Competition at summer camp
Haunting campfire tales, terrifyingly cliched high school behaviour, hidden cameras capturing your every move — there are few things more frightening these days than the new realityTV show Summer Camp. And yet, 16 suckers for punishment will be packing their knapsacks and boarding the bus for the new series, debuting Friday on Slice.
California-set Summer Camp’s premise is simple: the men compete against the women in classic camp games, and the losing team has to banish two of its members to the winning team’s camp. The winning team then decides which member of the banished pair gets put back on the bus home. Later in the summer, a “Campathalon” will determine which of the remaining campers get to share — yes, share — the $250,000 grand prize.
If it sounds like Summer Camp — not to be confused with the new NBC drama Camp — is trying to be a nostalgia-driven, lakeside alternative to addictive airtime hog Big Brother, that’s because it is. And Big Brother’s creators are OK with that, since they also created Summer Camp.
As you meet the cast of characters on Friday’s première — specifically labelled “The sci-fi geek,” “The mean girl,” “The cowboy,” etc. — you’ll quickly discover stereotypes aren’t just welcome at Summer Camp; they’re mandatory. Even huggable host Matt Rogers, who came in 11th on the third season of American Idol (you remember, don’t you?), plays the burly camp leader role to a tee.
While it could go down as the cheesiest reality-TV competition show ever, complete with matching bunk beds, Summer Camp is about as harmless as Friday night guilty pleasures get. (Slice — 7 p.m.)
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