I was over Survivor a few minutes after Richard Hatch drove off in his new SUV with his million dollar prize. I've seriously avoided most reality shows since then. (Well, except Murder in Small Town X which was like one of those interactive mystery dinner theater productions.) So imagine my surprise getting swept up in Frontier House last night.

Here is the premise: three families pledge to live in the Montana territory in the late 1800's for over four months. There is no big cash prize, just the 'experience'. That experience includes no
electricity, no running water, no toilet paper (eeek!!! imagine using leaves. yuck.),
no shampoo and no contraceptives (unless you want to use a condom made from a pig intestine).

The families had to got to a sort of 1883 boot camp to learn how to live with a certain amount of historical accuracy. This training included learning to swing an axe, churn butter and use whiskey in lieu of modern medicine.

There is still a certain Survivorish element. Two of the families already hate each other and spend much of their on camera time bitching about the other.
Their complaints are whiny and petty and of course that helped hook me.

Before they even began the reality of what they would be missing started sinking
in. One of the moms had a mini breakdown when she found out she couldn't wear make-up. "No respectable lady of the time wore make up unless she was in a theater troupe or a lady in a brothel."

My favorite homesteader is Nate, who is building his house with his dad. Once the house is built, his
fiancé is joining him. They'll get married in a period ceremony and live the frontier life together.

It will be interesting how the whole contraceptive issue comes into play then.