Saturday, August 02, 2008

Would you fly with a Celeb on Board?

Despite the, maybe obvious, potential for yet another (un)reality TV program to create more puke-inducing travel-sickness than a Baby On Board sign (to paraphrase George Carlin), it seems to me that the Monarch Airlines / ITV CelebAir adventure could have a bit more to it than yer average nonsense of its ilk.

You never know, celebs, holidaymakers and viewers alike, might discover that there's more hard work than glamour to the high-life. :)

And the concept strikes me as being marginally more useful than the idea (shudder) of watching hours and hours of "televised domestic arguments," hoping to discover who shags whom. But maybe that's just me? :)

One of the most positive aspects, as Lo que pasa en Tenerife point out, is that the the ITV official site for the show is promoting the side of Tenerife that is far and away from the usual British mass-market tourism.

Now, of this, we definitely approve.

The ITV recommends hotels such as Garachico's Hotel San Roque or the Calle del Castillo in Santa Cruz for your holiday spending. They urge shoppers to "head for Zara – the prices are much cheaper than in the UK."

They also suggest eating like a monk, stargazing up Teide and hiring a car and heading for the Orotava wine valley in the island's lush north.

At last, someone has done a bit of homework before presenting Tenerife.

Something I find both annoying and amusing though, is the British tradition of slagging stuff off, even before the flights have gotten off the ground.

These pre-judgements are based on [unfounded] perceptions such as, "they will be scrapping the bottom of the reality tv barrell" (sic). Jaunted think the celebrities will be C-listers, Popsugar defines celeb as meaning "once-famous people" and The Mirror predicts turbulence with D-list celebs.

The very same people will almost certainly be glued to their TV sets come autumn; perched on the edge of their economy class seats, their tiny lives standing still as they seem to really care who gets "ejected" from the show (mid-air, with or without a parachute?) or passes with flying colours.

Several rumours and speculations about who the 10 celebrities might be are discussed here on this forum at Digital Spy. Among the names being bandied about are sometime singer, Lisa Scott-Lee and 2001 Big Brother winner, Brian Dowling. The latter, is considered "a dead cert", because (they say) "he was an air hostess". Erm, Dowling trained as a holiday rep and air steward and, before appearing on Big Brother, was a flight attendant for Ryanair.

Names Popsugar put forward include; Kenzie, Lisa Maffia, Mica Paris, Chico and Jimmy from British boy band 911, but they don't quote source to back that up and, the ITV official site for the show still says "We are unable to release the names of the celebrities taking part until near the dates of the first flights."

We could be really unkind and speculate that this might be because they may discover, during training, that some celebs are far too inept to partake.

But, as Jaunted opine, "... if you act ridiculous enough, you'll be on a reality TV show in Britain". Indeed, the show itself is calling all passengers who are thinking of booking with CelebAir and have something daft planned.

It is suggested that one of the tests that celebrity flight attendants (not to mention the passengers) are to be subjected to, is to confront a plane full of passengers with a delay. Worryingly, would they create a delay specially?

Lo que pasa en Tenerife also remind us that the celebrities will not pilot the planes (phew, for a minute there ...) and that CelebAir flights visit Tenerife four times; on the 29th of this month and again on September 5th, 12th and 26th. Jaunted say that seats are still available on the flights and that the London (Gatwick) to Tenerife route will only cost you £117, apparently.

If there are seats left, you can book them here ...

... at least that way you'll know for sure who at least one of the celebrities is and, maybe see some of that "celebrated" other side of Tenerife too.