''Mad Mad House'' is a 2004

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

series about a group of ten contestants competing for $100,000. The contestants live together in a house inhabited by another group of people known as the ''alts'' (for their

alternative lifestyle An alternative lifestyle is a lifestyle perceived to be outside the norm for a given culture. The phrase "alternative lifestyle" is often used pejoratively. Description of a related set of activities as alternative is a defining aspect of certai ...

s). The alts voted the contestants off by judging them on their ability to perform "trials" which were based loosely on the practices of each alt's lifestyle, and their behavior and attitude with the other guests. The show aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States and on

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consi ...

in Canada. Reruns have also been aired on

Fox Reality Channel Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox network (or produced by Fox). The channel also fea ...

Alts

Fiona Horne Fiona Horne (born 1966 in Sydney) is the former lead singer of 1990s Australian electro-rock band, Def FX, before continuing on to author several best-selling books on Modern Witchcraft. She is a popular radio and television personality, appe ...

(The

Witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

) * David "Avocado" Wolfe (The

Naturist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

) * Art Aguirre (The

Modern Primitive Modern primitives or urban primitives are people in developed, or modern nations who engage in body modification rituals and practices inspired by the ceremonies, rites of passage, or bodily ornamentation in what they consider traditional cultu ...

) * Don Henrie (The

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

) * "Iya" Ta'Shia Asanti (The Voodoo Priestess)

Guests

Episode list

Eliminations table

;Color key : – Trial Winner

Notes

*: The Alts did not vote this episode, instead choosing to make the remaining guests vote for each other.

Critical response

David Bianculli of the '' Daily News'' called ''Mad Mad House'' a "bad bad show" (a ''bon mot'' that other reviewers would also make). Comparing the series to previous ones produced by Smith and Weed, including ''

Paradise Hotel ''Paradise Hotel'' is an American reality television program. In the show, a group of singles live in a luxurious hotel resort, competing to see who can stay in the hotel the longest. Each week, the contestants pair off into couples, and must sh ...

'' and ''

Forever Eden ''Forever Eden'' is an American reality television series broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox). The series premiered on March 1, 2004, and it concluded on April 9, 2004. The contestants in the series could live in a resort not for week ...

'', Bianculli pronounced ''Mad Mad House'' to be "their worst work yet". He mocked the contestants and berated the alts as "losers". Virginia Heffernan of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' found the series "unsettling" and "ghoulish" but wondered if it might lead middle America to examine the casualness of their religious beliefs. The premiere episode drew a

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, ...

of 1.57 million viewers. In February 2004, the National African Religion Congress sued the producers of ''Mad Mad House'' saying that it falsely represented Ta'Shia Asanti as a voodoo priestess. The group claimed that her dress identified her as a priestess of Yemoja of the

Ifá Ifá is a Yoruba religion and system of divination. Its literary corpus is the ''Odu Ifá''. Orunmila is identified as the Grand Priest, as he revealed divinity and prophecy to the world. Babalawos or Iyanifas use either the divining chain k ...

tradition of the

Yoruba people The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitut ...

. The suit sought a court order requiring that the program not identify Asanti as a voodoo priestess. The group dropped the suit two months later after the network agreed to add a disclaimer to its website.

Notes

References

* Cassingham, Randy (2006). ''The True Stella Awards''. Penguin. .

External links

Official Website (via Internet Archive)
* {{Syfy Shows 2000s American reality television series 2004 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings Syfy original programming

Alts

Guests

Episode list

Eliminations table

Notes

Critical response

See also

Notes

References

External links