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It’s Time to Revisit the “Oops We Did It Again” Video

It’s been viewed over 12 million times, and yet when she posted her pregnancy announcement video on June 11th, Shan’ann received just five comments.  Two were from family – her father Frank and brother Frankie. That leaves three comments from friends. Three comments from three friends.

Since her death more than 300 comments have been left and the video shared over 1200 times. Where was the interest from her family, her mother, her community, her fellow promoters when Shan’ann posted this video for the first time? Weren’t all those Thrive friendships real friendships?

We don’t know if certain friends like the Thayers and Nickole Atkinson went back and and scrubbed their social media pages to disassociate themselves after Chris Watts’ arrest, but if they did, that’s pretty lousy.

On Nick Thayer’s photography page he still has Shanann’s endorsement of his photography business, and what’s more, has probably made a packet selling his Watts family photos to the media. So association appears to be okay, as long as the terms are right.

In terms of the video itself, many of us watched it a few months ago, formed our respective conclusions, and went on.

As part of ongoing research I took another close look at and listened to the video today. My analysis has definitely shifted from those first impressions. Here’s what I picked up in those 65 seconds this time round:

1. The video – in my opinion – is definitely staged in the sense that it’s not spontaneous. This has to be appreciated in context. Shan’ann made videos daily and none of them were spontaneous. It was her job to rig each day’s spiel so that it involved product placement and promotion. The whole point was to pretend that it wasn’t promotional, and to insinuate that it wasn’t rehearsed either. Of course, in each case she has all the tools she needs on hand [patches, numbers to call, dates to memorize, freebies to claim]. In the pregnancy reveal she the shirt and the stick ready, not so much for his benefit, but for her viewers.

Just like the Christmas spiel, it’s made out to be spontaneous but it isn’t. It’s engineered to be a happy moment, but it falls flat. And then she posts this less-than-great moment anyway, to limited reinforcement from her limited flock.

At about 20 seconds into the clip, when he rounds the corner, he knows just where to stop and look and sort of overdramatizes the moment of being “taken aback” by what’s on her shirt. Chris Watts is a terrible actor. Even though there was perhaps a little preparation going into the video, it’s still executed poorly. There’s very little that’s warm and fuzzy about it. The video clip itself isn’t a crime, so the staging isn’t proof of anything except that when it comes to this family, we shouldn’t take anything at face value, especially the stuff that’s posted by them on Facebook. This applies in general to Facebook, but it’s doubly true of this supposedly Thrivin’ couple.

2. After Shan’ann directs the camera to her shirt and smiles for the camera, Deeter skitters off and around the corner. We can hear him bark presumably when he runs into Chris Watts. So he’s not shy when it comes to barking. During the rest of the video, simply because Shan’ann and Chris Watts are both ambulatory and talking, Deeter can still be heard skittering around them. He’s an excitable animal even when very little is happening.

3. During the actual interaction, very little is said between husband and wife. For such a momentous, life-changing milestone, 65 seconds of mostly silent footage speaks volumes about both of them. He reads her shirt, makes a show of laughing and appearing pleased, and tells Shan’ann he likes her shirt. Pretty much the only moment of intimacy and exchange is when he asks: “Really?” and Shan’ann responds with a mute-sounding “Really.”

It’s difficult to say who is weirder in the interaction, him or her. During the whole thing, though she smiles at the camera, she seems standoffish towards him, doing little more than putting him on the spot. If she knew about the affair, then her being standoffish, especially under these circumstances, would be appropriate, wouldn’t it? Then it would be all about putting him on the spot, wouldn’t it? Time to make your move pal, are you with me or her? That’s the actual question being asked here. When he asks what “pink means” Shan’ann’s a little curt with him.  One has the impression Shan’ann feels she’s able to keep him on a leash, and this is about getting him back onto a tighter one.

4. The biggest moment in the clip is right at the end when he stutters about “it happens” when you want it, and then sniffs as he gazes up at it. I’ve commented previously about the darkness in his face here. He seems down, perhaps sick or brooding, but there’s little genuine joy from either of them.  If the clip is rehearsed, then the heavy atmosphere from him is because he’s acting through some sort of psychological malaise around the knowledge of this third pregnancy. We see it, she sees it [I believe], and he’s trying not to show it. He failed.

5. Compare the thick heaviness of this clip to the bright sunny fairy tale stuff that’s everywhere else in the Watts social media. There is a heavy psychological load weighing on these 65 seconds. Why?

When Chris Watts walked away, after finishing the spiel, perhaps to continue mowing the lawn, did he feel enthusiasm in his belly, or was something else – bitterness perhaps – burning him? Well, we know how this story ends.

