Snowflake Mountain

10 spoiled brats get flown to a wilderness toughening program, apparently under the impression it would be a retreat. The first challenge? Walk across some bumpy ground. Other lessons include "Can you lower a rope?" and "Can I survive without my makeup?" (which turns out to be irrelevant - false eyelashes, liquid liner, and wigs endure the hardships better than the contestants' egos).

Hard to believe there are people as dumb and entitled as these? That's the point. This is a reality show more like Real Housewives than Alone, but with the addition of a warm fuzzy narrative about personal growth and overcoming self-limiting beliefs. The characters start out unrelatable, but surprisingly grow on you if you let them. The rules are a bit "make it up as you go along" and the "reality" of it is less believable than a Christopher Guest mockumentary (the coaches "spy" on the contestants from "hidden" cams that are obviously hand held by camera operators). But this is a narrative, not a competition.

Thematically, it's the antithesis of the precocious independence exhibited in Japan's "Old Enough." That might not speak highly of Western society, but it may make you feel a personal sense of accomplishment (and superiority) if you've managed to do a load of laundry in the past month. Why do we watch Hoarders or My 600-lb Life? So we can say "At least that's not me," and "Maybe there IS hope for people like that."

If you want steak, look elsewhere, but if you want some good beef filler, check it out!

The way the media portrayed this series I thought I was in for a "making fun of liberals" smackdown. The reality is the show is not that at all. The only edgy bit is the beginning and the title. The rest of the show is a delightful story of a group of self-centered people learning to become a team and growing through pushing their limits. Politics is not brought up once and the hosts seem like they really care about helping these kids grow, not making fun of them.

This show gets better as it goes on. Don't rule it out after the first episode! It's interesting to see personal growth in some of the participants. :-)

The mean spirited start quickly rolls off into a relatively warm show that is perfect for easy watching or background tv that is nice. The challenges or setting is defiantly not as difficult as made out to be but given the subjects it does push them even slightly.

For those that consistently rate shows like this low after claiming to have watched only one episode when clearly they have only stuck it out for 5 minutes, they know they aren't going to like it in the first place so why watch it & then rate it? You are wasting both yours and everyone else's time! I don't like romance movies, would I rate one? No.

If you want a semi mindless reality show to watch that's a bit of fun whilst seeing how unbelievable it is to see how some 'kids' (into their mid 20s) are leeching off their parents and how they cope in a situation they were not expecting or are accustomed to - this is quite entertaining! I laughed and there were a lot of very human moments as well.

Will it win an Emmy? No. Was it entertaining? Yes. I would be more than happy to see a second series of it too.