Before each episode of "Alaska Proof," my Tivo catches the last minute of "Wild West Alaska." (Reminder: "Wild West Alaska" is a workplace comedy about an Anchorage gun store, but guns aren't really the focal point.) If you only catch the last minute without context, you'd assume that "Wild West Alaska" is a program about a group of mean people ganging up on their not-so-bright co-worker, Ken. In this week's final minute, Ken was at Uncle Joe's Pizza looking at his co-worker and holding up a gift card saying, "I'm done, I'm done."
Anyway, in case you haven't been following "Alaska Proof," it's a 22-minute program that follows the staff of the Alaska Distillery on adventures to find ingredients for their vodka. Those ingredients have included but are not limited to: glacial ice, shrimp, caribou antlers and devil's club. The distillery then creates new flavors that range from kitschy to disgusting.
I interviewed Anchorage resident Andy King, who appears on the show as "general manager" of the Alaska Distillery. Some know King from his side hustle as a musician, but he's actually a carpenter by trade and only works part-time at the distillery.
According to King, the show came together because of an Outside Magazine article about harvesting glacial ice to make vodka. They filmed a 15-minute test reel about three years ago, and the show was picked up and filmed last spring. When asked why the hell this show is on Animal Planet, King said he, too, had no idea, but that it's all part of the Discovery Network.
There are workers at the distillery who aren't featured in the show, and King said the producers picked who would be on TV. Also, Shane doesn't actually work for this distillery, but does a lot of producing for other shows, so he helped find cool locations where they could gather ingredients for their vodka and was given the title "expedition leader."
King echoed what seems to be a popular sentiment from normal Alaskans who find themselves on reality TV.
"I do admit that I kind of despised reality TV, so I feel guilty that I'm on one," he said. "It was a great experience and I got to do a lot of things that would have cost me a lot of money."
He said many of his childhood friends and family back in Kentucky are watching "Alaska Proof" and have contacted him since the show aired.
I asked him what the most disgusting thing he had to drink on the show was, and he said it was definitely the shrimp vodka, which was featured in last week's episode. On the show, he said it tasted "like the Jersey Shore."
It's unclear whether "Alaska Proof" will be picked up for another season, but the cast should find out in the next few weeks.
In other news, a TV producer is accompanying some giant hybrid Hummers across the frozen Arctic Ocean. I highly recommend checking out an image of these Hummers because I'm pretty sure they are real-life Transformers. Anyway, I can't wait to see what kind of reality show this turns into. I bet it will inexplicably be on Animal Planet.
Emily Fehrenbacher lives in Anchorage, where she reviews Alaska reality TV. You can reach her at realitycheck@alaskadispatch.com or on Twitter @ETFBacher.