What the video seems to communicate best is if the couple were this bad at pretending to be happy, how unhappy were they behind closed doors when the cameras weren’t rolling? How unhappy was he – really?

35 Comments

  1. Pauline

    If this was a faked video Sha’nann isn’t exhibiting any enthusiasm either. I don’t know if anyone noticed but during the hail and rain video when she turns the camera on herself she talks about getting her ultrasound that day and taking Bella, she seems let down there too. More sad than glad. Worried if there might be more than one baby in her belly. Then what would she do? It’s bad enough she’s bringing another life into an unhappy marriage but what if there are even more than another one? He says “that’s what happens when you want something” in the oops video, but maybe she didn’t want another baby either. Especially with a man who’s cheating, and possibly going to leave. Maybe she didn’t want to hold on to him as much as we think. But of course if he’s going to leave, boy was it gonna cost him.

  2. Pauline

    Why do these two Pollyannas care so much about what other people think – the internet, her facebook friends, all the LeVel people?

    • Cheryl

      Because the live in gotta-keep-up-with-the-Smiths Land.

  3. Cheryl

    I’m not sure Chris was a part of staging this video, even after viewing it again. What is seen as his poor acting could be his trying to appear happy about an unexpected pregnancy knowing Shan’ann is capturing the moment on video. I think she staged the announcement to buffer his reaction. I think she’s manipulative and, as you’ve said, Nick, coercive. I believe this video is another example of those tactics. I also think so few people initially commented on this video because they picked up on its disingenuousness and negativity.

    • nickvdl

      Where is his acting worse, here or on the porch?

      • Cheryl

        I understand your point (bad acting on the porch and the same in the Ooops video), but I still don’t think he was a part of staging this particular video. I don’t think he would have said, “When YOU want to, it happens.” Then he says, “wow.” I see this as a genuinely awkward moment on his part, which I attribute to being caught off-guard versus poor acting. Just my impression…

        • nickvdl

          It’s quite important to get a good handle on it, not just because this is a vital moment in the story, but because it shows whether you’re able to see his thoughts, and intuit his fears. In the post I emphasized the moment he comes around the corner as the moment worth noting and watching. The only part that was rehearsed was probably Shan’ann telling him where she was going to be, and what the spiel was. So the rest, including everything that was said, was all improv. When he comes around the corner he stops suddenly, and stiffly. It’s over-dramatic for an un-self conscious performance. In dozens of other examples, Shan’ann’s doing a Live video and he drifts invisibly, fluidly in the background. Here he’s stiff as a rake.

          Two other aspects to consider – we know the family ended up dead. So linking this video directly to that, was it more or less likely he was allowed to be himself? Or was he put on the spot and trying to appear himself, trying to appear happy when actually he wasn’t.

          The Thayers have suggested the baby was planned and Chris Watts’ idea. I’m doing a separate post on that, but if you believe that, and you believe he didn’t have a problem with the pregnancy [and thus his feelings here are not such a big deal], then you remove the pregnancy as an important dynamic complicating the circumstances close to the murder. Take the pregnancy away and you’re left with just an affair and money troubles. So why did the murder happen on the day it did – the 15 week milestone of her pregnancy, or was he unaware of that too and it was also just a coincidence?

  4. Cheryl

    Okay, I believe I understand your point. The video was planned by both but not scripted. If that’s the case, he used it as an opportunity to get in a dig, implying the pregnancy was her idea: When you want to, it happens.” If this is the case, that the video was staged, it makes his slider even worse, as he went along with doing the video to convey happiness, but, seething underneath, got his dig in anyway. Very passive-aggressive.

  5. Pauline

    I think every time she holds up her phone and he’s in the room, he’s acting.. When you know a phone is recording even if you are making yourself busy in the background you are still acting because you can’t be yourself. In the “oops” video she has provided the props – the pregnancy stick and she’s wearing the T shirt. He was probably told just when to come in that side door from the garage. Stop. Look. Turn. Notice the shirt. Then say your words. Just as on Christmas he was told to stand outside until she could get the girls to cooperate with a visit from Santa. Wonder how many times she had him start over again from behind the door and that he had to go back outside and wait and come in again.After a few times of that he likely lost his ho ho ho. In all of these videos he’s playing Chris, the southern boy with manners and an easy going attitude. It’s all an act. But when she first told him she was pregnant again without recording his reaction I sincerely doubt he said “when you want to, it happens.” He probably sat there in silence or went outside and didn’t talk at all like he said in his relationship tips video. He was required to act every time the phone was held up to his face, play a role, be a co-star in the Sha’nann Watts movie as were the children, only they were a lot less cooperative. Even so their tantrums and fears were recorded. What a freaking false strange household. Did LeVel turn her into this, or the age of smart phones or did this insistence on making everything look good and overcome adversity stem from her battles with lupus.

