The next season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter is upon us, with Season 2B scheduled to begin airing later this month. Before MTV’s now-thirty-something “teen moms” can trash up our TV screens, though, the network has given us a sneak peek at the storylines each of the girls will be dealing with this season.
Naturally, The Ashley has decided to rank the storylines in order of most-interesting to “why the hell is this person still on the show?”
All eight ‘Next Chapter’ girls— Maci Bookout, Leah Messer, Cheyenne Floyd, Amber Portwood, Catelynn Lowell, Jade Cline, Ashley Jones and Briana DeJesus— will be back for Season 2B. (As The Ashley previously told you, MTV was “one and done” with Jenelle Evans and booted her from the show after just one season.)
Here, The Ashley weighs in on which storylines she’s most looking forward to this season.
Most-Interesting: Amber Portwood
While any ‘Teen Mom’ fan would argue that Amber herself is far from interesting– largely due to the fact that the infamous couch queen does very little “mothering” on this show to begin with– Season 2B may finally see Amber forced to face the consequences of her own actions, or rather inactions.
In the new trailer, Amber reveals that she still hasn’t spoken to her teenage daughter Leah, potentially since June, the month that Amber’s former fiancé Gary Wayt “went missing” after attending Amber’s brother’s wedding in North Carolina. (Leah’s dad, Gary Shirley, revealed on TikTok in August that Leah hadn’t seen Amber since Gary 2.0’s Great Escape, though it’s unclear when the mom and daughter last spoke to each other.)
While Amber may be expecting Leah to welcome her back into her life, it appears that Leah isn’t even open to the idea of calling Amber “mom” these days.
“At this point I don’t want Amber to step up,” Leah says of making amends with her mom Amber.
The Ashley is likely not the only viewer hoping that MTV actually covers Amber’s Christmas Eve meltdown on TikTok Live, in which she made serious (and horrible) allegations against Gary Shirley.
Interesting: Ashley Jones
In one of the more emotional moments of the Season 2B trailer, fans see Ashley struggling over her daughter wanting to visit her dad, Ashley’s estranged husband Bar Smith, behind bars.
“Holly wanted to go visit her dad in jail,” Ashley says in the trailer. “It’s just a triggering situation.”
As The Ashley previously told you, Ashley and Bar in the process of divorcing– a move Ashley initiated last summer, less than a month after Bar was arrested on a slew of charges stemming from an incident that occurred between he and Ashley in July. Bar, who had an active warrant out for his arrest at the time of the incident, was charged with Second Degree Kidnapping; Coercion Constituting Domestic Violence with Threat of or Use of Physical Force; Residential Burglary; and Aggravated Stalking. He currently remains in jail and his case is set to go to trial March 31.
After facing criticism in November from Bar’s mom, Shen Williams, for booking all of Bar’s available jail visits, Ashley fired back, claiming she was booking the jail video visits so that Holly could see her dad, not to visit Bar herself.
Interesting: Catelynn Lowell
It appears that Catelynn’s segments of the new season will be devoted to her campaign against adoption and the parents of her biological daughter, Carly. (This is, of course, no surprise, given that Cate and her husband Tyler Baltierra spent months calling out Brandon and Teresa Davis on social media for cutting them out of Carly’s life.)
In the trailer, we see Catelynn and Tyler meeting up with their trusty adoption counselor, Dawn. Catelynn vows to continue her quest to get a message to Carly.
“You’ve never had to give a child to somebody!” Catelynn sobs before telling Dawn, “I will not stop until I am dead.”
Semi-Interesting: Mackenzie Douthit
Mackenzie’s storyline will likely be wrapped around her and her fiancé Khesanio Hall going through IVF to have a baby together; however, her scenes in the trailer seem to focus on the love life of her 13-year-old son Gannon.
Apparently, Gannon has become quite the ladies’ man since we last saw him.
“The girls you’ve dated, you’ve broken their heart,” Mack tells him.
“What do you expect?” Gannon replies coolly.
Mackenzie is worried that Gannon will impregnate someone.
“Hopefully I don’t blink and I’m a grandparent!” Mack tells her very worried-looking father on videochat.
Semi-Interesting: Maci Bookout
Maci’s storylines will— as per usual— center around Bentley and her ex, Ryan Edwards. As The Ashley previously reported, MTV was there to celebrate at Bentley’s 16th birthday party, which was attended by Ryan and his pregnant fiancé Amanda Conner.
“Are you gonna let him run wild like you did at 16?” Ryan asks Maci.
“Not a chance!” she replies.
