Fans of the reality TV series The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys had already suspected that the patriarch at the center of the family drama based just an hour from Kansas City wouldn’t be back for season 2.
In the final episode of the first season, we see Steve McBee Sr. sobbing at the wheel of his pickup as he drives off for parts unknown. All the stress and strain of trying to save the family’s sprawling farm outside Gallatin, Missouri, from financial ruin had wrecked him, and now it would be up to his four sons to save the day.
“Dad’s leaving,” eldest son Steven Jr. tells two of his three brothers. “All he said is he has no idea when he’s going to be back.”
Left unsaid was the real-life backstory that led to McBee Sr. facing a prison sentence that could be handed down before the second season airs next year. Inside a courtroom at the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City last week, McBee pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government out of millions of dollars.