Bug Juice (1998)

Bug Juice on the Disney Channel was one of the first reality shows I ever watched. I never went to or wanted to go to summer camp, and this series confirmed that it was not for me.

But I liked the vicarious experience of watching other people camping: dealing with wet, mildewed clothes, mosquitoes, being homesick, annoying people as roommates, not making friends in a setting designed to make friends.

Did you watch Bug Juice?

I loved this show as a kid. Wish they had better quality episodes on YT or on DVD.

I remember liking the Camp Highlander episodes the best.

The series was rebooted the summer.

It doesn't come in a jar. Bug Juice comes from who you are!

I remember the theme song and I remember watching the show, but I can't recall anything specific about it.

Those kids have great careers now, attorneys and such. They came from upper middle class families. There are updates somewhere on the web. I

Yeah, this video gives you an update on their lives now.

Thanks R6. They’re all pretty boring, really. I do remember a school mate that said she was going on the show the next summer. She didn’t. She also liked about Aaron Carter coming to a school dance because she was dating him...lol.

I was too young for this I was more a fat camp kid, Dianne is still amazing

Wasn’t she one of the ones who never lost any weight?

R9 yep she literally did nothing

Some of those kids were surprisingly comfortable on TV considering they were minors and it was early days of reality television.

Wasn't there a really queeny boy who was tormented over his crush on a girl?

Yes, and he was adorable. I think they played Tony and Maria in the camp play.

I really loved that show, but mostly the first season, in Maine.

I was getting this confused with "Endurance", which was basically Survivor for kids. Who can forget Monroe, the biggest queen on television, shrieking at his competitors?

R14 lol does Monroe have a social Media to see what he looks like now?

I did not expect to see a thread about this show but here it is! I liked the Maine ones, I always had something of vicarious nostalgia for the idea of kids at summer camp. The head male counselor was hot, I read online something like he was directly cast for that as an actor as opposed to just being a random counselor. He stayed in the LA circuit produces or something there now, I actually looked him up not long ago and found that.

I also looked some kids up and don't recalling seeing any having particularly amazing jobs, but I guess nobody burned out spectacularly and stayed on that upper middle class conveyor belt.

I had no interest in the reboot this year.

This was the time of year it aired.

I loved Bug Juice as a kid. And this thread reminds me of the MTV series about fat camp. Does anybody remember it?

R16 "I always had something of vicarious nostalgia for the idea of kids at summer camp."- me exactly. I used to romanticize summer camp and there is something magical about leaving one's day to day world for something totally different like that. It's really like nothing else in most kids' average lives. One thing that has changed though is that part of the mystique was being cut off from one's typical life, little to often no contact with family or the outside world, concentrated in a new setting with new people. With smartphones now- while I'm sure some camps still try to ban them (or maybe no reception if truly out there)- most kids can easily remain in contact with everything and everyone at home. It seems to water down the true camp experience to be able to stay in constant contact, not just with life at home but the familiar world of the internet. I can't say it would be easy for me either, but I really think the true status of summer camp should be one outside of the world. I went to camp and was a homesick kid to a degree, but I think it probably helped that we couldn't make calls home (except when a single pay phone was opened on Sundays for the entire camp to wait in line to use). I would be interested in studies on homesickness and if the ability for constant contact helps or hurts homesickness. Sure getting to talk to them whenever might help because you are totally cut off from them, but at the same time it could be a constant reminder of the separation and you never really get past the fact you aren't with them. Having no contact rips the band-aid off to a degree and helps you focus on being there. Of course if one is having a truly difficult time this could make things even more difficult, but then again nothing is helped in that situation by constantly calling home crying how miserable you are. But if you are that bad you probably should just go home.

Bug Juice, doesn't come in a jar.

Bug Juice comes from who you are.

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