Star couple hosts largest ‘Duck Dynasty’ watch party for fellow classmates

Liberty University students formed the largest watch party in the world for the Season 9 finale of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” on Wednesday night in the Vines Center, eagerly awaiting the chance to view their campus on national television and to join their fellow classmates and two of the show’s stars, freshmen John Luke Robertson and his wife, Mary Kate.

The one-hour episode, “RV There Yet?,” featured members of the “Duck Dynasty” clan on a road trip from their home in Louisiana to Lynchburg, Va., where they dropped off the couple at college for the first time last fall. The couple hosted the party for the show’s 100th episode, offering behind-the-scenes tidbits about filming the show on campus and about the reality TV production process during commercial breaks.

The TV crew spent a full day filming across campus last August. The episode spotlighted a few familiar campus locations, including Hancock Welcome Center (where alumni Trey and Sarah Falwell took on tour guide roles), DeMoss Hall, and Residential Commons I, Liberty’s first high-rise residence hall. (View photos from the filming below, including scenes that didn’t make it into the final episode.)

Willie and Korie Robertson of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” chat on FaceTime with their son, John Luke, and his wife, Mary Kate, during a watch party for the Season 9 finale.

John Luke Robertson told the crowd that they were joining an estimated 4 million viewers that night. He was 14 years old when the show first aired seven years ago. Fans cheered when asked if they had watched him grow up on the show. (The show’s last one-hour special, which aired in August, featured the couple’s wedding last June.)

Mary Kate Robertson thanked her classmates for joining them for the watch party.

“Last week we were home for a few days, and we found out they were having a viewing party at home, and we were kind of disappointed that we weren’t going to get to be there with our family. But then this happened tonight, and you really did show us that you really are family to us,” she said.

But the couple did get to see their entire “Duck Dynasty” family during the campus watch party, as John Luke connected them through FaceTime during a commercial break and projected it onto the videoboard. They waved to Liberty students as the camera panned around the room. Si Robertson could be heard saying, “Let the party begin.”

John Luke and Mary Kate are both pursuing degrees in Christian Leadership & Church Ministries through Liberty’s Rawlings School of Divinity; John Luke is specializing in Adventure Leadership & Outdoor Ministries, and Mary Kate is studying Women’s Leadership.

Robertson family members have returned to campus since the filming. John Luke’s mother, Korie, and sister Sadie came for Fall Family Weekend in September, where they spoke in Liberty’s Convocation.

‘Duck Dynasty’ films on campus