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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Jade Fever searches for the million-dollar boulder in Season 3

What keeps viewers coming back to Jade Fever? Last year’s Season 2 debut reached a total of six million viewers who tuned in to see whether or not Claudia and Robin Bunce and their team would find the ever-elusive jade in Canada’s north. Why? I know why I check it out: not only to see if they’re successful but the challenges they face along the way.

Returning for Season 3 with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/7 and 7:30 p.m. PT on Discovery, the Bunces are in it up to their hips in challenges. The episode title, “Hard Climb,” is self-explanatory, as Claudia practices driving a 65-ton rock truck in preparation for the annual 100-plus kilometre drive east from Jade City, B.C., to Wolverine, their jade mine. Also, new this season? A partner in Peter Niu, a miner who wants the Bunces to seek out jade on Bullion Creek—his gold claim—and share the profits.

No drive into camp is without issues and this season is no different. New equipment, overheating and a super-steep hill plague the mission. By the end of Episode 1, they’ve only made it halfway. Thankfully, by the end of the second episode, “Breakdowns and Meltdowns,” everyone arrives at Wolverine. (As trying as the trail was, I’m sure hearing Claudia’s complaints was worse.)

Now the real, money-making work begins.

Jade Fever airs Tuesdays and 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Timber Kings returns for heavenly Season 4 on HGTV Canada

If money was no object, I’d get the men and women of Pioneer Log Homes to build me a house. There’s something about the warm, inviting and rustic homes they create that gets me jazzed. They’re also stunning works of art. I’m betting I’m not the only folks who have this dream, judging from the popularity of Timber Kings.

Returning for Season 4 on HGTV, Sunday’s premiere is a two-parter beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT—Timber Kings moves to its regular timeslot next week—that begins with an instalment entitled “Heaven’s Gate.” Of course, building heavenly projects involves a lot of hellish conditions and this is no exception. This season of the show features international build locations in Germany and Scotland, but things kick off not too far from Pioneer’s headquarters in Williams Lake, B.C.

Rossland is the site of Bryan Reid Jr.’s construction of the Hadley home, a four bedroom, three bathroom project with a special connection: it’s replacing the home the family lost to fire. Homeowners Jenn and Rob tearfully recall how they were watching television, unaware the roof was ablaze until neighbours came running. Scary stuff. Now the family wants what they had recreated.

Meanwhile, in Anaham, B.C., Peter is doing God’s work, creating an overhang for stairs at the front of a church he helped construct almost 10 years ago. The problem? He has three days to do it and has been asked to keep the foul language to a minimum. And a time crunch is also facing Beat, whose son guilts him into creating bunk beds for him even though Dad has other stuff on the go.

My favourite part of Timber Kings has always been the construction, that intricate ballet of swinging logs into place, edging them into position and hammering them home. Witnessing a pile of curved wood transform into a stunning shelter. My least favourite part of the show? The producers’ need to inject false drama into situations by having deadlines stack up. We know the jobs are going to get done, so let them get to work and just do it.

Coming up in future episodes, the crew builds big projects like luxury log homes, a fishing lodge and stunning post and beam boathouse, and smaller items like a deluxe smoker, wooden outdoor kitchen, log greenhouse, log pool table and a miniature man-cave.

Timber Kings airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

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Chuck & Danny’s Road Trip goes on a cross-country cookout

I always suspected Chuck Hughes and Danny Smiles would be fun dudes to hang out with. Sure, they’re serious chefs (at Garde Manger and Le Bremner), but when it was time to leave the kitchen behind I figured they’d be the first to grab a bottle of bière and sit around a campfire.

That’s exactly what you get from Chuck & Danny’s Road Trip—debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada—a rip-roaring road six-episode vacation that sees the duo climb into an RV and travel the country connecting with the people who visit local farmers, chefs and entrepreneurs and create a meal for them. The debut instalment tracks the boys east of Toronto to Prince Edward and Hastings Counties, where they meet with Justin Cournoyer, owner/chef of Actinolite who shows them how to forage for natural ingredients like sumac, juniper and … crickets.

We got Hughes and Smiles on the phone to talk about the show, their experiences and who snores the loudest.

Danny, you and Chuck have been friends and co-workers for a long time, but how did the TV show come about?
Danny Smiles: I’ve had the opportunity to do previous road trips with Chuck in Newfoundland and Italy and we’ve had a lot of time to talk in the car. We developed this idea to do a show on the road, developed it, chose some places to go and then went with it.

Chuck Hughes: It’s something we wanted to do for a long time, and it was an opportunity to see the country and cook. The camping aspect of it and being outdoors in a setting completely different from where we cook in our restaurants was really interesting; to connect with nature and have a more primitive cooking experience. It’s not as controlled and is a little more authentic. It combines a lot of things we love and wanted to do.

