Steven “Steve” McBee Sr. made his first appearance on The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys after being MIA for all of season 3 and prior to serving his jail sentence.
During the Monday, July 6, episode of the Bravo series, Steve’s third son, Cole McBee, prepared to propose to longtime girlfriend Kacie Adkison. When the big moment came, Steve, 53, surprised fans when he was seen in the room with his entire family to witness the surprise proposal, which took place in November 2025 — one month before Steve reported to prison.
Fans spotted Steve in the crowd among his other sons, Steven McBee Jr., Jesse McBee and Brayden McBee, as well as his ex-wife, Kristi McBee, who all watched the magical moment from a room that overlooked a romantic gazebo.
At one point, viewers saw Steve holding his granddaughter Summer, whom Jesse shares with Alli McBee.
After the proposal — and Kacie’s enthusiastic“yes” — the happy couple reunited with their loved ones, at which point Steve was seen cheering the engaged couple alongside friends and family.
He was then spotted coming over to see his other granddaughter Blair, whom Cole, 26, and Kacie welcomed in December 2024, and enjoying the moment.
“Having all of our family and friends here, especially my dad is the best thing ever,” Cole told the cameras after he popped the question. “Life will really be changing a lot when my dad goes away and I just wanted to propose while he was still here and can enjoy this with everybody.”
Steve’s cameo was a rare sighting for fans, who last saw the McBee Farm & Cattle ranch founder during season 2 when he attended Jesse and Alli’s wedding. (The couple tied the knot in October 2024 and the episode aired in September 2025.)
Steve was previously a main character on McBee Dynasty during season 1, but after a major deal with his car washes fell through, he temporarily left the ranch.
“We’re on our own. Dad’s leaving. All he said is, he has no idea when he’s going to be back,” Steven told his brothers during the March 2024 episode. “He said he’s not in the right mental state to be running this farm.”
Steve continued to live his life off camera during most of season 2 as eldest son Steven, 33, took over as CEO of the family business. Behind the scenes, Steve was facing legal drama as he and the farm were under investigation.
In November 2024, Steve pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar fraud scam using federal crop insurance. The rancher was charged with one count of federal crop insurance fraud after allegedly receiving insurance benefits based on false totals from the family’s corn and soybean crops in 2018. Steve was also accused of fraud in 2019 and 2020.
Steve was sentenced in October 2025 to two years in prison with an additional two years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $4,022,124 in restitution and to self-surrender on December 1, 2025, to begin his prison term.
While Steve didn’t appear on the season 3 premiere of the McBee Dynasty in June, fans did learn his fate as Steve’s children attended his sentencing and spoke about it on camera.
During the premiere, fans learned that in addition to the $4 million in restitution he owed, Steve was ordered to pay $3 million in fines, which the family was not expecting.
“It’s the worst feeling I’ve ever felt. I don’t know where the $7 million is going to come from,” Cole told the cameras.
Steven also commented on the bombshell, saying, “It’s the damn monetary amount that I’m very concerned [about]. December 1? That gives us what, six weeks [with him].”
The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
