Kendra Bates traded neon lights for lantern light, leaving her dance career in Los Angeles to live among the Amish on TLC’s new series Suddenly Amish.
At a Glance
- 33-year-old dancer Kendra Bates joins five other “English” cast members in rural Pennsylvania Amish community
- Show premiered Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 10 p.m. ET
- Bates posted on OnlyFans at her “lowest point” before baptism and now seeks forgiveness
- Why it matters: Viewers see an extreme lifestyle swap driven by faith, burnout, and a search for belonging
Bates, 33, answered a casting call during what she calls “such a transitional period” after feeling disconnected from both her craft and her city.
“I don’t necessarily align anymore with being a dancer,” she tells News Of Losangeles. “I really have to be picky with which jobs I morally feel comfortable doing, and that’s none.”
Bishop Vernon, an Amish leader, broke with tradition to invite outsiders in, hoping to grow his insular community. Bates, raised in Wisconsin, arrived with deeper roots in plain living than most: her ancestors were Mennonite, a group that shares Amish Anabaptist origins while accepting more modern conveniences.
“For me, this experience was … kind of a way for me to see what my family was doing in those generations,” she explains.
The clash between her past and present surfaces quickly. In the premiere, Bates admits that shortly before her baptism she posted content on OnlyFans, describing it as her “lowest point” born from poor self-image. She still wrestles with self-forgiveness.
Her disillusionment with Los Angeles grew over nine years.
“Everybody is so, ‘Me, me, me – what can you do for me?’ And that bothers me to no end,” she says, adding she had wanted to leave “for quite some time.”
This is not her first brush with Amish life. While attending Kent State University, Bates attended a Rumspringa party-Amish youth’s taste of outside freedom-where she fell for an Amish man. They discussed marriage, but he ultimately returned to the church and told her full conversion would be required. Bates chose dance and L.A. instead.
“We did have the conversation like, ‘OK, if we ever were to get married, you have to fully convert, you have to fully come in,'” she recalls.
They lost contact, yet Bates kept the door open to plain living. Friends and family, aware of her earlier consideration of conversion, reacted calmly to news of Suddenly Amish.
Filming placed Bates among six newcomers navigating farm chores, horse-drawn transport, and strict gender roles. Cameras capture her emotional confessions, daily struggles, and cautious openness to romance inside the community.
“The same way that I put myself out there for different experiences is the same way that I put myself out there for love and connection,” she says, shrugging off risk. “I date in L.A. all the time. There’s so many relationships that fall through all the time anyways, so is it different with an Amish guy that could fall through?”
Inside the Amish Experiment
- No electricity, no cars, no phones-cast members rely on kerosene lamps and horse buggies
- Daily chores start before dawn, including milking cows and tending fields
- Strict dress codes: women wear long dresses and head coverings; men don suspenders and broad-brimmed hats
- Church services held in homes, lasting three hours entirely in German dialect
- Social events revolve around barn raisings, quilting bees, and hymn sings
Bates’s dance background offers no shortcut. She hauls water, kneads bread, and learns silence during services. The physical toll surprises her, yet she finds camaraderie in shared labor and evening storytelling by lamplight.
Faith vs. Fame
Bates’s Christian faith steered her away from choreography she now views as immodest. She prays before chores, journals by candlelight, and seeks counsel from Amish women who prize humility over self-promotion. Producers note her as the cast member most apt to quote Scripture, a trait that earns both respect and suspicion from lifelong Amish.
Bishop Vernon monitors each participant, wary of spectacle overshadowing spiritual intent. Bates’s sincerity, demonstrated by her willingness to discard makeup and jewelry, keeps her in good standing.
Family Roots, Future Hopes
Mennonite heritage gives Bates a head start: she already knew hymns sung in four-part harmony and understood the concept of plain dress. Conversations with her grandmother, who left the Mennonite church, provided context, yet Bates still marvels at the Amish refusal of cars and grid power.
She hopes the show documents more than culture shock.
“I want people to see you can change your life even when it feels too late,” she says.
Whether she stays beyond filming remains unanswered. Cast members sign no binding agreement, but church membership requires baptism and lifelong vows. Bates admits the possibility of romance could influence her choice, echoing her college-era consideration of conversion for love.
Viewer Impact
TLC markets Suddenly Amish as more than fish-out-of-water fare; the network bills it as a meditation on belonging in an age of curated online personas. Early clips show Bates crying while deleting her Instagram, symbolizing a broader exodus from digital life many viewers fantasize about.
Ratings will determine if additional seasons follow, yet Bates’s journey already resonates with former dancers and faith-focused audiences. Social media comments praise her vulnerability, though some critics question whether cameras undermine Amish values.
Bishop Vernon defends the project, citing stagnant birth rates and youth departures that threaten community survival. He views the outsiders as potential permanent additions, not temporary entertainment.
Key Takeaways
- Bates left Los Angeles after nine years, uneasy with entertainment industry demands
- Her Mennonite ancestry and prior romance with an Amish man primed her for the leap
- The show captures her daily life without modern conveniences while she wrestles with past choices
- Premiere episode sets up themes of redemption, community, and second chances
- Future episodes will reveal whether she-or any cast member-chooses baptism and stays Amish
Suddenly Amish airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