    • Spock

      “What a freaking false strange household”. You hit that nail on the head Pauline. I feel the same.
      I don’t think LeVel created it but it sure amplified it. Maximum volume!

  6. Pauline

    I picture these two big boulders rolling down a mountain of debt – one represents “you will be happy and pretend no matter what” with patches and swirling colors and winning boards and the other is gray and dark and glum and silent hurling toward the other meaning to run it over and bury it. I rather like symbolism. Also look at the picture of Sha’nann in her mirrored dark sunglasses on one of their LeVel trips. Her killer can be seen reflected in her sunglasses in the background. He’s brown all over and wearing a brown hat. He looks like a tool from the oil business, like a giant wrench and he’s covered in dusty brown soil. It’s hard to make out his facial features but if you could you would see that he’s not smiling, but he’s very fixated on his prey.

  7. Spock

    I think it’s staged and not staged.

    1.) She knew exactly when he was coming through the door and which door he was coming through. Does he always enter the house through the garage when coming home from work? We know he parks his truck out front. Not much of a time lag until he shows up. She starts the camera, shows her t-shirt, Deeter immediately runs for the door and in a matter of seconds he appears perfectly in the frame. The odds are against such a smooth production without staging.
    2.) So much of what we see on her videos is staged. I have to lean toward this one being staged also.
    3.) He knows right where to go as soon as he comes in the house. Knows right where to stop to feign surprise.

    What doesn’t seem to fit with the idea of staging is their reactions to the subject matter! Come on people – this is a pregnancy announcement video where are the hugs and kisses and dancing around? The emotional balloons and confetti.
    I feel she’s waiting for his excitement and is angry when he fails to deliver.

    I think it’s possible that the video was staged but Chris didn’t know what the surprise was. She might have just said I have a surprise for you and this is what I want you to do…

    • nickvdl

      Makes sense. I don’t think he was coming home from work though. Many disagree with me, but I believe this video was taken on the day he mowed the lawn and Shan’ann hashtagged it “helovesme. She only posted the video a month after recording it, which for her I think was unusual.

      https://shakedowntitle.com/2018/09/10/revisiting-the-day-shanann-watts-told-chris-watts-she-was-pregnant/

      We should also differentiate a staged video [which is hardly criminal] from the staging of a crime. I do think repeatedly staging things and artifice lends itself to staging when there is a crime, and that’s why we want to know how inauthentic this video is. A little or a lot?

  8. Spock

    The video appears staged to me.
    His reaction does not.
    But by applying a little more thought, I have to consider that what may cause me to think his reaction is authentic is that it fits nicely with my preconceived notion that he does not want this pregnancy.

    The video actually makes me uncomfortable watching it. They both just feel so wrong. Like there’s something ominous hanging in the air.

    Don’t know for sure but I would have to say the video is more fake than real.

  9. Pauline

    I have to wonder though Spock, if she wanted it either? It might have really been an “oops”. If she knew her marriage was in trouble as far back as early May and financial troubles, she had to know the timing wasn’t good. She’s not a stupid woman and I don’t take her for a desperate one either. So now that she’s pregnant they have to make the best of it. But by the time she’s off to North Carolina for a 6 week visit, she’s already planning her next move should he leave or should she boot him out. She’ll buy another house with the money from the sale of the Saratoga Trail house, she’ll have her parents nearby for support, and she’ll expand her territory to North Carolina (actually there are no territories in MLMs, you can go anywhere) and continue to pitch LeVel products. I think she had her plan in place. I think he’d like us to believe that he told her he was leaving Aug. 13 and she was so overcome with emotion she decided the thing to do was strangle her children – but really, who’s going to believe that.

    • Spock

      I tend to agree Pauline – I don’t think she wanted a third baby either. She’s stated she has no baby items or maternity clothes. At some point after Celeste she had decided she was done having babies.
      Here are her words:
      “He was so excited! He was the one that initiated this pregnancy!”
      “He started crying. He really wanted a third.”
      Do I believe her? No I don’t. I know that might seem nasty to come right out and say these are probably lies but the whole timing of the pregnancy is suspicious. All you have to do is watch that pregnancy announcement video and know that if he started crying it wasn’t with joy over having another baby.
      She’s a salesperson, a marketer and a manipulator and one thing I’m pretty sure of is Shanann Watts is not losing her husband without a fight. This girl’s got “game”. She’s not the type to fade meekly into the background.

      I ask myself who has the motivation to have another baby? A woman who feels her husband slipping away or a man who has a wife, 2 kids and a mistress? Another much harsher question – who’s no longer here and who’s in jail for murder?
      I think the evidence points in the direction of this being a calculated pregnancy so I don’t think either of them really wanted a third baby.

