"That's exactly one of the principles of our show," says Arthur Smith, one of the creators of "Mad Mad House," premiering Thursday, March 4, on Sci Fi Channel. "That's what was happening. In the real world, the Alts are the minority. They have to deal with oppression and misunderstanding."
The "Alts" Smith speaks of are five practitioners of alternative lifestyles, who are put into a house with 10 "Guests" that probably consider themselves pretty mainstream. Reality television fans are used to seeing strangers boxed together, faced with challenges and eliminations in search of a prize. The difference in "Mad Mad House" is who gets to decide who goes and who stays, and what they have to do in between.
In each of the show's 10 episodes, the Guests are offered the chance to participate in challenges and rituals that reflect the beliefs of the Alts. Then they are evaluated by the Alts on a variety of criteria including openness, tolerance and willingness to challenge themselves and the Alts. Each week, one is eliminated by the Alts, with the Guest victor providing the tie-breaking vote.
The Guest who lasts through to the final episode wins $100,000.
The Alts are Wiccan Fiona Horne; David "Avocado" Wolfe, a naturist and proponent of raw food; Art Aguirre, a Modern Primitive who seeks spiritual enlightenment through body modification; voodoo priestess Ta'Shia Asanti; and self-professed vampire Don Henrie.
The guests include a young woman living in a convent, an exotic dancer, an acknowledged womanizer and several people with strong Christian beliefs.
"There's a lot in what is considered mainstream," Smith says. "You have a job; you go to work; you go to school -- that's mainstream. If you're practicing any of the major religions or not practicing, you'd probably be considered mainstream. I guess our Guests would be considered mainstream, but some of our guests, in some ways, were pretty strange.
"The greatest thing about the show is seeing the worlds collide, seeing people change. Clearly, it's an entertaining show, but there are great life lessons in it. I'm sorry to be really corny, but things like -- here's a cliche -- never judge a book by its cover. We have all these preconceived notions about what certain people are, then you change, and you find out they're people. Then you find out why they believe in what they believe in."
Horne thinks the Alts came onto the show more able to deal with diverse lifestyles, but not just because they stand outside the mainstream of society.
"We're better equipped because we're older," she says. "Don's the youngest; he's in his late 20s. The rest of us were 30s and 40s. We're respected individuals in our communities. We've been living our alternative lives for a long time, and that gives you a sense of tenacity and strength as well. We've done the college thing, and this is life now."
Finding the Alts was a challenge. "That was very interesting casting, I gotta tell ya," Smith says. "We went to all the associations, organizations, put out a lot of feelers, really tried to get entrenched in their world. We met a lot of strange people, and we met a lot of fakes, too.
"All these people have some notoriety or some distinction in their society, and you know what, they're good people. They're funny, too."
Smith also was pleased with his Guests. "Our 10 people would have been a great 'Survivor' cast. They would have been a great 'Big Brother' cast. Add into that the five Alts and all the stuff the 10 Guests went through, and it was out there."
If the Guests had to deal with the Alts, the Alts had to deal with each other.
"When I was meeting all the Alts," Horne recalls, "I thought, 'What's the vampire going to be like?' Everyone else I could relate to, spiritual choices or living close to the Earth, like Avocado the naturist, or Art the Modern Primitive. I relate to that, respect that as a spiritual pursuit.
"The vampire, I was like, 'Huh?' But he is one of the ones I learned the most from. He's phenomenal. And I think I fell in love with Avocado on the show, that'll probably come through."
While all these hothouse shows thrive on tossing various types of people together, this particular combination appears to have affected those on both sides of the camera.
"I've been calling it a rite of passage in some ways," Horne says. "My witchcraft became a personal experience again. I found metaphysical and paranormal experiences and psychic experiences that opened up the magic and the mystery of it again, which is a real gift. It's such a privilege to feel happy and peaceful, and I treasure it. It all came from experiencing 'Mad Mad House.'"
"What happened to us happened to the Guests," Smith says. "And then it will happen to the viewers. We all changed our perceptions of what we thought things were, and it was a fun way to do it. It wasn't the boring documentary approach. It was 'see by example,' 'see by experiment.' It was an experiment.
"The viewers are going to watch and go, 'Pretty strange people,' then they're going to go, 'Wait a second, one of those Guests is stranger than the Alts!' It's very funny at times, and it's incredibly emotional. It's wild. It's wild."
