MTV Cancels 'BUCKWILD' After W.Va. Star's Death

By VICKI SMITH
Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.
MTV said Wednesday it is canceling its West Virginia-based reality TV show “BUCKWILD” a week after the accidental death of 21-year-old star Shain Gandee.

Network spokesman Jake Urbanski confirmed the news, saying it was “not an easy decision.”

On Sunday, MTV will air a special, “BUCKWILD: WV to the NYC,” which was shot before second-season filming had begun. The network said Shain’s parents, Dale and Loretta Gandee, support the move.

Gandee and two others were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning on April 1. Gandee’s SUV was stuck in a mud pit near his home in Sissonville, its tail pipe submerged. That could have allowed the invisible gas to fill the vehicle’s cabin.

Gandee, his 48-year-old uncle, David Gandee, and 27-year-old friend Donald Robert Myers had last been seen leaving a bar at 3 a.m. March 31. Friends and family searched all day for them, and authorities issued a missing-persons report the following day.

The Gandees were buried Sunday after a joint memorial service in Charleston that drew hundreds of friends, family and fans. Cameras were not allowed inside the Charleston Municipal Auditorium or at the private family burial in Thaxton Cemetery.

Shain Gandee, nicknamed “Gandee Candy” by fans, was a breakout star of the show that followed the antics of young friends enjoying their wild country lifestyle. Season one was filmed last year, mostly around Sissonville and Charleston.

Gandee favored four-wheelers, pickups and SUVs over cell phones and computers, and “mudding,” or off-road driving, was one of his favorite pastimes. It was no coincidence some mourners arrived in mud-splattered trucks.

Shooting was underway on season two at the time of Gandee’s death, but MTV said film crews were not with him over Easter weekend and hadn’t filmed him since earlier that week.

MTV said the half-hour series in the old “Jersey Shore” time slot was pulling in an average of 3 million viewers per episode since its premiere and was the No. 1 original cable series on Thursday nights among 12- to 34-year-olds.

But many fans, including some at Gandee’s funeral, said the show just wouldn’t have been the same without him.

The network issued a statement from Loretta and Dale Gandee, thanking fans for their thoughts and prayers.