Locals Object to New MTV Reality Show "Maui Fever"

Some Maui residents are objecting to the latest MTV reality show, "Maui Fever," saying its sexual content and all-white cast gives viewers a skewed impression of their island. The first episode highlights a group of men who target tourists for fast, easy, and noncommittal hookups. Previews for the eight-episode series — which airs on MTV Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. — hint at cheating, fighting, partying and hooking up. The first episode aired last week.

"I don't want (tourists) to come to Maui and think that people are going to come up to their daughters, so `I better keep them away,'" Nathan Ugale, 16, who was born and raised in Lahaina told The Maui News. "It's good for TV but not when it's happening in the town that you live in, that you've been a part of your whole life."

Abcde Shibao, 16, also of Lahaina, said Maui residents come across as one-dimensional in the program."I thought it was kind of insulting. ... They just show partying," Abcde Shibao, 16, of Lahaina told the newspaper. "But (young people are) active in school, community and sports. We do other things besides partying." Other objections stem from how the show fails to represent the ethnic and cultural makeup of Maui. The show's seven main stars — two women and five men — are all Caucasian. Series creator Morgan J. Freeman told the Honolulu Advertiser that casting was a challenge because of the need to find a group of people who already were friends and who didn't mind getting intimate on television.

Dawson and Benita Brazier, Maui County film commissioner, said her office hasn't heard whether the show would be shooting a second season.

Source