Travel Channel Bombs Again With 'Confessions Of A Travel Writer'

Hosted by Charles Runnette, the show offers a sneak peek behind the scenes of this “dream job”. The pilot aired last night, and the reactions are now flooding in…and they’re not good.

The World Hum interview with Charles has been flooded with outraged comments:

“Charles comes off as a completely pretentious snob who is quick to ridicule everyone else in order to generate pleasure for himself. I wouldn’t want to follow his advice when travelling. He seems to take no joy in ANYTHING.”

“I’m 20 minutes into this show. I had never heard of Charles Runnette before but I already hate him. What an arrogant, self absorbed, petty jerk.”

“This guy is an arrogant, negative joy-sucking jerk. Please, please don’t ever let him go on another press trip or ever get in front of a camera again. And never interview him again.”

“Huge misfire from the normally dependable Travel Channel. Charles Runnette is like the watery diarrhea you get from eating the wrong food in a foreign country.”

Similar comments were left on Jaunted’s coverage of the show as well.

To be clear, I haven’t actually seen the show myself yet. I’ve only read the reactions of others across the web.

What can we make of this decision by the Travel Channel? Was it actually another blunder? Or a calculated risk to generate an outpouring of negative publicity, and hence, interest in the show?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Community Connection

If you’d like to check out a show about travel writers that has good reviews, check out Word Travels. And see my behind the scenes photo essay here.