10 Things You Didn’t Know About Duck Dynasty
Published on August 26, 2013. Updated August 28, 2015Duck Dynasty, the runaway hit A&E television series entering its fourth season this month, features a family of Louisiana duck hunters living their version of the American dream, camo-style. The Robertson family, headed up by patriarch Phil Robertson, owns and runs the popular duck call company Duck Commander. The series features the antics of the family as they struggle to maintain their Christian family values amidst the encroachment of financial success and modern American culture. Here are 10 things you may not know about Duck Dynasty.
1. Phil and Kay Robertson have 4 sons, not 3, as viewers may believe after watching the series. Elder son Alan, who is a minister, has rarely made an appearance on the show. He is the only son who does not sport a beard. The remaining sons are: Jase, the COO of the company who creates the duck calls by hand, Willie, the CEO of the company, and Jep, the youngest, who is involved with photography and videography.
2. Phil Robertson served as the starting quarterback for Louisiana Tech for 2 years. He later finished college with a Master’s degree in education. When considering pursuing a career in professional football, Phil decided against it because he did not want to give up his lifestyle of hunting and fishing in the backwoods of Louisiana.
3. Phil’s brother Si, one of the quirkiest members of the family, is always seen with a jug of iced tea. But don’t think that he’s drinking that typical Southern version of sweet tea: Si is drinking unsweetened tea from that Tupperware cup his mother sent him when he was in Vietnam. And have you noticed that Si’s beard is uneven? Half of Si’s beard gets regularly caught up between the bottom of his gun and his shoulder, resulting in that uneven appearance.
4. Jase’s first date with his wife Missy was a fake date, fabricated to make an ex-girlfriend jealous. He and Missy have three children, the eldest of whom is named ‘Reed’. One of Jase’s jobs at Duck Commander is testing the reeds in the duck commander duck calls. He recently created a duck call that has 3 reeds called the ‘Triple Threat’.
5. Can you do the math? Kay married Phil when she was 16. They got married in 1966.
6. Phil created the original duck commander duck call in 1972. That year he earned $8000 from sales.
7. Willie has worn a bandana across his forehead for years in order to keep his hair out of his eyes. After A&E complained that the staff couldn’t keep the brothers straight, he was asked to choose one bandana to identify himself. He now wears the signature stars and stripes bandana on every episode.
8. Willie’s favorite gun is his hunting rifle, a 7mm magnum Savage, not a shotgun, as viewers might suppose.
9. Willie Robertson’s net worth stands at $20 million. Yes, that’s right: Willie parlayed that savvy business degree into a whopping income after developing a brilliant marketing scheme that helped make Duck Commander into the multi-million dollar company it is today.
10. Jase Robertson really was kicked out of a New York City hotel recently by a hotel employee who apparently mistook him for a homeless person. Jase handled the employee’s mistake with grace and returned to the hotel.
Duck Dynasty airs on A&E on Wednesday evenings, where the Robertson clan will continue to make millions of viewers ‘happy happy happy’.