The problem with this new celebrity travel show

and what to watch instead

Welcome to the free subscriber version of Wanderess. In this newsletter, I play TV critic and review the newest celebrity travel show. This newsletter is a condensed version of my recently published review here. If you’ve found your way here but are not yet subscribed, here, let me help you with that:

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In the already crowded arena of celebrity-driven travel shows, the criteria for what makes a travel series good can be tricky to define. Within the myriad of travel series that have sprung up over the years—from the informational to the entertaining, the thoughtful to the self-indulgent—there seems to remain an Anthony Bourdain-sized gap in travel programming that many have tried yet failed to fill.

There are award-winning shows that have come close, such as Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy and the inspired spin-off of Eva Longoria’s Searching for Mexico, which picture Tucci and Longoria’s earnest desire to understand their heritage with a journey through the cultures and traditions that make up their respective homelands. And yet, even these shows, with their brilliant cinematography and cheery banter, still seem to filter the destination through the eyes of their celebrity hosts, ultimately overshadowing the destinations themselves.

Within the already crowded landscape of (largely male-dominated) travel shows—from Conan O’Brien Must Go to Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveler to Down to Earth with Zac Efron—I was curious about the latest celebrity foray into travel television. Enter Shay Mitchell’s new series, Thirst, streaming on HBO Max.

Who is Shay Mitchell?

For those unfamiliar with the Canadian actress Shay Mitchell, she first became known for her role as Emily Fields on the hit television series Pretty Little Liars, which first aired on Freeform in 2010 and lasted seven seasons. In the years that followed, Mitchell went on to appear in the first season of Netflix’s hit show You opposite actor Penn Badgley, and in romantic comedies such as Hello Sunshine’s Something from Tiffany’s.

While Mitchell has yet to capture the same level of acting success as seen with her stint on Pretty Little Liars, she has managed to establish herself as a social media influencer (amassing over 36 million followers on Instagram alone) and as a businesswoman with the launch of her company, Béis Travel, specializing in suitcases and travel bags and earning over $200 million in annual revenue.

Her new show, Thirst, sends Mitchell on a global journey in search of boozy drinks unique to the cultures of the destinations she’s visiting. The show is formatted like an influencer’s Instagram reel: it shows Mitchell pampering and primping with multiple outfit changes, taking influencer-like shots strolling down the streets of Colombia, and seemingly paying more attention to the camera rather than the destination she’s standing in. As such, Thirst lacks one crucial ingredient key to a travel show: curiosity.

Courtesy of HBO Max

The Problem With Thirst

In Shay Mitchell’s Thirst, her lack of curiosity is staggering. Take her Cartagena, Colombia episode, for example, in which she is presented with innovative cocktails containing Indigenous ingredients unique to the Colombian region. In one particular scene, Mitchell doesn’t think to ask questions of her local host. Instead, she laughs as her off-camera producer notes she’s used the word “amazing” over 400 times to describe the drinks so far.

As a viewer, the effect is disconcerting. You feel as though you want to step through the screen and carry the conversation for Mitchell, asking the host about Colombia’s burgeoning cocktail scene, why it’s having such a moment, why using Indigenous ingredients is so important, and how the cocktail scene varies throughout the country’s ecological and culturally diverse regions.

Instead, the viewer is left watching Shay Mitchell drink 10 cocktails without any semblance of a substantial conversation. By the end of that specific episode, viewers can’t help but wonder if they actually learned a single thing about Colombia other than it’s a nice photogenic backdrop to Mitchell’s Instagram snaps.

As both a Colombian immigrant and someone who has touted Cartagena as one of her favorite cities, I felt extremely frustrated by Mitchell’s representation of Colombia. For a country that has often been distilled down to surface-level stereotypes: cocaine, Escobar, and coffee—Mitchell does little more than portray Colombia as a party haven for wealthy travelers keen on drinking themselves into oblivion. It is a worrying portrayal, given Mitchell’s massive following and her ability to impact where and how people travel.

Beyond the limited details provided in the form of post-production, Wikipedia-esq voiceovers read by Shay Mitchell, Thirst barely skims the surface of its destinations. Take Mitchell’s foray into Cartagena’s Getsemani neighborhood, for example, in which she describes the neighborhood as being “up-and-coming.” The scene feels laughable for an established neighborhood that has fully arrived and was named one of the coolest areas of the city back in 2014 by Forbes.

Like the fabled women trying to stuff their oversized feet into Cinderella’s glass slipper, the reason Thirst —and so many other celeb-led travel shows, for that matter—can’t seem to secure their place in the pantheon of travel programming alongside Bourdain, is that their vanity projects lack a genuine sense of curiosity for the world.

Bourdain’s travel shows weren’t “Look how Bourdain eats, look how Bourdain poses, look how Bourdain struts,” but were about him being a conduit for viewers to connect to and learn from locals about their cultures and traditions. Bourdain understood the importance of getting out of the way and letting people tell their own stories—it wasn’t vanity; it was storytelling.

What’s clear is that Shay Mitchell’s Thirst is less about having a bonafide thirst for knowledge, adventure, or experience and more about her having a thirst for attention. The destination, its culture, and its traditions come secondary to Mitchell simply wanting to drink on vacation.

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To Watch: Thanks for indulging me as I play TV critic in this newsletter. While I don’t recommend Thirst (clearly), I do recommend looking beyond the celebrity-splashed covers of travel shows on HBO Max or Netflix. Look to places like PBS, where you will find a slew of women-led travel programming that is curious, thought-provoking, and strives to truly connect viewers to other cultures. Shows like “Afro Latino Travel With Kim Haas,” or “Places to Love with Samantha Brown,” or “Barefeet with Mickela Mallozzi” are all fantastic contenders, led by travel hosts worth spending time watching.

To Read: This article from Esquire is a must-read for any author or book lover who is curious about why certain books become bestsellers and others seemingly go unnoticed. It’s a fascinating (albeit frustrating) look at the inner workings of the publishing world.

To Listen: I recently joined host Stephanie Wittels Wachs, co-founder of the award-winning podcast company Lemonada, for a chat on her Last Day podcast. On my episode, I spoke candidly about my decision to call off my wedding last minute, the aftermath, and how it all played out in my memoir, Call You When I Land. You can listen here.

To Cook: A quick Google search assures me it’s not too late to give this recommendation. Tis’ the season for ramps (at least until late June), and for the first time, I’ve gone all in on ramps in large part thanks to Justine Doiron and her recipes for ramp oil and butter. I highly suggest going to your local farmer’s market and giving ramp butter a try, whether you’re spreading it on toast, using it to cook eggs, or adding it to pasta—it just gives your dish that extra flavor bump.

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For my paid subscribers, I’ve got a lovely feminist city guide to Chicago headed your way. This feminsit city guide will spotlight some of Chicago’s women and BIPOC-owned businesses worth visiting and supporting on your next visit.

In the meantime, check out Unearth Women’s newest story (in honor of the upcoming season three premiere of The Bear on FX) celebrating women in Chicago who are shaking up the city’s culinary scene.

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