Summer television has commenced, and while I'm tempted to already start raving about So You Think You Can Dance, I will hold off for now: it is a precious rarity of good summer TV and I'll need to use it when I very quickly run out of material.
While plenty of other, less talented reality TV will also air this summer, I'd like to focus on one new show in particular: Love in the Wild, an "adventure-dating" series that strands ten men and ten women in the Costa Rican jungle, competing against each other while simultaneous trying to find love. I know what you're thinking: "How does this show exist?" Well, here's what I'm thinking: "How does this show exist only now?" How did it take television 22 seasons of Survivor and 22 seasons of the Bachelor franchise to realize that the two are MFEO?
It does remind me, though, of my only reality TV star encounter ever, a story that I can now proudly recount because it is finally pertinent. Yul - winner of Survivor: Cook Islands - opened a Red Mango three blocks from my house. I recognized him instantly at the grand opening (and yes, I'm proud of that). When I approached him, he was incredibly friendly, but just a little too eager to tell me about some off-screen shenanigans. Within thirty seconds of meeting him, he recounted an unclothed and inebriated hot tub incident involving Parvati and Ozzy, two of that season's most eye-candied contestants.
Bottom line: maybe the reason that it took them this long to produce a Survivor/Bachelor Pad mash-up is because it was essentially already happening behind the scenes. But hey, better now than never.
While plenty of other, less talented reality TV will also air this summer, I'd like to focus on one new show in particular: Love in the Wild, an "adventure-dating" series that strands ten men and ten women in the Costa Rican jungle, competing against each other while simultaneous trying to find love. I know what you're thinking: "How does this show exist?" Well, here's what I'm thinking: "How does this show exist only now?" How did it take television 22 seasons of Survivor and 22 seasons of the Bachelor franchise to realize that the two are MFEO?
It does remind me, though, of my only reality TV star encounter ever, a story that I can now proudly recount because it is finally pertinent. Yul - winner of Survivor: Cook Islands - opened a Red Mango three blocks from my house. I recognized him instantly at the grand opening (and yes, I'm proud of that). When I approached him, he was incredibly friendly, but just a little too eager to tell me about some off-screen shenanigans. Within thirty seconds of meeting him, he recounted an unclothed and inebriated hot tub incident involving Parvati and Ozzy, two of that season's most eye-candied contestants.
Bottom line: maybe the reason that it took them this long to produce a Survivor/Bachelor Pad mash-up is because it was essentially already happening behind the scenes. But hey, better now than never.
