True Confessions

From a regular confessional feature in the magazine Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, a member of a production team of a show about backpacking owns up to some of the goings-on behind the scenes. Highlights:

The crews I worked with hardly ever slept in the places shown on television. Chances are, a presenter you see bedding down for a night in a cheap hostel was out of there once the camera switched off. However, one time, when a five-star hotel in the Caribbean offered to let the crew stay for free (provided that we feature the property), we managed to work the hotel into the program even though the presenter was supposed to be on a backpacker's budget . . .

We were known to stage festivals if they weren't taking place at the right time--we even faked an eating contest in Texas this way . . .

. . . we received tons of audition tapes from people who thought they had the goods. Those videos gathered dust in a box--until the crew would take them out for a laugh.

The show's website claimed that it welcomed viewer letters and e-mails. The crew, however, couldn't have cared less. As far as I know, no one ever answered a viewer's complaint or responded to a question about how to book a certain restaurant.