FORGET LAZING ON AN ISLAND, 60 DAYS IN IS A REAL SURVIVAL CHALLENGE
People will put themselves through all sorts of crazy, life-endangering ordeals in the name of reality television. And while I can just about understand why you would put up with torrential rain, a diet of nothing but rice for weeks on end, being ravaged by mosquitoes, and having to endure the company of people like Andy and Luke in order to play Australian Survivor, there is one reality show I am amazed people voluntarily take part in: 60 Days In.
For those unfamiliar with the series, which begins its fifth season this week (starts Wed., Aug. 28 at 9.30pm; Crime + Investigation), 60 Days In sees members of the public who have not committed any crime going undercover in jail. As a prisoner. Voluntarily. It’s a proposition so fraught with danger that the prison used for the series has to keep being changed because once episodes go to air and the inmates get wind of the fact that reality TV show participants have been implanted among them … well, I shudder to think what might happen. (Maybe I’ve watched too much Orange Is the New Black and Prison Break.)
Obviously the producers are wise enough to realise they couldn’t risk staging another season at a correctional facility once it is
common knowledge that 60 Days In has filmed there, but can we talk for a minute about the multiplicity of dangers that exist before that even becomes an issue? The premise of 60 Days In puts innocent civilians into an environment populated by people found guilty of crimes, where gang culture proliferates and violence is an everyday occurrence. Participants have safe words they can utter or gestures they can make if they want to be extracted. Any scenario where you have to think about the possibility that your life could be in danger is not something I’d be in a hurry to sign up for.
Then there’s the experience of being in prison. Why would anyone want to know what it feels like to be cooped up, deprived of all the people and things you love in life, and locked in a tiny cell with strangers you have to relieve yourself in front of? Sure, I accept that some of the participants have an interest in the criminal justice system, but couldn’t they just read a book or watch a documentary? And others say they want an insight into what their incarcerated loved one goes through. My response: pay them a visit and talk to them from the safe side of the partition.
Putting your life in danger traipsing through the wilderness with Bear Grylls would at least be picturesque. Running the risk of a medical evacuation while taking part in a Survivor immunity challenge would at least be exciting (and take place with waterfront views). Putting yourself in harm’s way in a miserable, crowded, grey prison wearing an ugly jumpsuit? I can’t see anything appealing about that. •