Jessica and Maybelle have a chance
to look around their new homes.
- Oh, no, no.
That's no bueno. That's not good at all.
Okay, okay.
There's stuff everywhere. Are these all kids' names?
No, no.
[laughing] They have a lot of boys?
Oh, I'm stepping over everything.
Break my neck.
[chuckles]
- Very different than my world, very clean and orderly.
There's plenty of tchotchke here, but it's organized.
Like, there's no mess on the floor.
Her bathroom looks a lot cleaner than mine.
Oh, my boys are gonna eat her alive.
- Whoo-za!
I see a lot of clutter. Oh, my God.
Why is there a hairbrush in the kitchen?
Rotten fruit.
Obviously, this family does not think about cleanliness.
This--what is all this?
And that's right above their food.
- Tattooed snake charmer.
It's not my style.
I would not have displayed that in my house.
Sword-swallowing?
Oh, my gosh, am I in a circus family?
"Chris established the world record
"for weighted sword-swallowing
by swallowing a sword with a 17-inch blade"?
Like, how do you do that to your body?
It's insane.
- Okay, then. Hmm.
There's a lot of extra furniture.
I wonder if they collect pieces,
'cause there's a lot of these armoire things.
I can't even open the door all the way.
Everything is in disarray.
Their overall lifestyle is just a disaster.
- So I have walked into a circus house,
but my house is literally a circus every day,
so good luck.
narrator: Maybelle and Jessica have each written a manual
to guide the new parent
with the running of their home.
- "Welcome to our home.
"My name is Maybelle, my husband is Chris,
"and our daughter, Ava, is 14.
Chris and I are circus sideshow performers."
Great.
- "I'm Jessica, my husband is Scott,
"and our four rambunctious boys.
"Our family is a running, jumping free-for-all
"with lots of rudeness, eye rolling.
They are absolutely feral animals."
Oh, my word.
- "Chris is by far more of the disciplinarian than I am.
"Ava is currently grounded.
"Her punishment is the loss of her phone for eight weeks.
In addition, she can't go to the homecoming dance."
When it comes to things like memory events,
homecoming dances, stuff like that,
I don't want my kids to have regrets like I do.
Yeah. [sniffles]
- "I was a stay-at-home mom for nine years
"but went back to work full-time.
"The extra income helps with the fact that my husband
"is an avid collector.
"His penchant for spending money on antiques
"when we had it earmarked for something else,
this is what we argue about most often."
Wow. We'll see about this.
- "Chris never shuts off his brain.
"It's constantly work, work, work.
"He's always tired.
"Last fall, he almost bled to death
"by piercing his esophagus in a sword-swallowing stunt.
"The freedom to express ourselves
and chase our dreams is worth the risk."
As someone who did not pursue her passion,
yeah, I get it,
but the thought of my husband being consistently in danger,
that would cause me some serious anxiety.
narrator: It's now time for the wives
to meet their new husbands and families.
- Hi. - Hi.
- I'm Scott. - Scott, Maybelle.
It's a pleasure to meet you. [boys screaming]
Thank you for having me in your home.
- We have a Switch. - I don't even know.
- Look at all the games we have.
- I'm over here, guys.
[boys yelling]
The boys are wild.
That's not how I would
be running a household with these boys.
- There she is! - Hi!
- Hey. Chris.
- Nice to meet you. I'm Jessica.
- Jessica, this is Ava. - Hi, Ava, nice to meet you.
- Hi, nice to meet you, too. - Well, welcome to our home.
- Thank you.
- Have a seat. Come over here.
So... - How did you get started
with sword-swallowing and fire-breathing?
- I've been weird my whole life.
I loved the circus when I was a child.
They accepted the freaks and the weirdoes and the rejects.
Now we do hundreds of shows a year.
I need everything to be perfect.
I never slow down and stop.
I don't know how to shut my brain off.
- My family is really chaotic, so I get it.
- Got ya.