Teen Mom OG star Maci Bookout isn’t happy with the way a scene on Tuesday’s episode was portrayed regarding her son and his wrestling training. In the episode, Bookout comes across as hard on her son, Bentley, as he is attempting to cut weight to make 70 pounds after coming in a tick under 75.
The scene unfolded as Bentley was working with a coach while Bookout and her husband, Taylor, and the coach’s girlfriend watched on the sideline. At one point, Bentley is told by Bookout that he’ll have a salad later to which he says he’d rather have chicken as his mom pressed him on, ensuring that he cuts his weight to make the proper weight class ahead of his match. After the episode aired, though, she wanted to clarify what was going on and that it wasn’t as harsh as it came across.
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In reference to tonight’s episode-I have never and will never convince Bentley to ‘cut’ weight. After wrestling his first 2 tournaments in the 75lb class weighing in at 72-he came to me & said he wanted to wrestle at 70. I told him that’s fine, but you WILL NOT ‘cut’ weight. 1/2
— Maci McKinney (@MaciBookout) May 27, 2020
She wrote in a series of tweets that she “never and will never” urge her son to cut weight for wrestling. She shared that after his first two tournaments in which he wrestled in the 75-pound class while being 72 pounds himself, Bentley went to his mother and told her he would rather cut two pounds to qualify for the lower weight class. “I told him that’s fine, but you WILL NOT cut weight,” she concluded her first tweet. Bookout went on to explain that she told him she would lay out a “healthy scheduled diet” that will include salads, grilled chicken and vegetables. “Through the season, he decided he didn’t like it,” she wrote. “I told him that’s okay!” She reveals he ended up sticking with the 75-pound weight class for the rest of the season.
The episode also saw her ex, Ryan Edwards, voice his concerns over the situation while Bentley was over his house. While he was there, Bookout was on camera, saying that she hoped he would continue to stick to his diet while at his father’s house “because he needs to stay in his weight class to be competitive.” After hearing about his diet, Edwards tells Bentley wrestling is more about technique but also involves strength and didn’t understand why he would be trying to lose weight instead of gaining weight. He warned that he would stunt his growth and potentially be a late bloomer.
