A family from this province may have the chance to be on television in the UK.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is looking for a role model Canadian family in Newfoundland.
The BBC is the largest broadcasting organization in the world, with a mission to enrich lives with informative, educational and entertaining programmes.
It is now looking for a family for it’s third series of World’s Strictest Parents.
“The series is a program aimed at helping out with parenting,” said David Cheesman, associate producer for Twenty Twenty Television, one of the United Kingdom’s leading independent production companies. “We’re trying to improve the lifestyles of two teenagers that are a little bit naughty, a little bit cheeky, perhaps aren’t in the best place with their own family. What we do is we sort of put them on loan for a week with a family somewhere in the world in the hope that this family will be able to instill in them some strong family values, some morals. As well as loving them and being disciplinarians, they are also going to be fair with them and give them a couple of chances to realize the mistakes that they are making.”
The first and second series were successful and they are currently filming the third series, which will include 20 British teenagers and 10 different families - one of which they are hoping to find in Newfoundland.
The series has already filmed in some amazing places, Mr. Cheesman said, including India, Jamaica, Ghana, Botswana, South Africa, Lebanon, Israel, Alabama, Oklahoma, Utah, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Belize, Kenya, Florida and Philadelphia.
“Never yet have we visited Canada and we feel that the time is now,” he said, adding Newfoundland seemed to be a great place to start. “It’s quite a mysterious place. We feel that it would be really interesting for us to explore it with our teenagers. We don’t feel that our teenagers would have heard of it. The research that we have done into it is that it’s a very family oriented place, there is a lot of respect for the authorities, and people have high values within their religions and within education. Its beautiful landscape and its heritage is very interesting in the sense of fishing, farming, Mounties, oil and gas and as a province it feels like it is really up-and-coming but also quite historic in a lot of its heritage.”
He said at the moment, they are trying to get the word spread to as many families as possible.
“It does excite us the idea of there rural villages because our teenagers are really spoiled with all the gadgets and gismos…so it would be amazing for us to see if a family as rural and as isolated as some of the places that I know you have were to come forward and offer themselves, but we certainly wouldn’t disregard anyone from the suburbs or anyone who is a bit more affluent,” he said. “We’d be happy to hear from everyone but it does excite us in a way to see a family that pulls together in a sense of everyone maybe has to go fishing or everyone is involved in the farming or the day-to-day running of the family home.”
He added also through research he has found that it is common that residents in some of the communities in this province are all connected and know each other, especially in smaller populations, which is also intriguing.
“Our teenagers are not really bad, they are not delinquents, they are not hooligans, they don’t have criminal records, but they do have a little bit of attitude and they are a bit cheeky. I really like the idea of them not being able to get away with as much as they think they are going to get away with because the community looks after themselves in the sense that if they tried to run away or misbehave, someone is going to see them and someone is going to know the host family,” he said. “These teenagers are always going to be under the watchful eye of big brother.”
Strict but not evil
Mr. Cheesman said ideally they are looking for a family that has at least one teenager living at home, just to support the fact that the parents have experience and knowledge of raising a teenager.
“It would be unbelievable for us to expect them to be super parents if they have never met a 16-year-old with a strut before,” he said.
He added the families can be of any social background. Ideally, he added, they are looking for families who have strong values, strong parenting ideas about how they want to raise their family and how they like to structure the future of their child.
“They have to be fair, disciplined, loving, and caring,” he said. “We’re just looking for a family that is ready to give a bit of tough love.”
The host family would also have to be able to accommodate two teenagers - a boy and a girl - for eight days. The teens would need somewhere to sleep, ideally in separate rooms, but could share a room with another child. And the family also has to be fairly media friendly.
“We’re not too intrusive as a camera crew,” he said. “And having done two series now so we know that there are private boundaries within any family home. The family has to be able to manage a small camera crew being with them for large parts of the day. They need to be able to take on the attitudes of two teenagers from the UK. And really just be fairly open to a challenge.”
He said the word ‘strictest’ in the title has often had negative connotations.
“We’re certainly not trying to highlight that parents beat their children or send them to bed without any food in their tummies,” Mr. Cheesman said. “It’s parents that can hold their own up against any teenagers that are being cheeky or a little bit lippy or speaking back to them. We’re looking for parents that are firm but fair. Strictest often puts people off. It’s a punchy title but really we are aware that these parents aren’t evil.”
Mr. Cheesman said the family will receive US$1,000 just for taking part, and none of the teens needs will be out-of-pocket for the family.
He said the week is tough, but they have a strong success rate and a good relationship with the host families for previous episodes and most, if not all, of the participating teenagers as well.
“I would say 9 out of 10 of them really benefit from the experience,” he said. “They all enjoy it but there are a strong handful that come back and try to get their lives back on track.”
He said they are looking to film the episode in Newfoundland during the end of August or the first of September, with the series set to go into transmission around October.
“It’s great fun,” he said. “The teenagers aren’t guests there. They are not there on a holiday. We want them to become part of the family. They have to immerse themselves in the lifestyle of the family.”
Any family looking to apply, or wanting more information, can forward their interest to Mr. Cheesman at davidcheesman@twentytwenty.tv, or visit www.twentytwenty.tv and fill out an application form.
“It’s an amazing experience,” Mr. Cheesman said. “Unfortunately in the UK, our age range for a lot of stuff is a lot younger. So our teenagers are allowed to buy cigarettes and alcohol at 16 and 18 and many of them are having sex at 16, which is really different from other cultures around the world. It’s a great opportunity for us to try to educate teens in the masses and I really feel that somewhere like Newfoundland would be amazing because I know it has great religious heritage, the people there are really respectful and have strong morale.”
