Just as MTV infuriated Italians by sending the Jersey Shore cast to the European country of heavenly food, England will get its own batch of drunk, boisterous party animals for the same kind of reality television program.
MTV announced on Wednesday that it had selected all eight cast members for Geordie Shore, a British version of the popular American reality show that will feature young scholars from Newcastle. As noted by the Huffington Post, people from that city are called Toons.
The British version will be similar to the American program, with beefy, toned guys and eye shadow-happy women.
Jersey Shore characters often indulge in onscreen conflicts and complicated romances, so it’s likely that Geordie Shore cast member Jay might face his worst nightmare: “starting a relationship in the Geordie Shore house.”
Jersey Shore enraged Italians last year for putting their culture in a negative light. In November, Andre DiMino of Italian-American organization UNICO asked MTV to cancel the show because it portrays Italian men as wasted idiots.
“Trash television sells, and they’d be more interested in making money than how they’re offending a great group of people,” DiMino said. “MTV has festooned the ‘bordello-like’ house set with Italian flags and red, white and green maps of New Jersey while every other cutaway shot is of Italian signs and symbols. They are blatantly as well as subliminally bashing Italian-Americans with every technique possible… [The cast members] are an embarrassment to themselves, their heritage, and their families.”