Lauren HortonPeak Season Episode 1×7

I relate Peak Season to my friend’s cool parents who let me stay over to supper. Before you completely dismiss this seemingly far-fetched idea, hear me out. Do you remember those parents? The ones who let you watch television while eating, served pop with the meal and didn’t make you finish your vegetables. I never wanted to leave, but sadly, the moment would always come, when that last bite was taken, and it was time to trudge back home to your much-inferior parents. Now, instead of 30-minute suppers, it is 30-minute television segments in Whistler, and at 10:30 p.m. every night, I turn off the television with a sense of loss, and already looking forward to a dinner date for next week. This episode was more of a buffet (can you sense my hunger?). Peak Season this week brought love, chocolate factories, birthdays and brawls for dessert.

What Happens:

Lauren: The igniter of old flames.

Want to know how to tell if you’re hardcore? Take some tips from Lauren. It’s dumping buckets in Whistler and she is rolling around in a leather jacket. I’m wearing a sweater in my lukewarm condo, does that count as even a little fierce?

In this episode, Lauren admits to her best friend, Steph Weber, that she went home with Scoot and still loves him. The thing I really like about Lauren is how upfront and unapologetic she is for staying true to herself. There’s no playing around for this nose-ring wearing chick. When her and Scoot go out for a lovely dinner date, that’s when you see the delicate flower inside she succeeds in covering up most of the time. Playing with her hair, bringing up feelings and talking about love? I felt like she needed to punch someone in the face to make up for this unexpected overload of femininity. You can witness the inner battle in Lauren when she says vulnerable things like, “when you love someone you just can’t turn it off,” immediately followed by a very impressive swig of wine.

Amanda: The one with “control.”

What I’m about to write should not come as a complete shock to fans of the show. Amanda turns on the waterworks for this episode once again- she’d be perfect in a soap opera. For her audition tapes, she could just send in episodes of Peak Season.  When the girls get together to talk strategy and pre-game before Ian’s birthday at the Beagle,  Amanda plays the “insult the one you love” game that was popular in grade five. Hence, she coined the nickname for Dre, “DJ Suck.” If opening for Pete Tong makes you DJ Suck, I wonder what David Guetta’s name would be, perhaps “DJ Tone Deaf.”

My favorite part of the science fairs at school were always the booths with beer goggles in them (perhaps not a good indicator for my future). I feel as though Amanda should invest in a pair, and practice until she can walk a straight line while singing the ABC’s backwards. In any case, she take shot, after shot, after shot, until it looks as though she is in immense pain before taking down another one. Unfortunately, we’ve all become familiar with the volatile formula of Amanda + alcohol, which equals Injured Dre. This episode, Amanda manages keeps her teeth to herself, and instead ends up thrown to the floor after physically pursuing Dre once again. She chases after him on four-inch heels in the show with sudden impressive use of coordination, just to be stiff-armed over and over again. She should put “tenacious” on her resume- she’s like a pit-bull when it comes to getting what she wants.

Dre: DJ Schmuck.

Dre gets to open up for the talented Pete Tong in this episode, and also gets some sick swag for his DJ’ing, including Skull Candy headphones, which apparently double as ear-warmers. In Whistler talk, he’s so totally stoked about it.There’s something very subtly hilarious about Dre. Just when you’re not expecting it, he whips out a funny line that catches you off-guard. Case in point: when asked about Amanda by his mixing-buddy, Mike, all he has to say on the matter is that the brunette went from “classy to assy.” Bravo Dre, you have graduated from pasta to rhyming.

On a cute, but slightly awkward date with Alex, Dre (looking snazzy in a button-up white dress shirt), opens up the conversation with, “sorry I deleted you for so long.” What a sad reflection of our society. I half-expected her next sentence to be, “yeah, wtf h8er, i totally poked you three times.” Luckily, his smooth moves seem to work wonders on both his date and the male waiter, who declares them the cutest couple in the restaurant.  While Alex tosses him sex eyes all night, Dre then follows to break the cardinal rule of dating: bringing your ex-girlfriend into the conversation. All in all, not a complete success, but no failure either. Bravo once again.

The next time we see Dre, he’s spinning the opening act for Pete Tong. You know he’s really into the music because he mixes, bobs his head and literally chews his gum to the same beat. Now that’s talent folks. After a brawl ensues, leaving me completley confused as to how it started, Dre is calmed down by his pacifist fuzzy-haired friend, Doyle. He meets up with the tearful Amanda, and manages to reject her about four times with a “talk-to-the-hand” brush-off. Everyone’s heard of “Just Say No To Drugs,” but Dre’s personal motto seems to be “Just Say No To Amanda.” Too bad the 12 step program seems to be ineffective for the intoxicated DJ, because he ends up stumbling his way to Amanda’s apartment at the end of the night. It turns out acting like a crazed madwoman does, in fact, always get you your man.

