TLC is bringing light to a different type of family dynamic in its newest series Polyfamily — and Us Weekly as the exclusive first look at the show.
The new show, which premieres in April, focuses on two married couples, Sean and Taya and Tyler and Alysia, who happen to be dating each other’s spouses.
“Taya’s my wife and Alysia’s my girlfriend,” Sean reveals in Us’ sneak peek at the official trailer. Tyler chimes in, “And vice versa. Alysia’s my wife and Taya’s my girlfriend.”
Sean, who has been married to Taya for six years, explains, “We are a closed polyamorous quad. A closed quad is four people. We’re only dating within ourselves and married within ourselves. We don’t have any outside partners.”
Alysia, who has been married to Tyler for 11 years, confesses, “We never set out to live our lives like this, but we realized we could love more than one person and make our own rules as to what we want our family to look like.”
According to the family, Alysia and Tyler were parents to a son and daughter before they joined Sean and Taya’s closed quad.
Since becoming a combined unit, the four adults have welcomed two more sons with one more baby on the way. (Alysia and Taya have both given birth to a son since the families began living together.)
“Since the guys switch rooms every night, we don’t know who the fathers of the younger boys are,” Taya, who is pregnant with her second baby, reveals in the trailer.
Tyler notes that “we wonder sometimes” who the father of the younger children is, but admits, “Finding out could cause a lot of hurt.”
While the four adults entered their closed quad willingly, it is clear in the trailer that their unconventional setup isn’t without its faults. For starters, Sean and Tyler aren’t exactly pals.
“We live together, we have mutual partners and we parent together,” Sean tells the cameras of his relationship with Tyler. “But if we weren’t in this situation, we probably wouldn’t be friends.”
This season, fans will see the tension boil over between Sean and Tyler, especially when it comes to their kids.
“This has always been a point of contention. Your kids and then us,” Sean argues in the trailer. Tyler tries to shut him down, saying, “Dude, you don’t need to parent me. I don’t need that.” Sean the quips, “Maybe if I was parenting you, this s— wouldn’t have happened.”
The women, meanwhile, have issues of their own to sort through. Alysia confesses in the trailer that she does get “jealous” over Taya and Tyler’s romance, because she says “it almost looks like they’re more in love than him and I.”
Taya, for her part, drops a bombshell on the group at the end of the trailer that could change their entire dynamic. “I have something to share. I feel like I have a connection with someone else,” she confesses, which throws off the group.
Tyler explains, “It’s complicated to bring someone else in. We’re not closed anymore at that point. We’re just not.” Alysia confesses, “I don’t know where we go from here.”
Polyfamily marks one of television’s first series to depict a real-life quad dynamic. “In addition to the complex parenting dynamics, dating each other’s partners is not without its share of emotional challenges,” TLC teased in a press release.
Polyfamily premieres on TLC Tuesday, April 29, at 10 p.m. ET.
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