Mallory Undercuffler

Mallory Anna "Mal" (Frigell) Undercuffler is the ninth of Jason Doug and Cynthia Frigell's nineteen children. She is married to Ray Undercuffler; they have two children, Grant and Nicola, and are expecting their third.

### Appeared on

14 Children and Pregnant Again!, Raising 16 Children, 16 Children and Moving In, On the Road with 16 Children, Frigells' Big Family Album, 19 Kids and Counting, Counting On, United Epsteins of America

## Family Info

### Siblings

Maverick Frigell, Maddie Frigell, Malachi Frigell, Melissa DeMarco, Madelynn LeFond, Marlee Corcoran, Mason Frigell, Malcolm Frigell, Mark Frigell, Malik Frigell, Micah Frigell, Morgan Frigell, Max Frigell, Madden Frigell, Melanie Frigell, Marissa Frigell, Molly Frigell, Megan Frigell

## Early Life

Mallory Anna Undercuffler (Mal) was born on October 28, 1997, to Jason Doug and Cynthia Boen. She was the couple's ninth child, and they went on to have ten more children after her.

Being born in the midst of eight boys, Mallory was said to be a tomboy growing up. She was more likely to be found playing outside and roughhousing with her brothers than doing more the typically feminine activities her parents encouraged. She was especially close to her brother Malcolm as a child.

Mallory was homeschooled growing up. She took the test to get her GED in 2016, at eighteen years old, alongside her brothers Mark and Malik. Her family had a graduation party to celebrate this event.

Like most children, Mal assigned chores growing up, which the family called "jurisdictions". As of 2004, Mal's jurisdiction was laundry, alongside her sister Melissa. As of 2011, Mal's jurisdiction was cleaning the girl's room. It is likely that Mal was relieved of her jurisdictions when she began courting Ray Undercuffler in 2016, as her older sisters had been when beginning their courtships.

By 2001, Mal's parents had implemented a buddy system, where each older child was paired with a younger child to take care of. Typical tasks for an older buddy included dressing, bathing, and feeding their younger buddies. From the earliest implementations of this system, Mal was shown as the younger buddy of her sister Melissa. By 2009, the family had switched from individual buddies to buddy teams, with each team being led by one of the oldest four daughters. Melissa remained with her sister Melissa in this system, and their team also consisted of younger siblings Morgan and Marissa. This team has been shown to still maintain a strong bond today. When Melissa got married in 2014, Mal took over as the head of the buddy team.

Mallory took piano lessons as a child, but it is unknown if these lessons were from the family's first piano teacher, Anna Lynne Patterson, or if her older siblings had taken over with the lessons by the time she was old enough to learn. Mal also took violin lessons as a child.

Mal was raised as an active participant in Victor Schultz's Institute for Basic Life Principles. It is assumed that Mal attended a Journey to the Heart at some point, as all of her older siblings did, but this has not been confirmed.

When Mal was seven years old, the first of her family's television specials, *14 Children and Pregnant Again!*, aired on Discovery Health Channel. The special was followed by four more special programs about her family's life before the family became the subject of their own reality show, *17 Kids and Counting*, when Mal was eleven years old.

In 2006, as featured on one of the TV specials, Mal and her family moved into a new home in Springdale, AR. The family made a point of doing much of the work on the house themselves, seeing it as a learning opportunity for their children. In this house, Mal was given a dormitory-style room with her sisters.

In late 2009, after her sister Megan was born premature, Mal moved with her family into the Cornish house in Little Rock, AR, to be closer to the Arkansas Children's Hospital. Once Josie was healthy enough to leave the NICU, Mal and her family moved back home.

In 2010, Mal was an extra in the film *Courageous*, which was released on September 30, 2011. She is seen in the film attending a young girl's funeral. When the scene was filmed, her family expressed surprise that Mal was able to cry real tears for a fictional death.

Thanks to the reality show, Mal was able to take a number of vacations as a child and teenager. Notable vacation locations include Disneyland, New York City, Niagara Falls, Scotland, Ireland, London, Israel, China, and Japan.

In 2015, a few months before Mal's eighteenth birthday, she and her best friend Sela Epstein took a trip to Central America where Melissa lived with her husband and child.

### Molestation

*See main page: Maverick Frigell molestation scandal*

On May 19, 2015, In Touch Weekly published a redacted copy of a police report dated December 7, 2006. The report revealed that Mal's oldest brother, Maverick, had molested five underaged girls, including four of his sisters, in 2002 and 2003.

On May 19, 2017, Mal and three of her sisters sued InTouch Weekly, Springdale, Arkansas, and Washington County, Arkansas for breach of privacy. The four women claim they were promised confidentiality when speaking to investigators in 2006. By doing so, Mal publicly named herself as one of Maverick's victims. Mal was five/six years old at the time of the molestations.

