Sadly, one child was stillborn, so not 22. Some left home and are in their thirties so rarely 21 under one roof to take care of.
The older children seem to lack any motivation to pursue fulfilling careers, one dropped out of Uni, one lasted five minutes in the RAF. One girl is doing well in a hairdressing apprenticeship. The older lads seem to spend most of their time lolling around in their rooms gaming, don’t do much around the house, washing , vacuuming etc. Noel does lots of diy but they aren’t interested and seem incapable of simple tasks, or being independent or resourceful. One episode showed the older children given the challenge of doing a big shop but they seemed clueless. They don’t seem to have many interests or hobbies, eg learning instruments, art, or do things like army cadets, scouts, Brownies, sports etc. Every birthday and Christmas they have mountains of expensive presents, thrown around everywhere , so must be hard to appreciate them They are always off to Disneyworld in addition to having other holidays, some in their motor home.
Must be difficult to keep them all under control, but Noel and Sue seem very laid back, allowing the younger ones to jump all over the furniture and kitchen surfaces.
People wonder how they afford all this, much is made of the fact that they don’t claim benefits and own a bakery, which some children work in. Their tv show plus repeats on several stations is a steady income, plus you tube and other social media . Also there are books including cookery books. Some items are given to them. They have a hot tub, a big, above ground swimming pool
They recently paid for their daughter’s very expensive wedding at which the bride looked very glum!
They have a lot of dogs, too!
How they are today is a far cry from the very first series, when they were strapped for cash, and I warmed to them for how they coped. Now, it all seems greedy and the programme too contrived. I think fame has somewhat spoiled them, but it was inevitable. The same thing happened in Our Yorkshire farm.