Entertainment

John-David Duggar Finally Introduced Abby To The 'Counting On' Audience

by Josie Rhodes Cook

The moment many Duggar fans have been anxiously waiting for finally arrived on a recent episode of Counting On. On Oct 2., John-David Duggar finally introduced his fiancée to Counting On viewers, after many years of joking that he would be a "bachelor to the rapture." And fans are pretty excited to welcome Abbie Burnett to all the Counting On chaos.

In July, John-David and Abbie got engaged, according to a joint statement on the Duggar family website. But it wasn't until the end of the most recent season of Counting On that Abbie was formally introduced to the Counting On audience.

The show's schedule rarely follows the life of the Duggars in real time, and is often at least a few months behind when it comes to airing footage from big events in the lives of the family. But the Duggar family has made no secret of Abbie's presence in John-David's life on its website and on social media. In fact, John-David and Abbie already have a joint Instagram account — its first post dates back to late June, and it only has seven photos as of Tuesday, but it's there. And it offers an interesting glimpse into the lives of the newest Duggar couple.

The video included in the family's announcement about the engagement featured a smiling and giggling Abbie as John-David explained that they got engaged. "We've been ready for this step for a little while," John-David explained. "But it was really just...I had a lot of things I wanted to get done to make it really special."

And now, enough time has passed on the TLC timetable that apparently it was time to take the next step and introduce Abbie to the many Counting On viewers as well. That's no small feat, either; almost every Duggar courtship on the show eventually led to several episodes featuring the couples' courtship, engagement, and wedding, and it all starts with that first introduction.

As of Tuesday morning, the scene in which John-David introduced the audience to Abbie and explained how he introduced her to his super-sized family is not yet available to watch TLC's YouTube channel. But basically, after Josiah Duggar and Lauren Swanson's wedding, the other Duggars started questioning who would be the next Duggar to walk down the aisle, and it quickly became clear that it's John's turn next.

John-David then did a talking head interview, and invited Abbie to join him, officially introducing her to viewers at home for the first time.

One quick glance at the comments on the few photos John-David and Abbie have on their Instagram account shows just how excited Counting On fans are for the couple. In the replies for two photos the couple posted on Monday, reactions ranged from "John u look so happy. Words probably aren't necessary as your eyes say it all," to "I just watched tonights episode where you first introduce abby and Lord you to [sic] are perfect togeather [sic]."

Even though Abbie was just introduced for the first time on TLC's reality series following the Duggar family, the couple are actually already engaged and likely have a wedding date set in real life. A wedding invitation for John-David and Abbie's big day recently leaked, and shows the wedding date as Nov. 3 of this year, according to In Touch Weekly. But the official Duggar family website doesn't confirm that news, so take it with a grain of salt in case the invitation was doctored — or there's another explanation.

While John-David and Abbie have been courting for awhile now, and have been engaged for several months, Counting On fans just "met" the newest Duggar fiancé on the show. And between explaining courting, planning for and filming an engagement, and all the steps that go into planning for a wedding, there'll probably be plenty of time for viewers to get to know Abbie on the program before she and John-David finally walk down the aisle.