A Malibu family signs on to a PBS show to experience life in the 1800s, only to find themselves cast as the “villains.”
By Michelle Logsdon /Special to The Malibu Times
When Malibuites Gordon and Adrienne Clune decided to participate in the PBS reality series “Frontier House” they had no idea how significantly the experience would impact their lives, or the lives of their children, Aine, 16, Justin, 14, and Conor, 10. Not only did they return from “the frontier” a closer, stronger family; they also came home feeling misrepresented by the show and enlightened about the “true reality” of reality TV.
Highlighted in the show and in subsequent media reports was the tension that existed between the Clunes and another of the frontier families, the Glenns.
The premise of “Frontier House,” which aired in April last year, was to send three families back in time to homestead farms in Montana in 1883. The families had to survive five months and prove to local historians that they were prepared for the upcoming Montana winter. Survival was key, as the majority of families who tried to settle on free land under the Homestead Act of 1862 failed to make it the five years required to own the land.
Gordon and Adrienne both grew up on homesteads, she in Ireland and he in Canada. That’s one of the reasons the Clunes applied, along with 5,000 other families, to be on the program.
“It really appealed to me to put myself in the situation that my grandfather and his father and mother were in as homesteaders,” Gordon said.
After teaching history for years, Adrienne had garnered a fancy for the 1900s and was curious about the romance of being a woman in that time period.
“I thought it would be really fun to go back and live it and not just read about it,” she said. “I probably got more than I bargained for.”
Two other families were chosen for the program. The Glenn family from Tennessee consisted of parents Karen and Mark, and children Erinn Patton, age 12, and Logan Patton, age 8. The third family hailed from Massachusetts and started out with Nate Brooks and his father Rudy. Halfway through the show, Rudy left after Nate’s fianc Kristen arrived for their frontier wedding.
From the beginning, the personalities of Gordon Clune and Karen Glenn clashed. In her video diaries, Karen bemoans that Gordon complained too much about not being able to bring his period rifle or hunt (it was not hunting season in Montana during the filming of the show).
After a rocky start, the two families seemed to run into problems continuously during the six-hour series. Gordon and Adrienne said the production crew often went back and forth between the two families telling them what was said, which may seem to some like fiddling with the “reality” of the show.
Series Director Maro Chermayeff and Executive Producer Beth Hoppe were each contacted for this story. Both women failed to follow through on planned phone interviews. Hoppe, who also produced the British predecessor to “Frontier House,” called “The 1900 House,” told the Los Angeles Times that the production crew did not goad the two families into conflict but admits they brought up the gossip to each party.
“If one of them made an allegation on camera, then certainly our director would give the other party an opportunity to respond, but what we did not do as a production team was try to enhance this conflict in any way. I’m very confident about that,” Hoppe in the article.
Some say the strife between the two families came from plain, old envy. In the 21st century, the Clune family is admittedly financially well off. Gordon is the president of Klune Industries, an engineering and aerospace manufacturing business started by his father (an Irish immigrant) in 1972.
The family’s privileged background seems to be the impetus for much of the criticism they received from the show’s viewers and those involved in the program. Many viewers described the Clunes as whiners and cheaters, especially after Adrienne cried when she had to take a family photo without makeup and Aine, along with her 16-year-old cousin Tracy, were caught with makeup and shampoo later on in the show.
What most people don’t know is that Adrienne, and the rest of the Clune family, were not just leaving their home for five months to live on the frontier in Montana. They were leaving that home and friends in the neighborhood for good. The family’s Malibu estate was built while they were on the show. Adrienne was grieving the loss of her friends in La Canada-Flintridge where the Clunes had lived for 20 years.
“I felt so isolated,” Adrienne said. “I missed my friends and just having someone to talk to.”
When it comes to cheating, the Clunes were involved in some situations that violated the rules of the show but Gordon defended most of their actions as survival instinct. For example, each family started the “Frontier House” experience with a different set of predetermined circumstances, including the amount of money, provisions and shelter they received. The families weren’t allowed to go to the store until after the initial five weeks.
The Clunes said they were not given enough food during the first five weeks to feed themselves or their livestock. The chickens weren’t laying eggs because they had nothing to feed them. The Clunes, and their chickens, were starving-Gordon lost 40 pounds in just over a month. When he became too fatigued to work, his children sneaked off the set to a nearby pond to catch fish.
Adrienne snuck off the set too and traded her baked goods with 21st century neighbors for venison and other items available in 1883. Adrienne had an agreement with the show’s storeowner to sell him the baked goods, but she said he added a transportation fee that ate up all her profits so she resorted to the trading.
Hoppe told the Great Falls Tribune, “They said they were doing what they had to do to survive. We felt potentially it was a breach of trust.”
A doctor visited Gordon and said he was dehydrated. The families could not drink the nearby river water because it was polluted, but the Clunes were forced to use that water (boiling it before use) because their drinking water line had somehow gotten shut off. Producers said it was an accident but by the time the problem was corrected, five of the six family members had gotten sick from the river water.
Many viewers said the feuding and complaining seemed to be the crux of the show. Gordon agreed, saying the production crew turned the show into a competition and a soap opera. The Brooks’ became the heroes and the Clunes became the villains.
Even the Clune children were unable to escape criticism. The girls were blasted for not wearing the proper attire and 14-year-old Justin was rarely seen, although Gordon said he was working alongside him the majority of the time.
As for Conor, who is 10, historical consultants Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith said this about him in the Clune’s final assessment: “Aside from his lucrative archery booth at the Harvest Fair, Conor’s direct contributions to the family’s survival seem to have been fairly minor (perhaps in keeping with his age), with one important exception-catching fish in the neighbor’s pond.”
“That’s the nature of the beast,” said Tim Gordon, a Montana antiquarian hired to provide the authentic provisions used on the show. “[Executive Producer] Simon Shaw had a background with the ‘The 1900s House’ and knew what he wanted to do to make people watch. I saw thousands of minutes of wonderful things and exhilarating moments for the families, but the show was edited in the way [the producers] wanted.”
In Tim Gordon’s opinion, all of the families would have survived the winter.
“I admired what the Clunes had done with their root cellar and spring box and the irrigation system for their garden. From an engineering standpoint, their homestead would have worked and they were on par with subsistence of Montana homesteads of the time.”
Sensationalism aside, Tim Gordon said “Frontier House” reached its goal.
“It does justice to the celebration of modern personalities trying to function in historical situations.”
Despite the Clunes disappointment at how they were portrayed on the show they wouldn’t trade the experience.
“No matter what the production was doing, we turned our frontier experience into a good one,” Gordon Clune said. “We got to be a stronger, more solid family.”
The Clunes’ relationship with PBS is ongoing-Adrienne is currently working with the show’s director, Maro Chermayeff, to create a frontier cookbook. Plus, the Clunes often speak at schools and other organization meetings about their experience on “the frontier.”