Is Kelowna really the Jersey Shore of Canada?

The infamous late-2000s MTV reality show Jersey Shore became a sensation when it premiered in 2009, so much so that it spawned a few spin-offs around the world. 

Now, the TV format has landed closer to home with a new series set in Kelowna, called Canada Shore. But how well does the hot-mess spectacle translate north of the border?

Today on Commotion, culture writers Amil Niazi, Mel Woods, and Hanna Flint join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to share their impressions of the show, and whether it accurately captures Canadian party life.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full conversation, including a discussion about this year’s Oscar nominations and the Beckham family drama, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on CBC Listen:

Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud26:59Friday Wrap: Canada Shore, Oscar noms and the Beckham family drama

Elamin: What are your first impressions of Canada Shore?

Amil: First of all, I want to deeply apologize to the city of Kelowna for what's about to happen. Your image in the world is going to change for the 10 people that end up watching this show. I'll tell you first of all, I felt instantly less intelligent after watching a little bit of this show. The thing about Jersey Shore that was so interesting was it was really a microcosm of a specific lifestyle that was already occurring on the Jersey Shore. Whereas with this show, they've basically taken the most desperate people … from across the country and placed them in Kelowna. And so I'm curious to see what happens when it's not a natural scene. Definitely, it's going to be a lot of hosers and a lot of bro culture and a lot of screaming, “Kelowna, baby!” I'm excited. I'm quite excited.

Elamin: You're like, “I say all this, and I'm on board. I will be watching the rest of this.” ... Mel, you're originally from Kelowna, British Columbia. So allow me to ask you, pal: what is it like seeing your hometown represented as the party capital of the country?

Mel: There is such a dark-sided feeling to watching all of these panning shots and seeing my parents’ condo building in the background as they're panning around the edge of the lake. I just keep thinking about my parents and their friends at the Kelowna Yacht Club while they're filming this last summer, like, looking down from their patio and being like, “Why is this happening? We must report it to the Strata council.”

Kelowna is a place [where] there is a certain level of bro-y culture. It's a vacation destination, but there's also just, like, a lot of rich white people who like wine and charcuterie and enjoying retirement; it's an older demographic of a place. And so, like Amil said, it's so weird to watch all of these people transplanted in saying phrases like, “It's like Miami, but with mountains,” which is a phrase I've never heard uttered before. And watching Snooki walk through the Kelowna Airport, where I go three times a year to visit my family…. And then in one episode, they're selling fruit at the fruit stand by the airport. It’s just very surreal. And, living in Vancouver, I get this sometimes with fictional media where you're like, “Oh, that's Vancouver in the background.” But there's just something about them framing Kelowna as a party destination, when it has, like, one main street. They go to a club and I'm like, is that the one club in Kelowna? This is not necessarily the big party zone. But like Amil said, pray for the people of Kelowna, because anybody who watches this show is going to go there. The bachelorette parties are going to multiply. It is going to be a dark, dark time for Kelowna in the coming summers if people think that they can go behave like this there, and that that's the norm.

Elamin: I will say, Hanna, there's something about the Jersey Shore formula that, on the surface of it, is begging to be transplanted to somewhere else. Like, the idea of, “Go find somewhere else, because there will be parties there.” ... They did that in Brazil, they did the British version, and then now, we've got Canada Shore…. So when you watch Canada Shore, you're kind of like, “Oh, this didn't need to happen.” How are you feeling about it?

Hanna: Well, I have Canadian family, and this doesn't feel that representative of my Canadian brethren. I think what's interesting is, my memories of Geordie Shore and Jersey Shore were just how chaotic, and prone to violence and punch-ups and things like that — and I guess this cast are maybe a little bit more polite. Part of that could be because they don't know each other…. The whole point was basically this kind of snapshot of this kind of crew of people who have deep links to each other, roots with each other. Whereas these feel like they've gone with this sort of Love Island approach to casting: “Let's just bring in some quite hot people with buff bodies and then throw them together.”

And I know it's not a dating show per se, but there is that kind of element of they're all going to hook up…. There are moments where I'm like, “I kind of love this.” So I guess, after watching a couple of episodes, I'm kind of hoping that it makes good on the legacy of real, out-there rivalries — you know, hits, throwing, smashing things — and then coming together because they've got hearts of gold, you know?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.