Maui teen lands
reality series role'Switched!' involves teenagers
who swap lives for 4 days
"Switched!": Airs 4:30 p.m. Mondays on the ABC Family Channel
WAILUKU >> Maui teen-ager Miko Walczuk has no problem working with cameras as his small video production business demands, but he felt uncomfortable as the focus of a syndicated national television series.
Walczuk, 17, of Pukalani, is one of the participants in a new reality TV series called "Switched!", involving teen-agers who swap lives for four days and get a taste of a different style of living.
The new half-hour teen series is scheduled to debut at 4:30 p.m. Monday on the ABC Family Channel. The segment involving Walczuk has been tentatively scheduled for June 21.
The producers, Charles Cook Productions and Evolution Film & Tape Inc., said the series will give some teens a chance to fulfill a dream of being someone else and see "life through their eyes and live through their experiences."
"Would their life be a complete opposite of your own, a radically different world of surprises and fascinating people, or would the same day-to-day challenges remind you of how we're really all alike?"
Walczuk exchanged places with 18-year-old Matthew Sereni of Los Altos, Calif., from April 17 through 20.
"I just lived his life," Walczuk said.
Walczuk said he's not supposed to give too many details prior to the airing of the segment involving him.
He said he did what Serini might normally do in his schedule, such as attend a small private school. And, because Sereni is a competitive horse rider, Walczuk got his chance in the saddle.
The experience did not come without effort. Walczuk had never ridden a horse, so he had a mount more suitable to a beginning rider.
WALCZUK SAID he often wondered what it would be like to have lived in one community rather than moving as often as he has with his family.
As the son of parents involved in the arts, he's lived in four different cities, including Malibu, Calif., and Taos, New Mexico. Walczuk, who is into his second year of home schooling, said the switch allowed him a glimpse of what he's been missing by not attending an educational institution.
"I really saw that friends are an important aspect and you learn a lot about yourself from friends," he said.
Walczuk said he had just turned 17 in March, when a friend of his father's called to ask if they knew of anyone age 17 to 18 who wanted to participate in a reality TV series.
Michael Lee Walczuk said the family thought the exchange would be fun.
"We were very open and ready," he said.
He said Sereni, who plans to attend college to become a veterinarian, turned out to be very mature and a good conversationalist. "We were just talking for hours. I think that it's important to listen to young people," Michael said, adding that he was impressed with the depth and focus of the show's producers.
"If that is a sign of future television, it's going to be very exciting," he said. "There are great people out there and great families."
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