Although Maci’s storylines are usually slumber-inducing (unless she’s talking about Ryan or Bentley), having Amanda around may help wake things up a bit. And fans appear to be eager to see how fresh-from-the-‘hab Ryan and Amanda will handle parenting their newborn.
The last part of the trailer is perhaps the most-interesting though: Maci tells Bentley that most teens who find themselves with an “Oopsie Baby” aren’t lucky enough to use it to score an MTV paycheck for 16+ years.
“Don’t think that if you get pregnant, you’re going to get a TV show for 16 years!” Maci tells her son.
Yawn: Leah Messer
Leah’s segments will seemingly be focused on her daughters, Ali and Aleeah, turning 15 years old and beginning to date. In the trailer, we see that Aleeah is already being gifted jewelry by her gentlemen callers.
“Where’d you get that ring?” Leah asks Aleeah, who tells her that “my little boyfriend got it.”
Major Yawn: Briana DeJesus
Briana is finally out of Kail Lowry exes to date, so there will be no storylines about that. In the trailer, Bri talks to her baby daddy Devoin Austin and is worried that their daughter Nova will “follow in” Briana’s footsteps.
Snoozefest: Jade Cline & Cheyenne Floyd
Jade and Cheyenne barely even made the trailer, making us assume that they have no interesting storylines this season.
‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ returns January 30 on MTV. Watch the Season 2B trailer below!
RELATED STORY: Cheyenne Floyd & Zach Davis Spearhead Huge Effort to Help California Wildfire Victims; MTV Declines to Film it for ‘Teen Mom’
(Photos: MTV; Instagram)
29 Responses
Amber- Don’t understand how she can live 30mins from her daughter & not be involved. I have a daughter whose 16 & we do everything together she’s my best friend.
Leah- She’s just boring! She has to give a 2hr sermon anytime she explains something. She dates weird men who like to dress up more than her.
Briana- She’s a mess in both her public life & personal life. She’ll sleep with anything that walks especially if Kail’s touched it first. Her mom cries way too much & her sister thinks everyone needs to know her opinion at all times.
Maci- She’s the only normal one!
Cate & Ty- They both are horrible parents. They both need to grow up & think about how them bad mouthing Carly’s adoptive parents is going to affect Carly’s opinion of them in the future. They need to think about how their OF content is going to shape their other children’s lives. I love how they both slammed Farrah for her work in the sex industry yet here they are doing the same thing but its okay for them.
Cheyenne- There’s nothing intesting about her story at all. Her storyline is simply just being black.
Mackenzie- I can’t stand her voice. Unless she gets to talk trash on her ex Josh I don’t think she’d even show up to film. Her goal to find her kids a new man to call daddy is overrated.
MTV just needs to cut the show at this point.
Amber is getting on my nerves with the whole “woe is me” attitude. And she thinks trashing her dad online will help her relationship with Leah?! You screwed that relationship YOURSELF, not Gary, not Kristina or anyone else. You did it to yourself. And before you finally realize it is YOU who is the problem and that you should fix yourself, she will never call you mom again. Leah has KRISTINA, someone who has always been there for her, unlike you. It wouldn’t surprise me if she calls her ‘mom’ privately, I’m sure Kristina loves hearing that.
At this point, there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, interesting, valuable, educational or positive in the storyline that comes with C&T. The only thing these two produce currently, other than four beautiful little girls (who all deserve the world, as do all children), is trauma. All of that trauma is being placed on other people, though, not just themselves, and it is 100% intentional.
Was their experience and will it likely always remain traumatic for them? Absolutely, and it’s going to take a lifetime of work, healing, regressing, probably regrets and a whole hell of a lot of soul searching to make something positive out of that (not that they have taken ANY of those steps, yet, though)
Does that give them a right to then foist that trauma on to others, especially children? Hell to the fuck no
Honestly, this whole TM franchise is doing more harm than good to the children born into it at this point, and I do mean ALL of the children born into it. Even those who don’t have such horrendous parents/birth givers. The children didn’t and can’t consent to their entire lives being made into fodder for god knows what. Granted, they benefit financially, sort of, but at a certain point even that benefit is negated by the negative impact being a “on tv kid” or even just “a kid whose parent(s) share too much online” can cause. They can’t have just a regular old childhood with all it’s bumps, bruises, triumphs and passions, because their entire lives are still under a microscope.
