The news just keeps on getting worse for fans of the MTV show "Buckwild." One of its stars, Shain Gandee, has been found dead after being reported missing yesterday. Is the show enabling it's stars and viewers to make bad decisions?
Gandee was by all accounts the star of the MTV reality show, which followed the lives of nine young adults around rural West Virginia. The show was MTV's attempt at showing viewers a piece of the rural lifestyle.
Shain, nicknamed "Gandee Candy" by fans of the hit show, was last seen with his uncle and a friend at a bar near Sissonville, WV early in the morning Sunday. A search of the area was conducted when all three failed to return home the next day.
Today, investigators were about ready to have an aviation unit search for the missing persons when the police department was alerted to a car found wrecked in a ditch in a muddy area close to Gandee's home. Inside a 1984 Ford Bronco were the bodies of all three men.
"We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident. We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly," MTV said in a statement today.
Authorities do not believe that any foul play was involved. The men had reportedly decided to go off-roading when they left the bar, and it is likely that drunk driving contributed to the crash and their subsequent death.
Is MTV partly to blame for this latest incident? So far, "Buckwild" has glorified the risky behavior and crazy antics of its stars. So much so that it may be actively promoting viewers of the show to endanger themselves and others. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has decried the show as a "travesty," one that profits from "the poor decisions of our youth."
This is not the first incident to rock the cast of show. In February, Recurring cast member Michael "Bluefoot" Burford was arrested for aggravated DUI. That same month another star of the show, Salwa Amin, was arrested on drug transportation charges after being found with oxycodone and heroin. She has since failed a court-mandated drug test and has been arrested again.
