Doubling Down With the Derricos is back for Season 3 and viewers cannot get enough of the family of 16. Deon and Karen Derrico are showing that large and happy families in the Black community exist, and are thriving! Along with the help of Deon’s mother “GG,” and one family babysitter, the lovebirds are managing 14 growing children and making it look easy along the way.
Season 3 picks up with the possibility of adding to the family. GG and Karen bicker as Karen tries to convince the family why moving to the South would be beneficial. With GG and Deon on one team and Karen on an island by herself, she realizes she’ll have to work her magic in order to make her dream a reality. There are also more serious issues looming, with both Karen and GG having to adjust some things to maintain their health.
And then there’s the marvelous 14. With two teenagers who are boy and girl crazy, as well as and four sets of multiples, there’s never a dull moment. Through it all, Deon and Karen lead with love and ensure that the family stays intact by relying on each other. Deon and Karen spoke to Shadow and Act about all this season has to offer and their hopes for the future.
Their growing children have not been impacted by the fame
The Derrico family has always gotten tons of attention due to being a large family. Now, couple that with having a national platform on a popular reality television, and they are noticed even more. Despite the notoriety, the parents insist they children remain humbled.
“Pretty much the same. We really, really believe in maintaining that real normal, regular sense of life,” Deon explained. “We don’t want them to ever get the big head. So we maintain a very humble, appreciative foundation. And so for the most part, they love it, but they’re not over their heads with it. And it’s very important that both Mommy and I, we maintain that structure and we’re cognizant to make sure that they never veer off with the excitement of it and thinking that they’re bigger than the family itself. Because no one of us is bigger than a group of us. And so we just make it a point to keep reinforcing that. And that’s why we have no problem with it.”
Karen wants the family to relocate to South Carolina to be closer to her family and have more opportunities
This season, Karen desperately wants to move the family from Las Vegas to South Carolina. Trying to convince Deon, a self-proclaimed and proud city boy, has been a hard sell. Karen says Deon was initially open to the idea. But once he told his mother, the fight began.
“My selling point was if he’s in real estate. So of course, it was the prime real estate. I’m thinking we can get to Myrtle Beach and live near the beach. In any event, if anything should ever happen, we could always sell and flip and we’re getting close to that original value. Also, this land is bigger here [in South Carolina] and we can have our own Derrico compound,” Karen said. “I grew up in the country, my family is there, and I wanted to be closer to my family so that they can get to know my mom. We had big deaths in my family – my grandmother passed away, and then five months later, my uncle, who is my grandmother’s son, also passed. So that was a lot to endure being so far away. And for me, I need our children to use those words, as far as cousins and aunts and uncles, in the vocabulary because they don’t have that here.”
The couple admits to having different rules for their daughters vs their sons as the children age
Karen and Deon’s oldest children Darian and Derron are now teenagers and now have dating on the brain. This season, the two will be accompanied on dates with their parents as chaperones. But Deon and Karen say trying accepting this phase of their lives and figuring out how to oversee the dating game is challenging.
As a father, Deon says he’s much more protective over his daughters. “I have a different level of protection over my daughter because she’s a girl. When the boys get older, he’s more adept to be able to protect himself, whereas we have to protect our women at all costs. So I just can’t get away from that programming.”
Karen views things a little differently, explaining that each child is treated as an individual and their level of freedom is based on their level of maturity and skill set. “It’s not a one child fits all, it’s just not that way. For example, our twins, Dallas and Denver, and our quintuplets, yes they are all sets and they’re in a grouping, but they are there’s still individuality.”
Watch the full interview above where the Derricos talk about navigating the tension between Gigi and Karen, Deon’s hesitation of moving to South Carolina, takeaways from this season and more.
The show airs every Tuesday on TLC at 10 pm EST.
