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08/08/2011
Issue 56

WHO would want to be a seasonnaire?

I noticed for a couple of weeks there has been a competition on a season workers site called “who wants to be a seasonnaire” where the winner gets a job as a chalet host next winter. I’m not having a go at the principle of the competition but rather the prize. Prizes, given their general principle, should have some value and not be a substitute for an interview with the HR dept.

With the possible exception of Master chef, a tv chef programme, where the winner, after weeks of heats and challenges gets nothing more than a pat on the back and a block of plastic trophy. By comparison a US version called “Chopped” hands out $10k to the winning chef for knocking out 3 other contestants in each episode.

So what can the winner of WWTBAS expect? Early morning breakfasts, annoying guests, cleaning shitty toilets, putting up with f*ckwit co-workers and managers, skiing (drinking) injuries to name just a few of the perks. It sounds more like something a masochist would want. Now I know there ARE actual perks to working a season but it sure isn’t a walk in the park. It’s probably why most people I know only did one season working for a tour operator. Throw in the money and perks of a PRIVATE chalet job and you have a reason to come back time and time again.

If you want a proper competition, and by proper competition I mean one that would have people compulsively tuning in to on TV and chatting about the inept contestants the morning after around the coffee machine, you should see how many of your staff actually last a whole season. And the winner gets his initial bond payment back! I’m thinking something like Hells Kitchen meets the Apprentice meets the season but with way more sex and alcohol. All you would need is a Lord Sugar chalet manager character (Fred?) to tell someone, in the early hours of transfer day, that they’re fired, pack their bags and f*ck off back to England.

I could actually see that fitting into the Channel 5 schedule.

The editor

Brownstock Music Festival

Jess (who some of you will know as she works for New Gen in Courchevel) runs Brownstock Music Festival on her family's farm in Essex in September. Started as a small affair - but now its a fully formed boutique festival with 4000 visitors heading down to the farm during the weekend.

Click here for more info