My reality TV experience 鈥 eating terrifying foods across three provinces
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IT’S not every day you get the chance to take part in a reality show, let alone one outside of your home country, but that’s been exactly my experience over the past 10 days. It’s been scary, it’s been challenging, and it’s been something I’ll never forget.
It all began last week when I was suddenly offered the chance of a lifetime, over none other than a WeChat conversation. “We have this zhenren xiu (reality show) we’re about to film. Do you want to be in it?” Apparently my Bilibili videos had ended up being seen by “the right people.”
The premise: two teams compete in a number of games in the Middle of Nowhere, China, to save themselves from having to eat an array of disgusting delicacies. It’s the losing team which is forced to eat things that make even the hardiest of stomachs turn, and believe me when I say that stomachs have definitely turned!
The show is called “澶ф儕椋熻壊” (roughly translated as “Frightening Foods,” although the English translation loses all of the inherent meaning of the Chinese name), and that’s for good reason. The food we’ve encountered has made us vomit, cry, and run faster than we’ve ever run before.
Unfortunately I can’t talk about any of the scary food we ate since I’m not allowed to ruin the show, but you can check them all out by tuning in!
Our journey took us six contestants — together with a crew of 50 — across three provinces in central China: Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan. In each place we encountered strange local delicacies that are special and unique enough to terrify even the show’s Chinese audience, so you can imagine how this guy from New Zealand felt when faced with some of these treats!
We first stopped in Huaying, a small city in Sichuan Province, with a relatively tiny population of only 360,000. I’d been to Sichuan before, but only to the capital Chengdu to see pandas and watch the famous bianlian or face-changing opera.
Huaying was a look into another side of Sichuan Province, although I have to admit that my favorite Sichuanese food of all is still that of my good friend’s mom — she knows exactly the dishes I like!
Next we visited a place that truly captivated me: Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of western Hubei Province. As you might have guessed, Enshi is home to many from the Tujia and Miao ethnic minorities, as well as one of China’s most famous natural attractions — the Enshi Grand Canyon.
One of the things that moved me most about Enshi was watching the captivating performance of Longchuan Diao (Dragon Boat Tune), based on the Tujia folk song of the same name.
The show took place outside and featured a cast of easily more than 100, set amongst the backdrop of a sheer cliff face and stunning traditional architecture. Not only was the story moving and well-paced, but the epic scale of the show was something I have never experienced before. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything so enthralling in my entire life.
Next, we ended up in Zhangjiajie in northern Hunan Province, home to the famous Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Of course this place has been a popular attraction for a long time, but it rose to particular prominence recently with the success of Hollywood fantasy film “Avatar.”
The unique, tall rock formations were the inspiration behind some of the famous imagery from the film, leading to one particular peak in the park having its name officially changed to Avatar Hallelujah Mountain in 2010.
Shiyanping in Hunan Province, often described as “China’s most beautiful little village,” became our last stop. The highlight for me was definitely planting rice in the paddy fields, which is something I have wanted to do since forever.
And then, as suddenly as this mouth-watering-but-not-in-a-good-way experience arose, our 10 days of filming ended. Not only do I have a new-found understanding of some of China’s more creepy delicacies, I’ve also made some awesome new friends. This experience was tough and challenging a lot of the time, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
You can catch the first episode of “Frightening Foods” on ifeng.com on July 4.
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