MTV to produce new reality show in Key West
A Weekly Staff Report
Key West’s culture is seeped in maritime adventures like piracy and smuggling, so MTV’s decision to base a new reality show in the southernmost city comes as no surprise to a city ripe with endless story lines and miles of coastal shores.
However, due to the covert nature of the subject matter and the MTV’s mission to launch a well-orchestrated viral marketing campaign, only a few, scattered details have surfaced about the new reality show, “Gettin’ Real with the SEALs.”
According to classified documents released by a California production company, the new program has already begun filming in and around the beaches of Key West.
“We are going to find out what happens when SEALs get out of their wetsuits – and get real,” said the memo.
Last week, a Higgs Beach resident whose mailing address lists the Stock Island Correctional Facility confirmed reports of a SEAL team followed by a camera crew.
“I was just sitting here, enjoying my high-gravity beer, “ said Nick Luther, “when 12 dudes ran out of the water carrying a rubber raft.”
Luther said they were well armed and with what appeared to be M-16A1 rifles equipped with M203 grenade launchers.
“One may have had a MP-5 submachine gun, but it was dark,” Luther added. “Plus the lights on those cameras destroyed my night vision.”
Luther admitted his vision may have also been blurred by intoxicants.
SEAL training is very rigorous, one of the toughest training programs for special operations in the world and the drop-out rate is regularly 80 percent.
By moving the training to a more hospitable locale like Key West, Navy officials are hoping to increase graduation rates and increase public awareness for one of the most highly skilled amphibious units in the world.
Admiral Gary Roughhead, Chief of Naval Operations, may have told the Weekly, “Since 1962, the SEALs have operated at Sea, in the Air, and on Land. Their greatest challenge is now the Nielsen Ratings. We will see how well they do in front of the camera.”
Navy SEALs are trained and have been deployed in a wide variety of missions, including direct action and special reconnaissance operations, unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and other missions.
By training in Key West, the SEALs’ will discover new limits on drinking and sunburn – and MTV will capture it all on camera.
Other classified documents revealed the SEALs are bunking in a shared Bahama Village conch house.
Key West residents will probably recall MTV filming the 17th season of the Real World back in 2006.
Ron Demes executive director of Naval Air Station of Key West was not contacted for this story. Neither was Key West City Manager Jim Scholl or any other reputable source.
