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The impending premier of the cable reality series “Secrets of Aspen” has some locals fuming, others shrugging it off, while some argue that the exposure will be good for Aspen.
So far, all the public has seen is a four-minute “super trailer” available online. The show debuts on VH1 on Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. and will run for eight weeks. The show, which was in production over the latter portion of summer, follows six women on the quest for love and opportunity in Aspen. Some have lived here for years, others just a season or two. Another is described as a “Miami socialite” who brought along her gay male friend to live it up in Aspen for the summer.
If the trailer is any indication of what viewers can expect, prepare yourself for scandalous drama. The show purports to expose “the secret lives of Aspen’s elite,” and touts Aspen’s status as “the country’s most exclusive zip code.”
“Amid all the screaming, one woman is accused of prostitution and another, of being ‘a crazy, psycho crack-headed bitch,’” according to VH1’s description of the trailer. “This can mean only one thing: It’s gonna be a great season.”
On Thursday, a group was created on the Facebook social networking Web site called “Aspen Against VH1’s ‘Secrets of Aspen.’” By Monday night, the group had more than 1,200 members, many of whom have posted colorful comments. The group’s description gripes that the characters are much more Los Angeles than Aspen and that the show perpetuates an image many Aspenites fight against.
“I puked a little when I saw the trailer,” the description adds.
The fan page for the show itself had 136 members on Monday.
Some on the anti-Secrets of Aspen page express unbridled offense and believe that the show will soil Aspen’s reputation or further perpetuate a negative stereotype. Others are of the opinion that no one really believes reality TV is real and that the show will have little to no influence.
“And honestly, do we even want the ‘real’ secrets of Aspen revealed? Of course not,” writes one man.
Jim Berger, executive producer with Denver-based High Noon Entertainment, which developed the show, said Monday that “no one ever intended to do a full-on retrospective of the town and all the different slices of life ... . This is an entertainment program.”
Aspen does have that edge that most other communities don’t, Berger said.
Or as cast member Brooke Lauren said, “They didn’t want to make a show about Salt Lake, Utah.”
Lauren, at 25 the youngest member of the cast, said she decided to participate in the show because she felt it would be beneficial to her desired career in film and production. Some of her photography will be featured in the show as well, she said. Lauren said she lived in Aspen for six years after college and has worked for Polar Revolution and the Aspen Skiing Co.
Courtesy Photo
Cast members are shown in this still image from the upcoming VH1 reality series “Secrets of Aspen.”
“From what I saw of the people from VH1, they only presented Aspen in a good light,” she said.
“This isn’t a Warren Miller film,” she added.
Cast member Laura Patricio said she splits her time between Aspen and Newport, Calif., and that she fell in love with the town after coming here for the first time in 2006. After a relationship with the man who first brought her to Aspen went south, Patricio decided to come back last winter and is now trying to start up her own luxury ski wear line. She decided to be on the show as a vehicle to promote her ski wear.
Aspen is, in fact, exclusive, Patricio said, pointing to the cost of flying here in the winter.
Berger, the producer, said the mostly word-of-mouth casting effort sought out single women, but not necessarily all of means.
“We were looking for that upstairs-downstairs feel,” he said.
One of the characters on the show is a masseuse who shares an apartment with another one of the cast members to save money. One of the characters, Shana Tyler, has lived in Aspen for 18 years and is a diamond broker, according to her Web page.
Berger, who a few years ago pitched a show to MTV titled “Vail Valley,” which proposed to follow post-college ski bums around for a season, said the physical backdrop is crucial to the show.
“That was the pitch of the show,” he said. “Aspen is an iconic place.”
According to staff members at the Pitkin County planning office, which handles filming permits, representatives from the production company have expressed an interest in acquiring permits to shoot this winter, but nothing has been applied for. Berger said he has his eye on the late winter and spring for potential filming of a second season, but the decision rests with VH1, which has no comment about future plans for more episodes.
Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland, who has used his position to encourage the Aspen Chamber Resort Association and other involved in selling Aspen to tone down the glitter gulch image, was not impressed with the trailer.
“Freedom of speech and the First Amendment means that people have the right to profit from productions that we may not personally approve of or ever spend time watching,” Ireland wrote in an e-mail. He added later that “part of what we’re trying to do as a city is put forth a more realist view of what people do here.”
ACRA director Debbie Braun said that the reality TV series does not comport with the messaging her organization has been sending out to the world.
“It shows it really is impossible to control that Aspen message,” she said. However, “it shows that producers understand the value of the name Aspen.”
“In a community that takes pride in messy vitality, you get what you ask for,” she said.
Others at the chamber said that the show does have a specific demographic and that Aspen could benefit from their exposure to the resort.
The show’s target demographic is 26-year-old females, according to VH1.
curtis@aspendailynews.com
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