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This week on Peak Season: Episode Six

Episode six of Peak Season was, for lack of a better word, overwhelming. To clarify, take the best parts of the Real World, Twilight and Intervention, mash them together, and you’ve got an imitation of life in Whistler. Don’t let those serene snowflakes at the beginning fool you, that’s what some people refer to as the calm before the storm, and this episode was a level nine on the Richter scale.

What happens:

Matt and Elle: Adrenaline-Junkies.

On a coffee date, Elle questions the value of remaining in Whistler to Matt, while he sheepishly defends his actions at the club earlier. One thing I really like about the Australians is their lingo, which consists of talking how I did in elementary school. I mean, how can Elle even consider leaving after hearing how “sucky” it will be for poor Matt?

Fortunately, all it takes is accompanying Elle to a skills competition, consisting of jumps, backflips and your typical ring of fire. I half-expected a bearded lady to Allie Oop through the ring after the competitors. After this, they continue on to complete their couple bonding by tandem bungee-jumping off a bridge. I’ll give it to Matt, he certainly knows how to make unique apologies. These Canadian fellows need to step it up!

Matt continues his new gentleman act at the bar when the Australian posse meets up for beers. When Elle is hit on, he immediately gets defensive, which translates into standing on the bar and making faces at the perpetrator. The poor guy is already single, don’t you think he has enough problems? A bar fight ensues, where they end up sloppy-UFC’ing outside in slippery conditions. Elle cries, because that’s what girls do best when someone else gets hit, and Matt the manly man comforts her outside the bar. All’s well that ends well.

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This Week on Peak Season: Episode Five

Another Monday night has passed, and with it, another drama-filled episode of Peak Season. As I sat down with my twelve-pack of beer and snow globe (the closest I can get to be Whistler local), I realized this episode marks the halfway point of the first season. It’s almost like the six month anniversary of a relationship, when you decide to persist or ditch. Is it worth the emotional investment, the time and the mind games? In my opinion, yes. Sure, it’s maddening when your emotional other can only dedicate thirty minutes to you a week, but sometimes, that’s what these one-ended relationships consist of. I mean, what other show has tractors plowing snow as a riveting opening shot? It’s one-of-a-kind, and I’m excited to see where this season will take the psychologically-insane individuals of Whistler.

What happens:

Stephanie Just: The fearless snowboarder.

In this episode, a lot of focus is put on Steph and her snowboarding. Her pass for the slopes has been reinstated, and she wastes no time getting back on the hill. When watching Steph in the park, hitting every jump and rail possible, it’s hard not to feel inadequate in comparison. I find myself on my feet, carving and leaning as though she is my Wii character (outfitted in my baggy pants and Jamaican toque), and I’m (not her!) garnering points for every trick. It works wonders for temporary self-esteem boosts.

In shows like The Hills, Lauren and Lo can use their powers to bypass lines at celebrity-infested club events. However, in shows like Peak Season, Steph and her friend use their overwhelming star power to wheedle and talk their way into getting spots in full Snowboarding competitions, more specifically, the “Showcase Showdown.” This competition features inflatable Redbull, gnarly tricks and Steph’s announced “aggressive frontside board slide.” I feel as though this is a personality characteristic of girls in Whistler. Instead of long walks on the beach, the new thing to enjoy is aggressively grinding a rail (no inappropriate innuendo implied).

After placing a respectable fifth place in the competition, probably due to a tragic bail on her final run, Steph congratulates her third-placing companion with a reassuring “I told you, if you beat me, I would kill you.. Congratulations!”

It’s truly hard not to love this girl.

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This Week on Peak Season: Episode Three

Canada’s newest docu-drama series, Peak Season, aired it’s third episode Monday night, and the second showing of this action-packed show followed in the premiere’s steps, that is, the sporadic and unpredictable steps of the entertaining cast the show is based upon.

What happens:

Matt and Elle : the Australian who likes to get (self-proclaimed)“loose” and his visiting girlfriend.

After Matt mistakenly ditches Elle at the bar, he resolves to make it up to her. Whistler-fashion, of course. This groveling style consists of romantic dogsled rides, champagne and a hotel room at the Westine Resort and Spa for the night. After an excessively long make-up scene in the hot tub, it’s fairly simple to come to the conclusion that Matt has officially been forgiven for his sloven ways.

Lauren: the rowdy girl with a mind of her own.

Lauren is on the hunt after losing her job at a local Whistler pub, and eventually comes to the conclusion that she is better off working for herself. She decides that now is the perfect time to start the promotions company she has been envisioning, and it’s time to put her party-girl reputation to a good cause (as so eloquently stated by her best friend, Stephanie Weber). Over cheese, sausage and wine, it is decided that Fabia, an already-established promoter, will team up with Lauren for a promotion event a premiere party as a trial run. After reinforcing the importance of staying AWAY from shots, we are treated to a wonderful array of shot-taking skills, as represented by Lauren. Traditional shots, shots without hands, shots from her cleavage- essentially any form of shots you’ve ever imagined, they’ve been done in a Whistler bar.

After discovering that a girl, Jenelle, is bad mouthing her, Lauren takes matters into her own (very capable) hands. After actively seeking her out in the bar, confrontation ensues. Talking turns to shouting, shouting leads to pushing, and pushing leads to a mini-lecture from a slightly intoxicated Fabia. After breathing in some fresh Whistler air, it appears that Lauren takes the heartfelt advice seriously, and won’t let this little bump on the road slow her down.

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Beautiful scenery, beautiful people, and drama galore nestled in the slopes of Whistler, British Columbia. Sound intriguing?

MTV’s latest documentary series Peak Season, surrounded by much buildup, debuts Monday night (Oct. 19).

So what’s all the hype about?

First, it’s a bold new approach to Canadian-focused television. It’s also unscripted, raw, and features personal stories that hit closer to home.

MTV Canada has ordered 10 episodes of this fresh series which follows the lives of a tight-knot group of people in Whistler, British Columbia. Peak Season offers an up-close look into their personal struggles and achievements, ranging from a tearful break-up in the first episode, to the distinct possibility that you will always run into that  certain someone you were avoiding at the bar. This tight-knit group consists of Dre Morel, Lauren Horton, Amanda Scheller, Ian Ross, Matthew James, Stephanie Just and Elle Hetherington. Each 20-something-year-old has their own story to tell, and all is revealed in the long days, and even longer nights, in the town of Whistler.

Stephanie Just and Dre Morel are ambitious Whistler locals, while others such as Scheller (Morel’s ex-girlfriend) moved to Whistler when she started dating him.

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Ross Rebagliati, an Olympic gold medalist for Canada in snowboarding, is suing CTV. Rebagliati claims that a character on their TV series “Whistler” is based on him and has damaged his image.

The suit was filed in British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, reports the Canadian Press. The suit charges CTV with misappropriation of personality, breach of privacy and defamation.

The character in question, Beck MacKaye, is a blond, blue-eyed, Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder who lives in Whistler. He also happens to be a blackmailing alcoholic who is involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves a woman paralyzed.

“I’m the only blond-haired, blue-eyed Canadian snowboard Olympic gold medal winner who lives in Whistler in the world,” said Rebagliati at a news conference.

It’s not the first time that controversy has surrounded Rebagliati. He won the first ever Olympic snowboarding event in 1998 at Nagano. However, he was stripped of his medal after testing positive for marijuana. When it came out that marijuana wasn’t on the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned substances, though, the medal was reinstated.

He is currently training for possible entry into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, to be held in Whistler and Vancouver.

CTV has denied his claims.