“Will you take my hand in marriage again?” Deon Derrico asked, down on one knee in the middle of Disney World, while 14 kids watched their parents fall in love a second time. Karen did not hesitate: “I’d do it all over.” Five seasons later, fans still rank Derrico moments like sports highlights. Here are the five that refuse to fade, counted down to the scene that started it all.
No. 5: Matching Airport Outfits — Karen’s Flight-Attendant Brain at Work
Sixteen people, one airport, zero chance of losing a kid in the crowd. In an ET clip from June 2023, Karen put her old flight-attendant training to work and marched the family through the airport in matching outfits — the kids in red “DERRICO” hoodies, headphones on. In a family this big, matching clothes are a headcount system, not a fashion choice.
No. 4: Derrick’s Trillionaire Dream
The quietest kid in the loudest family on TLC dropped the biggest number of the whole series. Derrick Derrico — the tech-loving 16-year-old who researches facts on his tablet and idolizes Kobe Bryant — once told the cameras he wants to be a trillionaire. Not a millionaire. A trillionaire — and fans have quoted it ever since.
No. 3: ‘I Can’t Deal With This’ — Deon Walks Out
The season 4 premiere sneak peek from May 2023 is the moment the show stopped being cute and showed the pressure cracking. Deon ends a phone call because the noise is too much, just as Karen says she needs to step out. “Now is not the time,” he tells her, his OCD going through the roof. “Keep it down!” he yells at the kids. “It feels like we’re in one room.” Then he leaves: “I’m out of here. I can’t deal with this.” Karen is left holding it together: “I now have to hold it together in front of our children, because he’s overwhelmed.” Fans still split over it — Team Deon Needed Air versus Team You Don’t Walk Out.
No. 2: The Disney Proposal — ‘I’d Do It All Over’
On a family trip to Disney World in April 2022, Deon had something planned that Karen never saw coming: a vow renewal, extra special because Karen never wore a wedding dress at their first ceremony and the couple has no photos from it. “This is a dream come true,” Karen said. Her verdict: “I’ll never ever, ever, ever forget this.” Fourteen kids stood by as the built-in bridal party.
No. 1: The Premiere Reveal — 14 Kids and a Lightning Strike
Nothing will ever top the first episode in August 2020, when America met a Las Vegas couple with 14 kids — twins, quintuplets, triplets, and another set of twins. Deon summed up the odds in the show’s signature line: “Having four sets of multiples back to back? It’s like getting struck by lightning while getting struck by lightning.” Karen answered the question every viewer was asking — no, there was no IVF. After two miscarriages, her doctor put her on progesterone, and “not one round of IVF” followed; without it, she said, the quintuplets are “a medical miracle.” The family was just as honest about baby Carter, the triplet brother Diez and Dior lost shortly after birth — the reason the twins are lovingly called “triplens.”
YOU MAY LIKE“We’re Filming Right Now” — Deon Derrico Confirms the Derricos’ TV Return Is ComingWith Deon saying the family is filming again for a reported 2027 return, the next unforgettable Derrico moment may already be in the can. Until then, pick your side: is the Disney knee-drop the greatest Derrico moment ever, or does the night Deon walked out the door still win because it was the most real thing this family ever filmed? Team Vow Renewal or Team Walkout — defend your pick.
