By I have been watching Expedition Impossible: Morocco this summer, which for people who haven’t seen the show, it is basically The Amazing Race, with an Eco-Challenge theme. The teams climb mountains, kayak rivers, hike, solve puzzles, navigate cities, etc. to win the show. Some of the things they do on the show are actually quite dangerous by reality show standards. The show finished Thursday night with the winning team, The Gypsies winning $150,000 as well as their own 2011 Ford Explorers. I was impressed with the 2nd place team, No Limits featured a US Army soldier Aaron Isaacson who broke his ankle in the middle of the competition and kept competing. He overcame a lot of pain and a difficult handicap to help his team keep moving forward. That guy really made a good impression of the US Army for people that watched that show. The fact they finished second was impressive. Even more impressive was the blind competitor Erik Weihenmayer who rafted rivers, climbed mountains, etc. despite being blind. Pretty inspiring guy.
Anyway it got me thinking that maybe this show would be something good for the Korean government to pursue? 10 episodes of this show featuring competitors hiking Korea’s mountains, rafting its rivers, solving challenges in Buddhist temples, sailing in the Yellow Sea, and doing other outdoor activities may be something that can help change people’s perceptions about Korea. Most people don’t realize what a great place South Korea is for outdoor activities. I never realized what a beautiful country Morocco is until I saw this show. So maybe people watching a season of this show will have the same reaction about Korea? Ford sponsored the show this season, maybe Hyundai could sponsor the show if it came to South Korea which would also promote South Korea but Hyundai Motors as well.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
4:14 am on August 26th, 2011 1
I know a Utah National Guard Major that is attached to the US Embassy in Morocco if you’re interested in some good information…
7:57 am on August 26th, 2011 2
Wow. That was kinda non-sequitor…
Back to the topic, I think it would be great; but, to paraphrase Heinlein, xenophobia is a harsh mistress. The Koreans would need to see foreigners tramping on their mountains and spending money in Korea as a good thing.
The Hanky and the Netizens will never accept it.
8:04 am on August 26th, 2011 3
#3 What? Hanky and Netizens will never accept American TV promoting Korea to the world? How wrong you are.
2:17 pm on August 26th, 2011 4
Non sequitur, setnaffa.
5:39 pm on August 26th, 2011 5
I disagree.
5:45 pm on August 26th, 2011 6
Better Title: Stranger in a Strange Land
5:46 pm on August 26th, 2011 7
I respect Orbit’s right to disagree.
10:53 pm on August 26th, 2011 8
I always thought that shooting an episode of Fear Factor here might be a good idea.
Some of the challenges I have in mind are:
1) eating a bowl of cheongugkjjang paste (not the soup, but the paste itself),
2) eating a pound of hongeo,
3) standing in the middle of a busy intersection in Seoul during rush hour, and
4) being strapped to the hood of a taxi while it drives through traffic for 10 minutes. To make thinks more interesting, the taxi driver would be deprived of cigarettes for 2 days.
4:45 am on August 28th, 2011 9
As long as they put it on Youtube. The recent Korea’s Got Talent did it right. They immediately put the videos on youtube following the show and within a day or two even added English captions to the videos.
While other Korena companies are filing complaints left right and center these guys did a fantastic job of making the show available to overseas markets, and it seems that it became reasonably popular due to that as I often saw videos from it popping up on social networks and other places.