Reality College

COMM 340 Topic: (You are part of a Reality Show)

The show is called “The Valley: Reality College (Behind the mountains)” a number of different kids were contacted when applying & accepted to/by Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) to participate in this reality show.

In order to participate on the show, all participants had to live in the same house as roommates when arriving to Provo and been accepted by the University.

They agreed to let the camera crew follow them everywhere to document how is life before and during college, and how different was to adapt to the college life at the Y.




(Behind the Mountains)


All of participants came from different backgrounds.

In my case I am from a fairly humble home in the busy cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

When they contacted me I was living in a small apartment in downtown Buenos Aires with my sister. The country was beginning to recover from its worse financial crisis ever (That was very interesting)

In the first season the camera crew showed (on my story) the difficulties that most international students go thru when deciding to leave all behind to come to a country far away from home.

The highlights of my story were when I received the news that I had the chance to study in the US (When most of the other participants took it for granted the possibilities of studying here it was a very big deal to me)

When I had to tell my mom, my then girlfriend, and when I left the country.

The other participants were Johnny B. A spoiled rich kid from Connecticut, who was used to be “popular,” arrogant, and show everybody that he was the ladies man.

Johnny’s story highlights were when he struggled with the Schools’ honor code. When he dated a roommate’s girlfriend and every one in the house boycotted him. He was later kicked out from the house (But not from the show or the school).

(When Johnny was kicked out, Alan, from Colby, Wyoming moved in to the house. (He, a football player, had some problems with gay people in Utah)

The other original three guys on the house were Craig from a small city in Utah (He struggled to decided what was the right choice when everyone else were doing what he was told was bad); Jordan from Austin, Texas, (He immersed himself in the Hip Hop culture and had to decide what side he wanted to be from the two realities of one world) and Ryan, from LA, California. (He was constantly accused to be lazy and struggled to keep his jobs)

In season three, a house for girls was created: Quinha, The international Student girl with an overwhelming past from Luanda, Angola. She struggled to adapt to the American Culture, the Mormon culture, and the fact that she was black and African uncovered the ugly face of the discrimination in some American families.

The other girls were: Whitney from a small town in Utah (Somehow naïve girlfriend of Johnny B), Laura, from Miami Florida (Got married on the show and cheated on her new husband), Miriam, from LA California (The liberal one who felt that didn’t belong on her own culture) and Courtney from Kansas City, Kansas. (Self proclaimed Molly Mormon, she took her religion very seriously and some times she was accused of being fanatic or Religious freak)

Drama in the valley! The show is interesting because it shows a Mormon culture in a complete different perspective.

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