In the debut, you cook a 43-pound chunk of beef on coals. If your timing is off, people are showing up for dinner and the meat isn’t done.
Chuck Hughes: Exactly. There is a TV aspect to a show and a real aspect to the show and that, for us, was a way to keep us honest because, yeah, you’re cooking a 43-pound roast for people coming over. We’ve never cooked a roast in that situation, so you trust you instincts and try to make it happen. We are outdoors and the sun will set eventually, so there is a whole bunch of pressure because of that. And, you’re cooking for the people who grow the food, harvest it, raise it and you want to really respect the product and make them happy with what you did with their food.

How did production work for filming last summer?
Chuck Hughes: We lived the RV lifestyle off and on. We would drive the RV from one location to the next, set up camp and cook. We got to live the real lifestyle and then go back to our real lives quickly and then come back. It was a great way to spend the summer and discover the country.

Could either one of you adopt that RV lifestyle?
Chuck Hughes: Yes, yes, yes. I’m trying to figure out a way to leave it all behind and do that.

You visited three national parks during Season 1. Which park was the most beautiful: Rouge National Urban Park, Fundy National or PEI National?
Danny Smiles: I have to say Fundy National. It was about 50 feet above sea level and you could see the whole Bay of Fundy when you woke up. It was pretty epic.

Chuck Hughes: Fundy was great but I have to say PEI National. We were cooking right there on the beach. PEI is a completely different world for sunsets. You’re on the beach, you just cooked a really big lobster boil and the sun is setting. It’s something you can’t describe; you just have to go to PEI and live it. I hope this show will inspire people to do exactly that. Go camping for a few days or just go to a park for the day.

Last question: who snored the loudest in the RV?
Chuck: Danny.

Chuck & Danny’s Road Trip airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada.

Images courtesy of Corus.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

APTN’s Tribal Police Files debuts

Anyone familiar with the show Cops will recognize the concept for  this program, but that is where the similarities end. Steve Sxwithul’txw, creator and producer of APTN’s Tribal Police Files states:

“There was a lot of stuff we left on the cutting room floor because it was too intense or it was too graphic and I am fine with that. Cops in the U.S. might be saying ‘that is gold, that is money we are going to use it.’  I chose not to, simply because the dignity of the people was more important to me than great TV ratings. When they say, ‘Hey shut that camera off,’ we are shutting it off and we are not following that story because of the sensitivity of the situation.”

Instead of sensationalist footage, Tribal Police Files depicts both the mundanity of police work and the risks inherent to the lives of police officers. Viewers follow along with officers as they receive a call, but we also get to know the families of officers. You will, over the course of this series, grow to relate with the characters who are themselves the officers. We gain access to their lives.

The mandate of the officers of Stl’atl’imx Nation is to remember where the people have been. If alcohol is involved, the officers understand the person who is intoxicated is intoxicated for a reason. A lot of the journey many of Stl’atl’imx Nation have had has been negative. You need to understand that there is a great deal of pain and hurt with the people these officers come into contact with on a daily basis. This group of officers from Stl’atl’imx Nation take pride that this is not a police force but rather a police service.

Tribal Police Files puts a human face to policing on “the rez” and drives home the point that not only are the constables doing a job but that they too have a family and loved ones.

“I want to bring across a show that is respectful, that respect the people of the Stl’atl’imx Nation, and the officers especially,” Sxwithul’txw says. Most of the officers are from the area and know the people they deal with on a first-name basis. They understand the  history.

Promotional behind the scenes clips can be seen at the Tribal Police Files Website

Tribal Police Files airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

HGTV Canada’s hit original series Home to Win returns for second season

From a media release:

This spring, HGTV Canada’s breakout hit Canadian original series Home to Win, returns for a super-sized, star-studded second season now featuring 30 of the best-known builders, designers and real estate experts. Together, they will transform an average house into a dream waterfront property for one lucky Canadian. Beginning today, HomeToWin.ca is accepting applications from Canadians across the country to compete to win the home in this season’s high-stakes finale. Ranked as the #1 specialty competition series (A25-54) in its inaugural season*, the second season of Home to Win debuts Sunday, April 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

Hosted by Entertainment Tonight Canada’s Sangita Patel, the series’ returning stars include Mike Holmes, Bryan Baeumler, Scott McGillivray, and Sarah Richardson among others. A few of the additional stars joining the series this season include household names: Jonathan and Drew Scott, Dave and Kortney Wilson, and Jillian Harris and Todd Talbot. In each episode of Home to Win, two celebrity builders pair with two fan-favourite designers to complete two rooms within the waterfront property. Week-to-week newly renovated rooms are revealed and the dramatic season finale sees three Canadians compete to win the completed home in a series of challenges leaving one lucky competitor with the keys to the spectacular waterfront home.

Starting today, Canadians can visit HomeToWin.ca to submit an audition video for the chance to compete for the Home to Win house in the finale airing on June 18. To participate in casting, Canadians must enter their email address on the site by May 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET and follow the directions emailed to their inbox. The application process requires a video submission, up to one minute in length and answering the question, “Why do you deserve to compete for the Home To Win house?”

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