This was a well-intended project that should have ended years ago, or at the very least, not continued for years on end with the same participants. Show what life is like being a pregnant teen, then a teen mom, and maybe a very young adult mom….then GTFO of their lives so the kids can grow and flourish. If they falter, they falter, if they rise up, they rise up, but they don’t need to be in the spotlight either way. Kids that come from these kinds of families don’t do nearly as well as people think they do, and often times they have a myriad of problems associated with it. Everyone around them knows everything about them, and their parents, sometimes even more than they themselves know. Kids don’t need that kind of baggage unless you want them to be maladjusted adults who can’t function properly without it and eventually spiral into…..whatever fresh hell they eventually spiral into.
I agree with everything you said. At this point, MTV should just go back to playing music like it was intended to.
I will strictly be watching to see Amber’s tantrum about Leah flat out saying she wants nothing to do with her. Actively waiting for Leah to serve her w/ cease and desist and restraining order
Cate, Tyler and Amber need restraining orders against them ASAP.
Or orders of protection. It’s just too mentally damaging what they are doing.
I’ll wait for the Ashley recap. I’m sure it will be better than watching. This ding-dang show ran it’s course. It’s not even a train wreck that we want to see anymore.
It’s being stuck behind one of the mile-long trains in rush hour traffic.
Amber and Ryan just might be made for each other.. two peas in a pod. Carolyn and Tyler are so trashy.. you gave her up for adoption. You don’t get to stalk her and harass her family. You are embarrassing her. She is probably a very classy girl with high morals. She is embarrassed by them I promise.. the life Carly lives is one of proper manners and living right. What these two are doing is highly inappropriate
The fact that Cate and Tyler will devote a new season to continuing to trash Carly’s parents is disgusting. They claim it’s about Carly but they would never do that to her if they actually loved her, this is all about themselves.
And MTV* for making the choice to cover their total asshat, bullshit, nonsensical ranting. I really hope Carly herself slaps a cease & desist/restraining order on these clowns.
Tyler blocked me on Twitter because I told him his tirades about Brandon and Theresa are insane.
I got blocked a long time ago for trying to give them resources to help them cope with their trauma and finding better ways to remain (assuming B&T want them to ) in Carly’s life without being so destructive to everyone involved in both families. Shrugs.
They honestly don’t care what damage they cause, they get paid either way, and the drama of it all pays them more then being good people ever will, apparently. I guess it’s that whole tangible temporary financial reward vs intangible lifetime of happiness, good will, and amazing memories reward and they prefer the former…fkn weirdos. I just can’t imagine being that kind of person. I will (and have) gladly give up a paycheck today for amazing moments and memories today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life
….then again, maybe I’m the weirdo and my priorities are skewed, lmao.
Can we have a Poll for who we do think will be the first TM baby to have a baby? I still think Jace. With Lincoln a close second.
I’ve always thought the same with Jace and Lincoln because his mom is messy AF and his dad is a dog when it comes to women. But sounds like Gannon is hot on their heels and Mac is not the most vigilant of mothers, especially if she has another kid. Bentley is a wild card – handsome so he probably gets the girls, but also seems to have a lot going for him that he won’t want to mess up. Aleeha probably won’t follow in her mother’s path because she has a solid father and no daddy issues. Addie OTOH is at risk because she doesn’t get the time and attention from her dad that she needs.
Sophia
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!
Obviously, hopefully NO ONE. But I am afraid Jenelle’s kids, esp Jace and Kaiser, with such pos of a mother (and Kaiser with a crazy mofo father, Jace’s is at least not really around, Kaiser’s is just a lunatic) might be going that way.
I think this whole shit show is done. Stop filming and make there lazy arses get real jobs.
Bar is in jail because he allegedly committed serious domestic violence and abuse. It wasn’t an incident involving the two of them. It was abuse and she was the victim. When you call it, “an incident that occurred between the two of them”, you are putting some of the fault on her. It is not her fault.
I rather read the recaps than watch them on tv especially when you have not one BUT TWO psychopaths and a follower!!!! With one psychopath trying to make amends to her daughter but it’s too little too late for them while the other one is so DESPERATE FOR A STORYLINE!!! And follower is not far behind!!! It’s long overdue for the show to let the ship sail into the ocean or bring back the original ones!!!
I know this sucks to say: get the actual OG’s back in the lineup. Chelsea, Cait, Farrah, Amber, Jenelle, Maci, Leah. The newbies need to find other avenues of revenue. The originals were the catapult. Get the OG’s back!!!!
Absolutely no Jenelle.
Absolutely no to Amber. And Cate.
We have them now and they add no value.
Also keep Kail and Farrah gone.
Maci can go too.
So the focus on the season is who will be a 30-something grandma first?
Have we not seen that coming for the past decade, only we THOUGHT we were joking?
Oh godI’m so sick of kate and tyler.Being whiney bitches