‘Baylen Out Loud’ Star Baylen Dupree on Why Her Family Signed up for Reality TV and How Season 2 Will Tackle Wedding Planning
Baylen Dupree has brought selflessness to reality television. TLC’s “Baylen Out Loud” debuted this year as a chronicle of 22-year-old Dupree’s life, and while she initially grew her profile because of TikTok videos, she was never the typical Gen Z-er posting inane trends and dance routines.
Dupree has Tourette Syndrome, and her symptoms include vocal tics and profane outbursts as a result of coprolalia. While these manifestations can sometimes turn heads when she’s in public in her hometown of Harper’s Ferry, W.V., the condition has been normalized for Dupree’s millions of social media followers, and now the sizable TLC audience.
“With the show, I feel like it gives a wider and broader view and more knowledge of Tourette’s and how I live with it,” she says. “It just opens up a wider range to people to spread awareness or educate.”
Dupree says she is seeing the immediate result of the show’s impact.
“I’ve had an abundance of people come up to me, which is lovely,” she says. “The ones through the show tend to have more in-depth stories. I had someone come up to me at Chipotle and say, ‘My wife has waited 10 years for a story to come out like yours. She teaches special ed kids. I teach behavioral therapy. We see how people are treated differently every day. We live with it, we see it, and you’re making a difference.’”
What makes “Baylen Out Loud” so compelling is that, despite the challenges Dupree faces, she is determined to live a full and rich life. Audiences are introduced to her large family — including her parents and five siblings — and her love story with her boyfriend (and now fiancé!) Colin Dooley.
Watching Dupree’s loved ones navigate through both small challenges, such as her tics interrupting a grocery store trip, to figuring out the mechanics of her someday living with Dooley as their relationship grows, shows the compassion they have for each other. But it’s not all serious, as some of the show’s best moments include Dupree and Dooley’s loving moments and the bickering that inevitably takes place between siblings and parents.
Despite their love for each other, the focus of “Baylen Out Loud” is a real family — and not everyone was initially ready for prime time.
“We all sat down, and it did take some convincing for my siblings to realize that this is for the greater good,” she says. “This is for a bigger and better purpose than ourselves.”
As for Season 2, which has already been ordered by TLC, Dupree says that wedding planning will be her primary focus, but she’s hoping to dive even more into understanding her condition and continuing to educate viewers.
“There will be more public speaking and new medications, different types of therapies, different types of treatments that I’ll be exploring,” she says. “There will be multiple people on with Tourette’s you’ve either seen before, or you haven’t or they’re new.”
And while Dupree has undoubtedly made progress in showing society what her life is like with Tourette’s and coprolalia, she’s quick to note that there is much more work to be done for the cultural perception of the disorder.
“There is still so much more awareness for everybody else,” she says. “This is one case of Tourette’s out of hundreds and thousands and millions of other cases. I’m one person that lives with it, but there are millions of other people out there. I hope it gives everyone a better understanding, but everyone’s case is different. I feel like there’s a lot more that needs to be done.”
Dupree has Tourette Syndrome, and her symptoms include vocal tics and profane outbursts as a result of coprolalia. While these manifestations can sometimes turn heads when she’s in public in her hometown of Harper’s Ferry, W.V., the condition has been normalized for Dupree’s millions of social media followers, and now the sizable TLC audience.
“With the show, I feel like it gives a wider and broader view and more knowledge of Tourette’s and how I live with it,” she says. “It just opens up a wider range to people to spread awareness or educate.”
Dupree says she is seeing the immediate result of the show’s impact.
“I’ve had an abundance of people come up to me, which is lovely,” she says. “The ones through the show tend to have more in-depth stories. I had someone come up to me at Chipotle and say, ‘My wife has waited 10 years for a story to come out like yours. She teaches special ed kids. I teach behavioral therapy. We see how people are treated differently every day. We live with it, we see it, and you’re making a difference.’”
What makes “Baylen Out Loud” so compelling is that, despite the challenges Dupree faces, she is determined to live a full and rich life. Audiences are introduced to her large family — including her parents and five siblings — and her love story with her boyfriend (and now fiancé!) Colin Dooley.
Watching Dupree’s loved ones navigate through both small challenges, such as her tics interrupting a grocery store trip, to figuring out the mechanics of her someday living with Dooley as their relationship grows, shows the compassion they have for each other. But it’s not all serious, as some of the show’s best moments include Dupree and Dooley’s loving moments and the bickering that inevitably takes place between siblings and parents.
Despite their love for each other, the focus of “Baylen Out Loud” is a real family — and not everyone was initially ready for prime time.
“We all sat down, and it did take some convincing for my siblings to realize that this is for the greater good,” she says. “This is for a bigger and better purpose than ourselves.”
As for Season 2, which has already been ordered by TLC, Dupree says that wedding planning will be her primary focus, but she’s hoping to dive even more into understanding her condition and continuing to educate viewers.
“There will be more public speaking and new medications, different types of therapies, different types of treatments that I’ll be exploring,” she says. “There will be multiple people on with Tourette’s you’ve either seen before, or you haven’t or they’re new.”
And while Dupree has undoubtedly made progress in showing society what her life is like with Tourette’s and coprolalia, she’s quick to note that there is much more work to be done for the cultural perception of the disorder.
“There is still so much more awareness for everybody else,” she says. “This is one case of Tourette’s out of hundreds and thousands and millions of other cases. I’m one person that lives with it, but there are millions of other people out there. I hope it gives everyone a better understanding, but everyone’s case is different. I feel like there’s a lot more that needs to be done.”