The Weight of Finality and the Next Chapter (Season 3 on Bravo)
The Weight of Finality and the Next Chapter (Season 3 on Bravo)
This isn’t scripted TV. It’s real life. Steven McBee gets personal about his father’s sentencing, the emotions behind it, and the strength it takes for everyone to carry the family name forward. He also teases the filming of McBee Dynasty Season 3 and shares a sincere thank-you to the community that continues to support the McBees through every high and low.
Hey y’all. Welcome to Meet the MC Bees.
Today I am solo in the studio. I wanted to make sure we got a podcast out to you guys. I apologize.
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Uh, it’s been a little hectic around the farm here lately, and we’ll dive into some of that. Not too much in detail, but uh, just wanted to make sure that we’re— I told y’all we’d be consistent with this, and dang it, I’m going to do my best.
So, appreciate y’all for tuning in. Saddle up. Let’s get down and dirty with it.
Well, I’m by myself today. It has been a wild, wild couple of weeks. Obviously, we had uh my dad’s situation that had some finality to it.
Um, candidly, it did not go the way that we were hoping for. It was not best case scenario. It was not worst case scenario. And that is something that I would not wish—the last year and a half, two years that we’ve been dealing with behind the scenes with my dad’s situation leading up to the sentencing—that is something that I would not wish on my worst enemy.
The mental toll is something that very, very few and far between can understand unless you’re going through that situation, which again, I would never want anyone to have to deal with a situation like that.
Um, it is just—it’s crazy. It feels like the last year and a half, two years, our world has been at a standstill, and the unknown is the worst part of it. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how things are going to shake out. You don’t know what moves you’re going to be able to make.
You can try and prepare for it, but there’s such a wild variance of what could actually happen come that day that you really have no true understanding of what it is you should be doing.
And so that’s really what we’ve been dealing with the last year and a half, two years—saying, “Okay, you know, we have plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D.” Like, what happens if he’s gone for, you know, if it’s just probation? What happens if he’s gone for a year, two years, five years, ten years? What’s going to happen given the circumstances that we’re under?
And there’s just no way to prepare for every single outcome. And so really, you’re just at a standstill.
And thankfully, uh, we have such a great network of people that we could talk to. Um, so many people that have helped support us that have been through this very, very rare event that again, not many get to go through—and I wish no one has to go through.
Um, you know, the Grizzlies have been such an incredible support network for me—both Todd and Savannah—just helping me through, you know, keeping spirits high, letting me know that we’re going to get through this. I appreciate them more than words could ever describe.
Um, and so many of our friends and family that have supported us, even you guys in the comments and leaving DMs and just telling us that, um, you know, you’re here with us through this ride, uh, and through this very, very low moment in our lives.
We appreciate y’all more than we could ever put into words. So, thank you first and foremost.
Uh, and I do want to say that we’re going to be okay. Uh, we are going to work through this. Um, I feel so good about the trajectory that we’re on.
You guys that have been listening to this podcast over the last year, you’ve heard Cole and I talk multiple times about the moves we’ve been making to try and right this ship, to try and get us headed in the right direction before the sentencing date.
And now that we have finality with it, honestly, there’s a relief that comes with it. And again, even though it wasn’t the scenario that we hoped—the outcome that we hoped—there is a relief that it’s done. It’s over with.
Like, we can move forward. We can put the past behind us, and we can now start to make progress in our lives, in our businesses, knowing that there’s not this big looming unknown hanging above our heads that has been there for the last two years.
So there is some relief. There’s a weight lifted off of our shoulders.
Obviously, this last month that we have with my dad before he goes away is going to be extremely tough, and we’ve been trying to spend as much time as possible with him while also preparing the businesses for everything.
The businesses have been running without my dad for years now. You know, we’ve done a really good job of putting the people in place that do a really good job of taking care of and owning the businesses that they work in. So we felt good about everything.
Obviously, um, with the headlines and articles coming out that last week leading up to sentencing—there was one article that came out about 41 months. Um, you know, that threw some wrenches in some of our plans, and we definitely had to have some difficult conversations.
And I will tell you this: whenever you go through something so difficult and challenging, it makes you appreciate the ones that support you more than you could ever imagine.
Like, the people that have supported us through this deal—those are going to be people that I, for the rest of my life, will respect and admire and appreciate so much more.
Our lenders, our bankers that decided to stick through all of this with us, that trust us, that know us personally, that know the work we put in, that know our family, how much we love and care about each other, and love and care about our businesses and the work that we put in day in and day out.
To those people—and to you people that have supported us via the comments, DMs, social media posts—I will never forget you. We will never forget you, and we love and appreciate you.
That is, for the rest of our lives, we will have a debt of gratitude towards you for that support.
And conversely, for the ones that turned their backs on us, I will never forget you either. I promise you that.
I have a note in my phone where every single social media comment from people that we know that have, uh, you know, made a little jab here and there—um—to the banks and lenders that turned their backs on us, you’re in my notes on my phone.
I promise you, for the rest of my life, you are dead to me, and I don’t take that lightly.
Like, I will never ever talk to you. I will never do anything for you. I’m not going to go out of my way to make your life worse. I just promise you—you are dead to me. I will forget your name.
Um, when it comes to ever wanting to help, I will never associate myself with you or your company or your business. I will never refer anyone to anything that you do.
Yeah, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder, and I’ll just say that.
But again, I want to focus more on the positive side—the people that supported me. Debt of gratitude for the rest of my life. Love and appreciate you guys.
In going through something like this, uh, we love and support our dad so much.
That man has given his entire life to working his butt off seven days a week. Uh, and there’s so much misunderstanding for who he is as a person based on articles you see online or, um, you know, a reality TV show where you’re getting one to two percent of the overall life.
And let’s face it—a reality TV show is built around drama. So you’re only getting the drama of the man’s life. You’re not getting the full scope of the work ethic and the work that he puts in day in and day out.
So, um, you know, we’re here for my dad. We’re going to support him wherever he ends up. We’re going to be there to visit him.
We’re going to get these businesses turned around and on the right track and flourish to where whenever he gets out, um, they’re going to be good times ahead and we’re going to have a good life ahead.
Uh, we’ve got so many things that are moving in a positive direction.
We’ve got new babies in the family. Um, you know, Jesse and Alli’s marriage. We’ve got Cole and Casey—knock on wood, Cole’s not in here right now—hopefully going to be engaged here soon and getting married here in the next year.
Uh, I’ve got some good things in my personal life that are going really well right now too.
So I want to continue to pour into the positive and focus on the good things that we have going for us.
Um, and as far as the moves that we’ve been making—um, with us filming season three—that’s another announcement that I don’t know if we discussed. Maybe we mentioned it briefly in the last podcast with Cole.
I started filming season three a few days before my dad’s sentencing, and we’re super excited to have the entire family, to have the baby showcased in season three.
Um, you know, this is—we call it a once-in-a-lifetime event with my dad’s situation: the sentencing, the fallout, how we’re trying to navigate this entire unprecedented life event.
This is going to be—it’s a once-in-many-lifetimes event.
This does not happen to many people once in their life. This happens to like—I don’t even know—once in a hundred lifetimes. Maybe once in two hundred or five hundred lifetimes. It’s a very, very rare event.
And I don’t mean that in a good way. I do not—um—you know, usually you talk about a once-in-a-lifetime event in a positive way. This is not that.
But nonetheless, you know, we said when we first got into this reality TV experience that we were going to showcase everything—our good times, our bad times, the flaws that we have, um, you know, all of the ups and downs that is our life here on the farm and ranch.
And dang it, I didn’t think that we’d be showcasing this, but we’re going to stick to it, and we’re going to show you guys what we’re doing to navigate this.
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Season three is going to be a continuation of what you saw in season two where, um, you know, us boys are taking over with some help from some outside sources.
Our mom has been such an integral part to our lives. We love our mom so much. She’s been so incredibly supportive, uh, positive throughout this entire ordeal, and the true rock that we can lean on anytime we feel overwhelmed or things feel too tough for us to take on.