Steph Just: Boarding her way to fame.

In this episode, Steph lands a big advertisement in Transworld Snowboarding magazine, but unfortunately, her job at the Chocolate Factory doesn’t quite cover the $5.00 needed to purchase it. It’s okay though, because she knows she “can’t work in the Chocolate my whole life. I got big dreams and big plans for the world.” After checking out the ad in their trademark baggy ensembles, her roommate, Jenelle spots her the change to buy the magazine. Who knows, maybe she’ll get killer maple fudge out of the deal.

Ian: The Birthday Boy.

Guess who behaved for another episode? Our favorite beauty queen, that’s who. Except for an excessive spraying of champagne (which is totally allowable on your birthday), Ian continues to impress me with his innocent act. I stress the word “act,” because who knows how long it will last. You can’t keep keep down this jersey-wearing fellow for long. In fact, my suspicions were raised by the bashful look on his face when he comes downstairs to celebrate his birthday with the guys, It’s a good mask, but personally, I think all we need is some expired milk to set Ian into action once again. On a completely random note (and I expect a twitter reply Ian), what does “perfect plus” mean when you take a shot? I guess “cheers” doesn’t suffice for these creative Whistler characters.

Best Lines:

“You are such a skid.” -Steph Weber to Lauren

“Oh, my perfect face!” – Amanda about Ian

“It’s not driving me insane, but I know I could go up to him and make out with him. But, I’m not gonna’, cause’ I have control.” -Amanda

“I WANT TO GET MARRIED TO HIM.” – Amanda

“It’s not your girl, it’s just your turn.” -Mike, Dre’s friend.

“Last time I saw her she… bit me and stuff.” -Dre to Alex

Overall

First of all, I apologize for the unacceptable length of this blog. If your attention span has survived to this point, congratulations. I know how an overload of sarcasm and Peak Season can wreck havoc on the brain. This episode was fantastic. We were left hanging with the Matt and Elle situation, but everyone knows that single people make for crazier television anyway. Amanda and Dre are perfect examples of this unspoken rule. It seems as though love is in the air for future episodes, and I’m excited to see where the Lauren-Scoot, Amanda-Dre and Matt-Elle couplings work out. Can’t wait for my date with the “cool parents” next Monday!

Last but not least, a quick poem I scribbled about my favorite people on television:

The resort town of Whistler,

isn’t for the faint of heart.

If you know how to triple-fist,

I would say that’s just a start.

Carving through powder by day,

and tequila shots by night.

Sometimes Amanda Scheller

gives me quite a fright.

Dre bumps music for the club

while Ian wheels like a pro.

Lauren dresses like a pirate

and Steph shreds in the snow.

Matt makes a few mistakes,

while Elle forgives them all.

Peak Season is the show to watch

for all your drama this fall!

andPOP insider interview with Lauren Horton

She’s a shot-taking, blue-eyed businesswoman who knows how to stand up for herself. Listen to what Lauren has to say about the show, and what she thinks of Peak Season since she attended the premiere in Toronto.

We’re at over half a season now. Has the show turned out any different than you expected from the beginning of it all?

I wouldn’t say its quite different. I mean, I know what happened, I’m there, and I know what’s going on. I know kind of what direction it’s going, I just don’t know exactly what stuff they’re going to use. They have so much captured on film, and they have it cram it into such a short amount of time, so it’s just surprising to see what they use.”

Do you ever feel as though it needs to be an hour long, rather than the half-hour segment it is now?

“I think that sometimes it should be, just because there is a lot that they couldn’t put in because the had to compress it into a half-hour. I think if the did a take of all the mini-bloopers and deleted scenes it would be a mini-series on its own, it would be so funny! There are definitely things, that as its gone on I’ll be like ‘Aw, they didn’t show that!’ I’ll get bummed that there’s scenes they didn’t show, but they pretty much picked all the really good key pieces.”

Does the cast have a Monday night ritual to get together and watch Peak Season together?

“As of right now, we’ve been going to the Amsterdam in Whistler, it’s a pub. We’ve been going there every Monday night, and they’ve been hooking us up with free food, and just basically really looking after us. Not everybody goes, but the majority of us go, and I’m sure we’ll be there tonight as well. It’s really fun.”

