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Debate

Mark McMorris: The Kim Kardashian of Snowboarding?

IMAGINE THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX WITH ADDED SNOWBOARDS

Oh dear. It was probably only a matter of time really wasn’t it? But now the inevitable has happened and MTV have launched a reality TV series based around the life of a snowboarder. Or rather, around a family of snowboarders – the McMorrises, Mark and and his younger brother Craig.



It might not be the man you’d expect (perhaps Shaun was too busy playing at being a rock star when the call came?) but this looks like it has the potential to be every bit as cringey as every other reality TV show on the box. Think the Only Way is Essex or Made in Chelsea with added snowboards.

A watch of the trailer suggests that the show will focus on the super-talented Mark while his “crazy” younger brother Craig provides “hilarious” comic relief. We haven’t yet heard whether their parents will also be roped in to join the fun, but we’d be willing to bet they’ll put in the occasional cameo acting faux-shocked, or tutting indulgently for the cameras.

Kardashian just got engaged to Kanye West right? Maybe Mark could go one better and bed Jay Z?

Perhaps we’re being a bit harsh here? I mean there’s no doubt that an MTV slot will raise the profile of snowboarding as well as the profile of the family. And I’m sure it’ll be good for them – if Kim Kardashian can carve out a “career” and reach a level of globe-straddling ubiquity that puts humanity to shame out of nothing more than being vaguely good-looking and putting out a second-rate sex-tape, how much better could Mark McMorris, with his equally alliterative name and serious amounts of actual talent do with his reality show? Kardashian just got engaged to Kanye West right? Maybe Mark could go one better and bed Jay Z?

On the other hand, the show might trivialise his talents – how many American kids of a certain age must know Ozzy only as “that slightly mental dude off The Osbournes” rather than for his ground-breakingly innovative (not to mention f*ckin awesome) music?

Who knows, maybe we’re wrong, maybe it will actually be cool. But we can’t help worrying that what we’re witnessing the birth of another snowboarding super-man-brand – a second Shaun White, who transcends the sport and (in the eyes of the mainstream at least) eclipses everyone else each time he straps in.

What do you think? Will you be watching McMorris & McMorris, or avoiding it like the plague? Can you think of any other cringey “snowboarding on TV” moments? Let us know in the comments and we’ll post the best ones.

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