New MTV show “Exiled” seriously problematic

I was interviewed last week by Newsweek reporter Jesse Ellison about my thoughts on the new MTV series “Exiled.” I’m not a huge fan of the concept, to say the least. Latoya Peterson from Racialicious was also interviewed. The show takes girls from the “My Super Sweet Sixteen” series and sends them off to a foreign country for a week.

In the first episode of “Exiled,” which aired last week, our girl Amanda, who is now 19 and seems to spend her days sleeping and sunbathing, is surprised by her family and friends (and, presumably, MTV’s film crews), with the news that they are sending her to Africa. Amanda is whisked away to Kenya, where she spends a week with the Masai. She sleeps in a dung hut, is asked to touch cow dung (which she refuses to do), carries water for hours and watches the slaughter of a goat.
Several posters noted that the host families on the show seem like props. “The show falls into the theme of using other countries and cultures as teaching tools for people in the U.S.” says feministing.com blogger Miriam Perez. “These people are being used as a teaching tool for mostly white, privileged girls. Why was this girl honored? Because she stopped crying after a few days? She was offensive. She wasn’t appreciative.”
Latoya Peterson, blogger for Racialicious.com, has a similar objection. “They’re taking these extremely spoiled kids and going, ‘OK, what’s the worst thing we can do to them? Send them to Africa!” she says. “That’s a terrible mind-set to have. It’s the First World balking at the Third World.”

Read the rest of the piece here.
What do you all think about the new show? You can watch the first episode for free online.