TLC will blow the lid off the controversial FLDS with two new reality shows premiering later this fall.
“Breaking The Faith” and “Escaping the Prophet” will both deal with FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) — whose followers practice polygamy — and, by extension, with Warren Jeffs, its ex-president who’s serving life in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls.
The six-episode “Breaking The Faith,” premiering Nov. 24, focuses on eight young men and women — who left FLDS by force or by choice — and who are now trying to rebuild their lives.
The young men are known in FLDS circles as “lost boys” and have been exiled from their homes, with no hope of returning. The women, according to TLC, “are escaping the controlling ways of the cult — including arranged marriage and a life of complete submission, known as ‘keeping sweet.’ ”
“Escaping The Prophet,” scheduled to premiere in December, will also encompass six episodes in following ex-FLDS member Flora Jessop, whose highly publicized mission has been to “take down one of the most reportedly dangerous polygamist cults in America.” Jessop, who escaped FLDS when she was 16, wrote the 2009 book “Church of Lies” and is currently working with the Arizona Attorney General to help rescue FLDS runaways and “extract” members still in the FLDS community (which is spread out nationwide — with headquarters in Utah).
According to a show description, Jessop uses “her difficult memories and her passion to help others” and “works to deliver justice to the very people that she feels wronged her.”
The reviled Jeffs, 57, was arrested in 2007 after being placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List after fleeing Utah when he was charged with allegedly arranging illegal marriages between male FLDS followers and underage girls.
His conviction on those charges was eventually overturned.
He was then extradited to Texas — where he was convicted for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl.