Gil Bates

Gil Bates is a reality television personality and patriarch known for raising 19 children alongside his wife, Kelly Jo Bates. The family was featured on the UPtv reality series Bringing Up Bates, which documented their devout lifestyle, expansive household, and traditional approach to parenting and family life.

Coverage of the Bates household highlights the strict conservative religious guidelines under which Gil and Kelly Jo Bates raised their children. The family gained widespread attention for adhering to rigid modesty standards that dictated daily attire, personal conduct, and formal courtship rituals required prior to marriage.

Subsequent media focus has centered on his adult children as they transition out of the family home and build their own lives. Stories track daughters such as Katie Bates, who married Travis Clark and raised children Hailey and Harvey while shifting away from childhood dress rules, and Michaela Bates, who married Brandon Keilen and became a foster guardian to two young boys.