      I also don’t think she had a back up plan in place because I don’t think she really truly believed he would leave her. (“He has no game”.) She’d thrown down her 3rd baby trump card and she was pretty sure it would work because she’s had years of experience in manipulating Chris. (All married couples learn what buttons to push on their spouse.)
      If she was getting together a back up plan she had very little to work with as far as assets. She wouldn’t come out of that divorce with enough to buy another house in NC and she’s the one with the bad credit. All she’ll have is 3 kids to raise, child support, alimony (maybe) and a leased LeVel Lexus.

      I haven’t seen any current financial information on the Watts. I’m not yet completely convinced of their dire financial situation but I do think it’s highly probable they had money issues.

      I do agree she’s a smart, capable woman and it’s possible she was considering leaving him or giving him the boot. I don’t know that either of them was threatening to leave the other. The only word we have on that is from Chris and Lord knows I’m not believing him.

      One thing my gut tells me – if they did divorce it would have been Shanann who landed on her feet.

      • nickvdl

        Spock from where did you quote those words Shan’ann said about the third baby?

        • Spock

          On her FB post from June 11 where she posted 2 videos and a picture (all in one frame) for the pregnancy announcement. The one video is the one you have posted above, the other is the video where she tells the girls and the still picture is here in the “oops” shirt in the kitchen.

        • Spock

          Here’s the whole thread. I deleted the other people’s names cause I wasn’t sure if I should print them. They were just 2 friends – I don’t think they were family.
          ________________________

          – Cutest thing ever, I loved your husbands reaction. He was way too cute I’m almost tearing up with him. The girls are just adorable. Congratulations!!

          Shanann Watts He was so excited! He was the one that initiated this pregnancy! 😆

          – it’s amazing! I’m happy for him and you of course. That little baby is coming into. Wonderful, beautiful family ❤️

          Shanann Watts thank you love

          – his reaction is always great for each one !

          Shanann Watts He started crying. He really wanted a third. 😆

          – awwww!!!! Love it

          • nickvdl

            He started crying?

          • Spock

            That’s what she said. “He started crying”.
            I don’t know if I believe any of what she’s saying here. I really don’t know what to think.

        • Spock

          Here’s another thread that might interest you also. From the same June 11 FB post:
          ____________________________________________________________

          – I see someone fibbed when the question was recently asked 🤔 Congratulations, so happy for you guys! Love you!

          Shanann Watts When you asked we hadn’t even started trying 😂

          – I just asked a few weeks ago, that was quick 🤣

          Shanann Watts May 8. I found out last week.

          Shanann Watts It didn’t take long with Thrive 😆

          – Yup, I just checked my text too, 4 weeks. You guys work fast!

          – We are all so excited for you! Chris said congratulations!

          Shanann Watts thank you

          • nickvdl

            Shanann Watts May 8. I found out last week. > does that mean she found out approximately May 1?

          • Spock

            @ nickvdl
            “Shanann Watts May 8. I found out last week. > does that mean she found out approximately May 1?”

            She’s talking to her friend who thinks SW fibbed when her friend asked her something about being pregnant or trying to get pregnant on May 8th. The question was on May 8.
            The post is June 11 and SW responds she found out last week which would be the week of June 4.
            SW says they weren’t even trying to get pregnant when the friend asked her on May 8.

            Later in the same June 11 post she says this:
            “Shanann Watts Thank you, everyone! We decided a month ago that we were going to try for one more and it happened extremely fast.”

          • nickvdl

            Can’t find this. Where in the thread is it?

          • nickvdl

            Still trying to find this…

  10. nickvdl

    Thanks, do you mind pasting the link to the video here.

  11. Spock

    Here’s one more thread from that same June 11 post:
    – Congratulations 🎉🍼!!! Oh my, can you handle possibility of another Celeste?!?!?

    – When are you due?

    Shanann Watts Feb 1st so I am thinking mid January
    __________________________________________

    Twice she responded that she was thinking mid January. Why would she think she would be 2 weeks early?

    • nickvdl

      I read somewhere that lupus sufferers tend to give birth prematurely. Maybe she did with Bella and Celeste.

    • nickvdl

      I still can’t find where she says that.

    • nickvdl

      And still trying to find this.

  12. nickvdl

    Ok got it.

    • Josie B.

      Don’t you think you should update or revise your original article now that you’ve found out that Shan’ann posted the announcement with the picture of her in the shirt, video of Chris and video of Bella and Celeste all in one Facebook post that got over 50 (I stopped counting) comments on it? If you look at the video of Bella and Celeste, it only has 8 comments.

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