Um, you know, it’s one of those things where there is no playbook for how to work through a situation like this.
So for all of us boys, we’re going through this for the first time, trying to figure it out day by day.
And the only way that we’re able to do that—we certainly don’t have the knowledge or the experience or the skill set to handle this sort of situation.
So all we can do is reach out to those that have experience, reach out to those that are further down this career path or further down this business ownership line than we are.
Ask for help. Ask for advice. Ask for support.
And we’ve been able to have that through so many different outlets—my mom, several different business associates. Again, the Grizzlies—there’s so many people that have helped us throughout this deal and are going to continue to help us.
And we’re going to need that nonstop.
I mean, the next two years are going to be extremely tough. There’s no beating around the bush. This is going to be a tough two years.
We’re going to make it through. I have no doubts.
But we’re going to need as much support as possible, including all of y’all’s—with you guys purchasing our meats, supporting us through our merch and apparel, our farm side, our meat company side, our car washes.
Everything you guys are doing to support us helps tremendously, and I would love to be able to thank each and every one of you personally, um, you know, face to face.
Unfortunately, I don’t have that time currently. It’s hard to even get in here in the studio and record a podcast right now. We’re running pretty ragged with our time.
But your guys’ support means everything to us. Every single dollar that we are making right now is going directly into paying down loans, paying off farm ground—trying to work our way out of this debt.
And I think that whenever you go through a humbling experience like what we’ve gone through the last few years—with the headlines we’ve had, with everything we’ve gone through with the reality show—it feels like you’re walking around with the scarlet letter on your chest.
Every conversation you have with a business associate, with a lender, with a banker, with whoever it may be, you almost have to attack the elephant in the room first because everyone’s looking at you weird.
It doesn’t matter—our last name is MC B. Even though this situation is just with my dad, everyone groups us into the same.
So it’s definitely a reputational hit. We’re wearing the scarlet letter on our chest.
We can’t even have a conversation about business until we first discuss what happened, what’s going on.
And so I am so happy to finally put that to rest so we can start to make progress.
But it has made it very, very challenging. And it has been such a humbling experience, which I think in five or ten years I will look back and be so grateful that I had this experience at 29, 30, 31 years old.
I think that every person in the world of entrepreneurship or business—there is a character development that happens when you are humbled to the extent that we are.
And we’ve been humbled publicly, on a national outlet. If you’re able to pick yourself back up, it sets you up for such a better life in the future.
You stop caring about the material things. You stop caring about all the crap that doesn’t matter.
And you pour into your family. You pour into the people that support you. You begin to prioritize the important things in life.
So having this experience at a younger age rather than going through something like this in my forties or fifties—I have plenty of time to rebuild.
I have plenty of time to right the ship.
And I know for a fact I will never forget these past few years. I will never forget the lessons learned.
It’ll make me a better person. It’ll make all of us better people. We’ll have stronger character. We’ll have some battle scars for sure.
But it’s going to leave us stronger and in a better place for the rest of our lives.
So I am thankful for that.
And I think in five or ten years, I’ll be able to look back and say this was the most pivotal time in my life—and possibly the best time—because I learned exactly what to care about, who to prioritize, and what to prioritize.
Even now, even in the thick of it, I do have clarity in knowing that this is a moment I can look back on and say, “This made me a better person.”
So there is that positive aspect to it too.
So again, guys, we’re going to continue to do these podcasts as often as we can.
They’re not going to go into too much fine detail because we’re filming season three—you’ll get to watch that play out next year.
We’ll cover surface-level stuff. We’ll keep you up to date with how the babies are doing. And we’re going to keep this going. I promise y’all we would.
So again, thank you all so much.
Keep the DMs coming. Keep the questions coming. Keep the support coming, please. We need it—and we’re going to need it over the next two years.
So thank you all so much for everything you do for our family, for our farm and ranch, for all of our extended team at our car washes.
Truly, thank you from the bottom of our heart.
And we’re going to be just fine.
So thank you guys. Look forward to seeing you on TV next year, and look forward to seeing you on this podcast next week.
Appreciate y’all.
