BBC AMERICA
I can’t endorse the series sight unseen, but on the basis of the premise alone, I am at least TiVoing BBC America’s latest reality show this weekend:
Every year, the average British person throws out over 1,000 lbs. of trash, including $800 worth of food, with just a quarter being recycled. Most of the rest ends up in landfill, putting the UK in the bottom three European nations for recycling, with the Dutch and Germans recycling more than twice as much. The average American generates even more garbage. At four lbs. of solid trash per day, Americans are the number one global trash offenders. Why is so little being done by government, councils and business — as well as individuals — to stop this waste of resources, and what can be done about it?
Answer: have 11 people live in a garbage dump! In Dumped, a four-episode series debuting Sunday at 10 p.m. E.T., the contestants must survive by scavenging other people’s discarded stuff for three weeks. Contestants, the network says, were equipped with protective clothing and jabbed with numerous shots before going to live on their private rubbish heap. The two finalists split $40,000.
There are no evictions, but it does sound a little like Survivor: Garbage Island, I suppose. But isn’t reality TV all about recycling?