For Teen Mom fans, Maci Bookout's stint on Naked and Afraid is a dream reality television crossover. But if seeing her on the survival show is the first time you've come across her, you're going to need a little background. Starting from the beginning, what season of Teen Mom is Maci Bookout on and how long ago was it?
Bookout is an MTV OG. She was first cast on 16 and Pregnant back in 2009, which was the show's first season. Later that year she was appeared on the spinoff show, Teen Mom and appeared in every single one of its four seasons until the show ended. When MTV rebooted the franchise in 2015, Bookout was cast once again, along with fellow former Teen Mom stars Catelynn Baltierra, Amber Portwood, and Farrah Abraham. And Bookout has been consistently appearing on the show ever since. Now 26 years old, Bookout has three kids: 9-year-old Bentley with her ex, Ryan Edwards, and then 3-year-old Jayde and 2-year-old Maverick with her husband, Taylor McKinney.
Bookout has really been through it all on the show, going through some of the most important events of her life in front of a national audience. She gave birth to Bentley on 16 and Pregnant, broke up with Edwards, dated her friend Kyle King for two seasons of Teen Mom, eventually found McKinney, and had two more kids. This season, she revealed that she had a miscarriage last year and is even considering adopting. Nearly 10 years since her MTV debut, Bookout has branched out into several projects — including braving the wilderness in the nude.
Bookout recently revealed that she's taking part in Discovery's extreme survival show, Naked and Afraid and in her introductory video, Bookout seems ready for anything. She's heading down to Nicaragua with Justin Tuell, an ICU nurse, and has to spend 21 days without any food, shelter, water, or clothing to test her survival skills. And she's ready. She said, "Being a mom prepares you for a situation like this because the motherly instinct kicks in and gives you an edge." I mean, if anyone can make it in the wilderness completely naked for two weeks, it's probably Bookout. As everyone has seen, she's been through a lot worse.
Bookout tends to be a fan favorite, although her history on 16 and Pregnant has had its ups and downs. But that's all sort of the point. When she was cast in the show, she originally said that she hoped she could be a role model for young women. Bookout said on Today, "I really just wanted to show girls how hard it was to be a teen parent. I wanted girls who might get pregnant to see there are options out there to move forward with your life and still have goals.”
It's not an easy thing to come of age and have children on a reality TV show. This is also why Bookout was a little nervous about coming back to Teen Mom in 2015 as reported by People. She wasn't going to do it at first because she wasn't sure she could handle the scrutiny again. Bookout explained to the magazine:
I was definitely apprehensive. But I thought it was really cool, and all of us are in such different places in our lives that it would be nice for the fans to see how much we have grown.
Well, except for one person in Bookout's opinion. Her relationship with fellow Teen Mom OG cast-member, Abraham is anything but easy. She told E! News, "I don’t hold a grudge towards her, I’m not mad at her, I don’t judge her — but there’s also a fine line with what I find appropriate, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for my 6-year-old son to be involved with some of the things that Farrah is involved with."
So if you want to learn more about Bookout after watching her brave the wilderness on Naked and Afraid, there is plenty of material.
