I’m not much of a binge-watcher; honestly, it’s a big deal if I watch two episodes of a show in one day. But on New Year’s Day, I discovered one of the most bingeworthy reality shows I’ve seen in a long time.
On Monday, as I was waiting for football to start, I stumbled on a show that came out in 2022, and I wondered why I missed it all this time. “Snowflake Mountain” was so funny and compelling that I wound up watching three episodes before tuning in Alabama vs. Michigan (or, as I called it, the game where I wished both teams would lose).
The premise is simple: a group of spoiled, entitled young adults think they’re on their way to a swanky resort for a reality series, but the vehicles dump them in the middle of the wilderness in northwestern England. The joke’s on them; their families have signed them up for a survival experience to build character. Survival experts Joel Graves and Matt Tate are waiting to whip them into shape.
On the surface, the participants’ character tropes are straight out of central casting. There are New York City princesses, a bleached-blonde Florida surfer dude, a mouthy, rebellious vegan, and an aimless former gifted student, among others. My favorite participant so far is Rae, a sassy Brit who seems to learn the character-building lessons the quickest, while the arrogant, mouthy Solomon is an easy villain to loathe.
As the series begins, the participants come across as caricatures, and you can’t wait to see them receive their comeuppance. But as you watch them more and begin to invest in their development, some of them become sympathetic and worth rooting for.
The “snowflakes” have an incentive to tough it out, too. When one contestant leaves on the first day, Graves and Tate tell the remaining participants that if they can make it to the end, there’s a $50,000 prize pot. But if anyone leaves early (not counting the first one to leave), the pot decreases by $5,000 — so there’s a motivation for them to encourage each other to stick with the challenges.
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SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD… The participants exhibit some surprising behavior at times. Devon, the vegan, bristles when one challenge involves preparing a deer for the night’s dinner, but rather than being confrontational, she listens and demurs respectfully. In a challenge where the contestants pair off to make a fire using friction, the duo who starts off taking the task the least seriously ends up winning.
When some contestants engage in devious behavior, the reactions — and the punishment — are tough. Some of the most unintentionally hilarious moments come with awkward attempts at flirting as well. But for all the comical moments, as the series goes on, it’s easy to become invested in these “kidults,” as Netflix describes them, and their development.
I’m less than halfway through the season — and unfortunately there’s only one season — but “Snowflake Mountain” has already proven to be more than trashy binge TV. It’s a compelling character study of young people with plenty of opportunities for growth and development, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.
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