Europe-bound backpackers sought for MTV documentary

I seem to have caught wind of the news a little late, but it appears that MTV has been recruiting Europe-bound backpackers to film this summer for a segment of their True Life documentary series. I’m not familiar with True Life, but the idea of an MTV camera crew following travelers around Europe sounds to me like a colossally awful idea. Indeed, there’s no doubt that the MTV-selected travelers are going to have a pointedly artificial experience (since private discovery is kind of hard in the presence of a film crew); what remains to be seen is how accurately the episode manages to portray day-to-day indie-travel life. I predict a lot of TV-ready stereotypes: pot-smoking in Amsterdam; rave-dancing in London; romantic romps in the Greek islands; forced epiphanies in the Alps; oversized steins of beer in Germany; hipster hangouts in Prague; maybe something to do with the Running of the Bulls in Spain. This is all good travel fodder, of course, but somehow I think they’ll completely miss the small, true moments that make the European vagabonding pilgrimage so distinctive. I guess world will find out the result later this year. (Though I’ll probably miss out, since I don’t think MTV’s True Life is carried on Asian cable).