Exiled: Not the Sweet Revenge I Thought It Would Be

Okay, so My Super Sweet Sixteen is this hellaciously horrible MTV show about rich brats whose mommies and daddies throw them insanely crazy parties to celebrate the fact that they haven't died in the past 16 years. And it's just terrible.

And sometimes I watch it.

Observing such snots makes me want to get my tubes tied until I remind myself that Mr. Pop Rocks and I would never stoop so low as to raise such a horrible child. (And frankly, as long as I'm driving a 2002 Chevy, there ain't no way a child of mine is getting a new car on her sixteenth birthday.)

Well I suppose MTV sensed the animosity brewing toward the spoiled stars of the show, because they decided to created Exiled, a show that follows former birthday party queens and kings as they venture to remote parts of the world to see what life is really like for most people.

I suppose I thought it would be sort of sweet revenge to watch Little Miss High Horse have to scoop up cow dung or eat bugs. But the truth is, the show only makes me feel sorry for the underprivileged hosts, who have to listen to their guests whine and scream and cry. ("I am not touching frickin' cow poo!")

Not only does the show force these native people to have to take on spoiled American children for a week, in a sense it paints a picture of the natives as backward and lacking of modern conveniences as highlighted by the frantic yelping of the rich kids as they talk about missing indoor plumbing and lights and a world where mommy and daddy hire exterminators so there aren't any big scary bugs. A week is too short of a time period to have any real impact on someone's psyche, so in essence I feel Exiled just exploits poor people in an effort to create "funny" television. (Hell, what did I expect. It is MTV, after all.)

I don't know what I'm trying to say here. Only that I hope that this current recession takes care of some of the richie riches and forces them to be exiled permanently...by having to take a part time job at McDonald's.

Now that I'd watch.

-- Jennifer Mathieu