Are you a student who loves being plugged into the Internet, social media and all manner of techno-gadgets? If so, a new TV show wants to take them all away from you . . . and reward you generously.

Operation Unplugged, a six-episode TV series that will air on the Travel and Escape channel, is unplugging eight post-secondary students from their techno-vices and whisking them away on an outdoors competition this summer.

The eight students cast for the show will have all their travel expenses paid, and they’ll also earn $1,000 a shoot week plus a $4,000 bonus.

The competition will take them from coast to coast on a tour of Canada’s national parks, and they’ll be guided by Alan Bishop, a world adventurer who has also served as a producer on Survivor and The Amazing Race.

You may be the perfect candidate for Operation Unplugged if you’re what casting associate Marilyn Fabrizio calls ?techno-dependent.?

“Techno-dependent means you are techno-obsessed and cannot bear the thought of being unplugged,” she says.

You must also be:
? 18+
? enrolled in full-time higher education or career training for the fall
? available for up to five weeks in a row this summer
? outgoing

Applicants must answer a questionnaire and submit photos and a video. The application deadline is May 27. For more information, please visit the Operation Unplugged website.

Originally published in Open AU, May 16, 2011. Reprinted with permission.