“When did good old fashioned vagina go out of style?” A question put forward in the very first conversation of Walk of Shame Shuttle, a show that shares its name with Kellyann Wargo's ride-sharing business that specialises in taking people home after big night out.
Ride-sharing turns to over-sharing as each passenger tells their tales from the night before, which gives way to life stories, a little philosophy and sexual misadventures. Nothing is off limits, which makes it hard to resist because you’re eavesdropping on sagas that make The Hangover look like a quiet night out. The stories featured are the kind you hear about “a friend of a friend” and it feels like you’re at ground zero for these anecdotes that will go on to become urban legends.
In the driving seat is a rotating group of chauffeurs: Michelle, Jordan and Kellyann. The drivers’ reactions to their eccentric passengers are just as entertaining as the yarns but they also offer a loose form of therapy for the people who are dealing with abnormal behaviour or are little fragile from the night before. The drivers offer consolation and candor to all who choose to ride with them. Everyone who rides ends up getting exactly what they need to process whatever has happened to them in the past 24-hours. Walk of Shame Shuttle may look a little trashy from the outside (recalling the sleaze of the 90s series from Taxicab Confessions) but there’s a lot of empathy at play with the connections made over short distances.
Source: SBS
The show veers away from being confrontational or shaming passengers for whatever risky business they’ve been getting up to. There’s a tendency with unscripted shows like this to laugh at the people who sign themselves away to be victims of the edit in a reality TV show. A few episodes do marvel at the lunacy of passengers but the drivers call it out quickly and there’s a positive acknowledgment of the pride of these magnificent weirdos. There’s a lot of compassion under the hood of this show, which is why you might find yourself several episodes deep and free of guilt.
Don’t mistake Walk of Shame Shuttle as a “guilty pleasure”. There’s nothing in this show to feel ashamed about and the passengers are unabashed about their calamities in a delightful way. We’ve all had regrets from ‘the night before’ but there’s relief in sharing the joys or horrors of these experiences with other people that’s captured in Walk of Shame Shuttle.
Walk of Shame Shuttle returns later in 2018.
