Our slide towards a real-life Hunger Games of The Running Man continues. From the producer of Duck Dynasty, Rob Worsoff, comes a reality show – The American. And wait until you get a load of this.
The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Mail, and The Wall Street Journal are all reporting that the show has been pitched, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is actually considering it.
The American would put immigrants through a series of challenges as they compete for fast-tracked U.S. citizenship. Challenges would include regionally specific ‘cultural’ contests like rolling logs in Wisconsin and assembling a Model T Ford in Detroit. In the grand finale, the winner would get sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, this feels in bad taste, right? Trivialising the achievement and value of US Citizenship, distilling it down to a series of stunts, while putting some desperate people through some cruel and unusual treatment for a piece of paper. Why not just go the whole way?
Although, to be fair, it would be far crueler to make them actually watch some US reality television. A couple of seasons of The Bachelor, and they would be back across the Rio Grande faster than Michael Phelps.
Worsoff dismisses these suggestions of bad taste. He said on social media:
“It’s not mean-spirited. Instead, ‘The American’ is a celebration of what it means to be… well… American – At a time when our morale is at an all-time low.”
The Hollywood Reporter got a statement out of Homeland. Public affairs assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said:
“The Department of Homeland Security receives hundreds of television show pitches a year, ranging from documentaries surrounding ICE and CBP border operation to white collar investigations by HSI. Each proposal undergoes a thorough vetting process prior to denial or approval.”
She adds they are in “the beginning stages of that vetting process”. She denies that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is a fan of the idea.
Worsoff also pitched the show to the Obama and Biden administrations. A quick Google search while writing this article confirms that Worsoff was born in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
