On Friday’s edition of Dana, Dana Loesch got the Duck Dynasty treatment, meeting up with the Robertson family at the Duck Commander 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. From the pitfalls of fame to how much iced tea Uncle Si actually drinks in a day, Dana got an inside look at one of the most famous families on TV.
To begin, Dana sat down with Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson to get his thoughts on how he and his family have dealt with the fame and recognition that comes with being one of the country’s most recognizable families on one of the country’s most watched television shows.
“Everybody gets pushback, but you guys get it on a different level. How do you reconcile dealing with that through a perspective of faith,” Dana asked. “Because I get just like a minimum of what you guys would receive, and I find that to be the biggest struggle as a Christian. How do you and your family deal with that?”
“Well, I mean, everything from our perspective goes through our faith, and so we’ve not always been perfect, and we’re still not,” Willie explained. “We’re still human beings, but just giving credit to the Lord, we felt like that was never going to change. And it won’t because we felt like he’s the one who put us here in this position at this time to carry a positive message about family. And sadly, there was a void out there because there wasn’t a lot of positive programming and stuff with family that was also cool that you could watch. And so we filled that void, and we give him all the credit.”
Despite the scrutiny his family has endured – most recently in the wake of Phil Robertson’s comments about homosexuality in GQ – Willie is proud of and humbled by the platform his family has been given.
“We certainly have used the platform to go deeper,” he said. “I mean, the show in and of itself is not really, you know, it’s not a preachy show or anything like that. It’s positive but, you know, we felt like if somebody wanted to come back and see more, then you could come hear us speak or get our books, and we’ll go more into what we think, you know, is our perception about faith and business and all these things and how it wraps up together. And you know, we get to do it as a family, so it’s hard to complain about that.”
Dana also had the chance to sit down with “Uncle Si” Robertson, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask about his infamous iced tea habit. Fans of the show know that Si is rarely seen without a glass — or jug — of the beverage, and this interview was no different.
“In every episode, you have your — that’s a gallon of tea!” Dana said gesturing at the massive container. “How often do you refill that during the day?”
“I drink two gallons a day,” Si said proudly. “In a 24-hour period, I drink two gallons, you know, during the day and at night before I go to bed.”
While you might suspect the habit would have Si spending quite a bit of time in the bathroom, he likened himself to a “fine-tuned race car.”
“I’m like a fine-tuned racecar, okay,” Si said. “I’ll make a few laps, and then I’ve got to pull in for a pit stop.”
Dana also asked Uncle Si if he would be so kind as to rate her “turkey call.” Growing up, Dana explained that she spent a lot of time turkey hunting with her family in the Ozark Mountains.
“Everyone here is like, ‘Dana, I don’t think that’s a good turkey call,’” she said. “But I’m like, I’m going to ask Uncle Si and have him estimate whether or not this is good. So do you mind if I show you?”
So how did she do?
“Now, that ain’t bad,” Uncle Si concluded. “That ain’t bad.”