Do you find when you’re watching the other cast member’s story lines, you look at them in a different light?

“No, not really! I was pretty on point with my opinions on everybody. I guess with the example with Matt and Elle, I always just thought Elle was a sweetheart, and that Matt wasn’t such a nice boyfriend, and that was just my opinion, but watching the show, it’s pretty much turning out to be true [chuckles]. And you know, with Dre and Amanda, I was already kind of around for all of that, so in terms of that, my opinion was pretty accurate as well, because I already knew what was going down. So no, I didn’t really look at anyone in a different light, I like to think that I was pretty on the mark with everyone.”

Have you been treated any differently since Peak Season has been airing, especially in Whistler?

“Yeah, it’s definitely getting crazier as our, I don’t know, ‘celebrity status’, becomes a big larger! The cool thing about Whistler is that it’s just so laid-back that we don’t really get bothered, and people don’t really look at us any different that live here or that know us. It’s people from the city or people that are from out-of-town that are coming into town and finding out about the show, that’s where we kind of see a difference with the way people treat us. ”

Any crazy fan experiences?

“I’ve had quite a few crazy experiences! It’s getting to be quite crazy, we didn’t really expect this at all so it’s quite a shock. If we go out on weekends, we’ve been mobbed, I remember the weekend before the last, the moment we entered the club to the moment we left we were taking pictures with fans. Yeah, it’s really cool. I can give you examples of awesome ones, and some that are not-so-awesome ones. The other day I was at the bank, and I was actually standing right at the teller speaking with her and I had my money out, and as I was digging around I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was a guy, and he was like ‘I’m really sorry to bother you but my sister’s a really big fan, and we saw you and she has some questions she wants me to ask you.’ You know, I don’t mind, it’s flattering and it’s cool when someone is stoked on you, but I was in the middle of personal banking, so that was a little bit weird. He started asking questions, and one of his questions was how much did I make! It was a little awkward. Another time a girl in the city grabbed my arm and spun me around really fast and yelled to take a picture with her, so that was pretty aggressive. But there’s been way more positive feedback and situations than negative ones. A girl in the bathroom was actually hyperventilating in there because she was so excited to see me. It was so cool to see that I’d made their night. A girl approached me in Whistler, at Garf’s, and she was just really stoked, and told me that I was a role model and that she looked up to me because she felt that I was strong and stuck up for myself. So that is definitely the best part abotu the whole thing, because you can see that you have a positive effect on people, though sometimes I wonder why, because I’ve had vodka spit in my mouth [laughs]. Like I said, I go through a roller-coaster in my life, and I know people can relate to it.”

In the show, we’re just getting introduced to your company, Blackout Promotions. How is the business now?

“It was really slow over the summertime, because the economy was really bad, and a lot of people weren’t hiring for promotions. But now, with the season starting, I have a lot of work coming up for the Olympics, and I’m actually getting quite a few emails and phone calls from people wondering if they’d like me to work their parties. I’m trying to take it step by step, because it’s getting a little bit overwhelming, but it’s definitely picked back up, I had a bit of a hiatus, but it will be full-swing soon enough.”

Can you and Steph Weber laugh now about the awkward business conversations that have been aired?

“We laugh about it now, sometimes when people see things on the TV, and they were in the wrong, it’s hard for them to see. But, it was documented and it happened, so we can’t really take it back. At first it may have been awkward, but now I just laugh it off. There’s things on the show that I’ve done that I wasn’t too stoked on, but I know what I was getting myself into. It’s funny to see all the things we went through together, but if you’re truly good friends, something so simple as that… we can get through it, laugh about it and talk about it.”

What’s been your favorite moment so far on Peak Season?

“I would definitely say, as of up to now, the success of my pirate party, my first party. I was really proud of myself. The place was packed, we were sold out, and it was something huge in my life.”

Least favorite?

“Probably, this is going to sound funny, but I’m going to be honest. It would probably be the really low-cut V-neck shirt that I wore. I’m not one to show off my boobs, and I guess I was wearing a spectacular bra that night! I look at it now and I’m just like ‘Oh my god, they’re just out there!’ I wasn’t proud of that. Some things in the show are hard to look back at, but it’s all learning, and we’ve yet to see all that is to happen. I don’t regret doing any of this though.”

Is there anything else you would like to say to everyone?

“I know I have a lot of people asking if this is real, or if we’re paid to say these things. I just want everyone to know what they’re seeing is exactly real, and I hope that everyone can take all our stories and relate and learn from them, and take them in a positive way. Mainly, what you see is what you get, and I hope everyone likes the show so far.”






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