Q&A WITH OUTISTHROUGH.COM

Q&A: Peak Season's Lauren Horton and Dre Morel

For all you couch potatoes yearning to live vicariously through other people's exciting days, MTV Canada's new Whistler-based reality series Peak Season may just do the trick.

The show follows seven 20-somethings through their dramatic, party-filled lives. We're talking relationship drama, work drama, forgetting-your-girlfriend-at-a-bar drama.

It's slick and pretty Hills-esque in format -- though its stars insist it's a helluva lot more real than Heidi Montag's boobs.

I caught up with cast members Lauren Horton, 26, and Dre Morel, 22, after an advance screening of the show last week in Toronto, where they told me why Canada should be tuning in.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you got involved with Peak Season?

Lauren: There was an application on a Facebook page – of course Facebook, right? – and I filled out the application with some friends. . . I sent in some pictures, and then I didn’t hear anything for a while. And then I got a call from Andrea [Fehsenfeld], one of the creators and she said “Y’know I’d really love for you to come in for an audition.” So I went in for three filmed auditions and they asked me to join. I was like “Yes, I’m in, count me in.”

Dre: For me it was just right time, right place, right situation. I was breaking up with my girlfriend. At the time they were just about to film like a week before and I was out partying a bunch. And Lauren, they would always ask “What’s the gossip in the town?” and she mentioned my name and the drama --

Lauren: They saw his picture and they were like “Yes, we want him.”

Dre: The day I met them they were like “You need to figure this out tonight. 'Cause we’re filming tomorrow. I was like “Oh my gosh,” then I just said yes.

Lauren: See, I had a really long time to think about it. Like, that’s crazy. Overnight? That’s insane.

Dre: Yeah, mind-boggling.


The question I kept wondering when I was watching the show was what motivated you to think ‘filming my life and having people watch it – that would be fun’?

Lauren: To me, that’s what it was. It was “this could be a really cool experience,” do you know what I mean? Not that I always wanted to get into TV or anything like that, I was just like I might as well . . . If it doesn’t go anywhere then I’ll be like, “Y’know what I did one time in my life?” I can look back and reflect on it.

Dre: I’m a DJ as well, so I did it all for exposure. I just thought it was a great opportunity to get my name out there just for DJing and producing and all that. So I was just blessed with such a good opportunity, except there’s a lot of drama in there too.

Lauren: [laughs] It’s not just DJ-ing!


Now that you’ve seen at least the first few episodes, how are you feeling about it? Are you nervous about things that are going to come up in future episodes?

Dre: I want to see the next episode right now!

Lauren: Yeah, me too. If anything, I’m stoked, I want to see it right away. Like, I could’ve sat there and watched the whole entire season and not taken my eyes off.

Dre: There’s so much more coming! There’s so much more!

Lauren: Yeah, It’s going to get crazy. From what I can remember from how the show went for me, this is just the beginning.



What we’re seeing on TV, how accurate or how real would you say it is?

Dre: That’s it.

Lauren: What you see is what you get. There’s no words put in our mouths, there’s no story-writing there’s no nothing. They’d say “What’s your schedule?” We’d tell them what we’re doing through the week, they’d clear [the location for filming], and they’d just follow us.

Dre: A lot of people are getting a misconception about the show too. It’s not a reality show. It’s a documentary series.

Lauren: Yeah, like I’d call them and I’d say “Oh my god, something’s going down right now,” and they’d be there in a second. ‘Cause they were like “If anything’s going down let us know.” And there was never a scene where we planned it, it always actually happened.


What’s the difference then between a reality show and a docudrama, as MTV's been promoting Peak Season?

Lauren: It’s not like the Hills to me. [The Hills] seems really fake, it seems set up. It seems like they’re given lines. And this is totally not like that. It’s also really Canadian. You’ve got typical playing hockey --

Dre: snowboarding, skiing, sledding, a little bit of drinking . . .

Lauren: a teeny bit, a little bit of swearing.


What is it about Whistler that provides the right setting for a show of this nature?

Dre: The nightlife for sure. I’d say a good 65 per cent is all nightlife shots, maybe 70. And Whistler is just so beautiful, it attracts everyone.

Lauren: It’s the vibe.


How do you anticipate the show impacting your life moving forward?

Lauren: I haven’t really seen anything as of yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to help [Dre] big time, and I assume that it would do the same for me. Look at Lauren Conrad, she’s got a clothing line. And I’m not saying it’s going to be the same, but people see us and they’re going to be like “Oh, he’s on a really awesome show. We definitely want him as a guest appearance at our event.” So, they'll see my [promotions] company and they say “Wow, this chick on TV, we want her or her girls for an event.”

Dre: Just at the screening right now people came up to me and said do you have a MySpace or a blog, like where do you get your mixes? I just handed one out already, so I guess it’s already working.


Big thanks to Lauren and Dre for taking the time to talk to me!

Peak Season premieres with back-to-back episodes tonight at 10 p.m. on MTV, followed by the Peak Season After Show.