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Who wants to be a legal immigrant?
8-Aug-2004
Written by: Heather Monley
Contestants on a Hispanic reality show eat live beetles in the hopes of winning a green card.
Reality shows have offered contestants pretty much everything: a big sum of money, a prestigious job, a pop star status, a newly decorated home, a plastic surgery makeover, and a wealthy husband. But KRCA-TV, a Hispanic station in Los Angeles, has a show with a prize you probably haven't seen before.
On "Gana la Verde" ("Win the Green"), contestants eat live tequila worms, scorpions and crabs, they leap from fast-moving trucks, catch butter-drenched pigs, and finally they complete a work task like towing a car or selling 45 ice creams in 45 minutes, all in the hopes of winning the ultimate prize: a green card. The show's winner receives a year of services from lawyers to help with the residency process.
"Gana la Verde" has consistently reached an average of one million Hispanic homes since it debuted July 1, and last week it reached No. 2 in its target audience of 18-49-year-old Hispanic viewers.
Though the show is popular, it still remains to be seen whether it will be effective. So far, no contestant has yet attained a green card. Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Services, did not wish to say much about the show besides that it offers "false hope to people," and that it "sounds very much like exploitation."
One worry is that the show will cause the illegal immigrants who participate to be more visible to Immigration Services, but Liberman Broadcasting, who created "Gana la Verde," says the contestants are aware of the risks involved, and so far no one has run into trouble. Ariana De La Luz, a 21-year-old UCLA student who was a recent winner on the show, says, "There are times when you risk whatever you need to risk. You have to risk something to get something."
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