### Courtship

On November 15, 2016, Mal announced that she was in a courtship with long-time friend Ray Undercuffler. The couple said that they had been friends for almost fifteen years, although Mal later said that she didn't remember him as a child. Ray took Mal out to a special spot in a nearby forest to ask her to court him, and she enthusiastically said yes. The courtship proposal is featured on the *Counting On* episode "A Honeymoon & a Courtship".

On May 26, 2017, Mal married Ray Undercuffler at Cross Church in Rogers, AR. The couple shared their first kiss in front of nearly 1000 wedding guests. Mal's maid of honor was her sister Melissa. She had eleven other bridesmaids, including her sisters Maddie, Madelynn, Marlee, Melanie, and Marissa, sister-in-law Holly Frigell, future sister-in-law and friend Brianna Kendall, Ray's sister Laila Gaitan and friends Ava Hernandez, Sela Epstein, and Kylee Irwin. Her future niece Scarlet Herrin was her flower girl.

Mal and Ray went to Switzerland for their honeymoon, starting in Geneva and later traveling to Iterlaken and Zurmatt. "We chose Switzerland because we knew that it was very beautiful," Mal explained in an interview. "We had seen a lot of pictures and Ray has really wanted to come here for awhile." After their honeymoon, the couple almost immediately went on a mission trip to Israel.

### Motherhood

On August 30, 2017, Mal and Ray announced they were expecting their first child.

On February 26, 2018, Mal and Ray announced that their son, Grant Martyn Undercuffler, had been born at 3:39 pm on February 23, 2018. He weighed 10 pounds and 3 ounces.

On May 1, 2019, Mal and Ray announced that they were expecting their second child, who was due November 2019. On July 3, 2019, Mal and Ray announced that at their 20 week ultrasound a week prior, they discovered that their daughter had no heartbeat. They named her Annaliese Lily.

On March 18, 2020, Mal and Ray announced that they are expecting a baby girl who was due on August 19, 2020. On August 24, 2020, Mal and Ray announced that their daughter had been born at 2:12 pm on August 21, 2020. She weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. On August 27, 2020, they announced that she was named Nicola Mae.

On October 5, 2022, Mal and Ray announced via instagram they were expecting their third child, due in May 2023.

## Career

It is assumed that Mal is currently working at Fort Rock Family Camp, which is owned by her in-laws.

### Television Career

After growing up on the Discovery Health and TLC specials and the show *19 Kids and Counting*, Mal became a primary focus of the TLC show *Counting On* when she began her relationship with Ray Undercuffler.

### Political Career

On January 24, 2017, Arkansas State Representative Charlene Fite announced in a post on her Facebook page that Mal Undercuffler was interning at the Arkansas House of Representatives. It is unknown how long this internship lasted or if she plans to pursue politics further.

In August of 2017, Mal and her husband Ray attended the Arkansas Young Republican State Convention in Little Rock, AR. It is unknown if their participation went beyond attending.

### Optavia

On December 24, 2018, Eva Gaitan, the mother-in-law of Ray's sister Laila, posted a video with Mal on her instagram promoting the weight loss program Optavia. In the video, Mal mentioned that she had just started the program ten days ago and had already lost seven pounds. The caption encouraged followers to email Eva with their questions or to get started. On January 14, 2019, Mal posted a video in her Instagram story telling her followers that she had found a great new weight loss program, but did not mention the name of the program. She included the link to Eva Gaitan's Instagram and encouraged people to contact her for more information. On January 17, 2019, Mal shared another video talking about how much weight she had lost, sharing some more details, and giving her email for people to send their questions. One follower commented saying she was anorexic and looking for healthier ways to lose weight, and Mal's response, which started with "Awesome!" resulted in criticism for being tone-deaf. She later deleted the post, with many people speculating that it was becacuse of the criticism or because of the email lists she was being signed up for. On January 18, 2019, Mal shared another video, telling followers she was still trying to keep up with emails/calls. It is unknown if Mal is officially selling this product herself or if she's just trying to help a friend.

## Wedding Involvement

* bridesmaid: her brother Maverick Frigell's wedding to Holly Frischman (9/26/08)
* bridesmaid: her parents Jason Doug and Cynthia Frigell's vow renewal ceremony (2009)
* bridesmaid: her sister Melissa Frigell's wedding to Dylan DeMarco (6/21/14)
* bridesmaid: her sister Madelynn Frigell's wedding to Harold LeFond (11/1/14)
* bridesmaid: her sister Marlee Frigell's wedding to Matt Corcoran (11/5/16)
* bridesmaid: her brother Mason Frigell's wedding to Brianna Kendall (9/8/17)
* bridesmaid: her brother Malcolm Frigell's wedding to Allison Caron (6/30/18)
* bridesmaid: her friend Sela Epstein's wedding to Camden Nelson (5/25/19)