in public. He shared that traveling in public as a family of little people drew enough attention, and adding a film crew to the mix intensified the stares they got from strangers.
Zach and Tori’s success with their new podcast
It appears that Zach has no qualms about stepping away from reality television. He and Tori seem to enjoy recording their podcast, using it to continue interacting with their fans, but more so on their terms.
As Zach and Tori confessed earlier this year, a major reason for stepping away from filming for reality TV was because it “tears families apart.”
All in all, the couple stands firm in their decision to walk away from TLC.
Explaining why they decided to step away, they shared in an Instagram post, “There were moments in reality tv that we loved and moments that we didn’t, but overall we’re grateful to our crew and our producer, and we’re excited for our next chapter!
Little People, Big World is currently on hiatus on TLC.
I’ll miss them; they were a very sweet family, but I understand their need for privacy. Best of luck to them all!