TUKTOYAKTUK - Mayor Merven Gruben welcomed Californian motorcycle builder and TV show host Jesse James to Tuktoyaktuk last December under the impression that filming an episode of his show, Jesse James is a Dead Man, in Tuk would be good for tourism in the community.

But when he sat down to watch the first airing of the episode, "The Arctic Bike Journey," on June 14 on Spike TV, he couldn't believe his eyes and ears.

Kurt Wainman, who rode with TV host Jesse James last December for a recently aired episode of James' show, said the incorrect information in the episode was just an example of "American dramatization." - NNSL file photo

"Right off the bat it was just a pile of crap, I thought," Gruben said. "I think it was all a big, big lie."

James' stunt for the episode involved driving his custom motorcycle across the unfinished ice road from Inuvik to Tuk to deliver medicine to residents.

A dramatic voiceover near the beginning of the episode falsely reports that Tuk has no airport or hospital, that the ice road is the only way in or out of the hamlet, and that its "brave inhabitants struggle to survive" every winter.

Tuk does, in fact, have an airport and a health centre and Gruben is worried that the show's portrayal of the community as completely isolated will decrease the number of visitors who venture to the hamlet.

"Nobody expected any of that kind of crap. If we knew that any of this kind of bullshit was going to be involved, we would never – I would never have been so open with him," he said. "There's millions of people watching this thing and (they'll say), 'I'm not going up to Tuk, there's no airport there and no health centre, no hospital,' that kind of thing. It wasn't good."

Since the episode aired, Gruben said he's received several calls and e-mails from residents so upset with the mistakes in the episode they're vowing not to watch the show again. He said he plans to write a letter to James' representatives to let them know the community is unhappy. Calls to Spike TV representatives were not returned before deadline.

"A lot of the comments people were saying is Jesse James is a dead man if he comes back to Tuk," Gruben said. "We're not that isolated. We're as far as a plane ride away, and that's how he came back, was on a plane."

Kurt Wainman, the bike enthusiast and president of Northwind Industries who rode with James for the trip, said he didn't know where the show's producers got their wrong information, but he doesn't think the show disrespected anyone.

"We all kind of got a good kick out of it, you know, laughing because of some of the stuff they were saying and making it all drama. It's all for the American public, right? It's not really directed towards Canadians because this is our everyday life up here."

One part of the episode featured a video message from an elder asking James to hurry up and bring him heart medication, giving the viewer the impression the man lived in Tuk and had no access to medication, when in fact he was in Inuvik. Wainman said he could see how people might be upset about that.

"It doesn't represent us very well because we're very tough people," Wainman said. "We wouldn't live here if we couldn't live here, right?"

But he said it all boils down to American TV dramatization.

"What happened is, the Americans didn't do their homework," Wainman said.

"I just agreed to go along for a ride, you know, and I'm riding with a legend," he said, adding that he wouldn't hesitate to ride with James again. He suggested the publicity from the show, despite its incorrect information, might have actually helped tourism in the region.

"I see a lot of bikes up here this summer, a lot more than usual, so it must have been knocking off on tourism a little," Wainman said.