Little People, Big World fans are still debating why Zach Roloff had to finally leave the show.
The Roloff family has become a rare hit on television. 18 years and 25 seasons is a massive realization.
It had a high cost, because major family disagreementsmany related to the program, took family members away from the cameras, the farm and each other.
Zach and Tori Roloff went out Little People, Big World. They felt they had no other choice. But why?
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 9 Zach Roloff in Raising Heights in June 2024.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0628_zachroloff_02-1024x576.png)
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 10 Zach Roloff on Raising Heights in June 2024.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0628_zachroloff_02-1024x576.png)
Tori and Zach Roloff have a podcast
In a recent episode of your Raising Heights podcastZach shared how becoming a reality TV star as a child impacted him.
Hint: It wasn’t positive.
Among other things, he investigated what it was like to grow up in a “fishbowl” and then be in the same situation with his own wife and children as an adult.
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 11 Zach Roloff and Tori Roloff sitting on a couch on their Raising Heights podcast in June 2024.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0628_zachroloff_01_toriroloff-1024x576.png)
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 12 Zach Roloff and Tori Roloff sitting on a couch on their Raising Heights podcast in June 2024.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0628_zachroloff_01_toriroloff-1024x576.png)
When Tori asked Zach what it was like to film as a kid, Zach recalled the obvious pressures.
“It was weird because there was always this expectation that I should be doing something now,” Zach reflected.
“When people talk about reality TV, I always think there’s a little caveat there,” he explained. “Because at the end of the day, these people are paying for a crew to be here.”
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 13 Zach Roloff speaks to the camera confessionally in Little People, Big World in an April 2024 episode.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/0423_lpbw_01_zachroloff_crop-1024x576.png)
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 14 Zach Roloff speaks to the confessional camera on Little People, Big World in an April 2024 episode.](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/0423_lpbw_01_zachroloff_crop-1024x576.png)
Zach Roloff’s Childhood on ‘Little People, Big World’ Wasn’t THAT Bad
He openly admitted that filming the show was “sometimes fun.” It wasn’t like those terrible “YouTube family” nightmare stories – it just had major downsides.
Zach emphasized that the experience can also be “very stressful.” He didn’t need that when he was a kid.
One could easily argue that Zach doesn’t really know what a childhood without reality TV is like, so he has nothing to compare it to. But… maybe that’s the point?
One thing has stayed with him into adulthood, and he calls it the “fishbowl effect.” According to Zach, he “couldn’t stand” that aspect of reality TV.
“You’re in an aquarium (and) everyone is looking at you,” Zach described. He was talking, not about life on the farm, but about producers seating him and his family in the center of a restaurant (for lighting and angles) where cameras and other restaurant patrons look “at this now movie set.”
Zach emphasized that this wasn’t just a problem with filming in restaurants.
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 15 Roloffs in Little People, Big World](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tori-and-Zach-Roloff-Little-People-Big-World-022224-1-cbe19029d659491280de4d549575f5cb.webp.webp)
![Why Zach Roloff Had to Leave 'Little People, Big World' 16 Roloffs in Little People, Big World](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tori-and-Zach-Roloff-Little-People-Big-World-022224-1-cbe19029d659491280de4d549575f5cb.webp.webp)
The ‘fishbowl effect’ made Zach fear going out in public
A trail of cameras, microphone operators and producers will attract attention anywhere.
But Zach is also a little person. Just like his parents and all three of their children.
People’s stares sometimes became unbearable.
And earlier this year, Zach and Tori discussed how they had left Small people, big world because reality show “destroys families.“
This is true – especially for the Roloffs.
Some may be surprised that Zach and Tori are discussing this (or anything) on a podcast. But they weren’t desperate for privacy or looking to become recluses. On a podcast, they control the level of access – and no one follows them to film them in a restaurant.