The Chrisley family is finally back on television after a two year hiatus, but this time, things are a little more real.
In Lifetime’s latest docuseries, The Chrisleys: Back To Reality, the family sits down to share their lives while patriarch Todd Chrisley and wife Julie Chrisley are behind bars for bank fraud and tax evasion.
And while there is plenty of family drama to be shown, there are quite a few revelations that come to light about the family’s past, including the admission that their prior reality show wasn’t so real.
In the series’ premiere, which aired Sep. 1, big sister Savannah, 28, is doing her sister Chloe’s, 13, hair before school. Chloe is telling Savannah, who has stepped in to fully care for her younger sibling while her parents are in jail, how it’s hard for her to pretend like life is normal with cameras everywhere, with everything going on at home. The scene with the teenager is heartbreaking to watch as she continues to express her feelings due to her parents’ absence.
Faye Chrisley, Chase Chrisley, Todd Chrisley, Savannah Chrisley, Chloe Chrisley, Julie Chrisley, Grayson ChrisleyTommy Garcia/USA Network
“Chloe, you have done this your whole life,” a frustrated Savannah says. “
Yeah, when it was scripted!” Chloe explains back to Savannah, who then looks at the camera with a laugh.
“OK, well, now it is not,” Savannah explains as she tries to get Chloe’s hair finished before adding, “I can’t help that mom and dad are not here.”
The duo is referring to their former reality show, Chrisley Knows Best, which ran for 10 seasons on the USA Network. The last episode aired on March 27, 2023, about two months after Todd, 56, and Julie, 52, reported to their respective prisons for their 12-year and seven-year sentences.
Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley visit Hallmark’s “Home & Family” at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2018.Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
While we see brief footage of Todd and Julie returning home after Donald Trump‘s Presidential pardon of their prison time in May 2025, the premiere episode shares phone calls between family members, as well as an email exchange with Todd’s mom, Nanny Faye.
The entire family also sits down at the dinner table for the first time since Todd and Julie’s departures, and the tension couldn’t be cut with a knife.
Separate cameras show Savannah driving Chloe and Nanny while on a call with Todd as she explains she’s been up since 5:00 a.m. doing everything while they’re away, including taking time for her own career. She mentions the dinner and explains she is unsure if brother Chase, 29, is bringing his girlfriend Jodi.
Chase and Savannah Chrisley in happier times before their parents’ prison sentence.Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
We then see Chase and Jodi being filmed in a car with Julie’s parents, Harvey and Pam Hughes, explaining that the four of them now live together. Savannah explains her brother has always been “the chosen one” in her grandparents’ eyes.
She continues to express frustration that nobody on her mom’s side or her brother has stepped up to help with anything, including helping her work alongside Congress and the Presidentto try and get her parents released early from prison. When everyone finally arrives at the dinner table, the tense conversations begin when Harvey asks Savannah what they can do to assist.
“I’m gonna be quiet on that one,” Savannah says with a smile. “I love you all to death, but that question could’ve come two-and-a-half years ago.”
Savannah Chrisley speaks at the Republican National Convention in July 2024.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Brother Grayson, 19, also joins the table. Her grandpa then asks how what Savannah’s doing politically was going to benefit Todd and Julie. Savannah calmly explains her actions to the family while her grandpa kept pressing why he hadn’t seen things happening, which clearly frustrated Savannah.
“You’re asking the most powerful person in the world to make a decision like this,” Savannah shared before Harvey asked Savannah if she had Trump’s phone number and joked he was going to go to Mar-A-Lago to chat with him himself.
While Chloe quickly tells Savannah what a great job she was doing holding down the fort while her parents were away, Savannah was quick to defend herself, too.
“Last I checked, no one else here in my family is doing anything for my parents,” Savannah says.
She explains for the second time to the cameras that she’s told her parents there are already issues when they come home. “I don’t know if it can be repaired, honestly.”