Top Story - May: Siesta Key slated for MTV reality show

On May 7, during the MTV Movie & TV Awards, Siesta Key was thrust into the national spotlight - and stayed there for much of 2017.

In a commercial, the network announced a new unscripted series based on the barrier island, which was previously reported by the trade magazine Adweek. The premise of “Siesta Key” is “about a group of kids in an elite Florida enclave who return home for the summer after spending their freshman year in college,” according to the publication’s April 16 profile of MTV President Chris McCarthy.

MTV spokesman Jason Shumaker confirmed the show's July debut.

The announcement comes five years after the Siesta Key Observer announced a casting call for a Key-based reality show in an April Fools edition of the newspaper, and follows a string of accolades for Siesta Key Beach since 2011.

Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley said she can recall the annual rumors that would swirl about MTV planning to host its Spring Break special on Siesta Key. 

“I remember every year we would get the calls from people saying they heard MTV is coming to Siesta,” she said. “And I would always tell them that no, MTV was not coming to Siesta — I guess I can’t say that anymore.”

The new TNT show “Claws,” which premiered June 11, was also filmed in the area. The dramedy, about a fictional Manatee County salon, was shot partially on St. Armands Circle. Haley said it’s too soon to tell what effect having the Sarasota-Bradenton area featured in summer shows will have on tourism.

“It really depends on the reach and popularity of the show,” she said in April.

Despite, or perhaps due to, high-profile controversies, the show was popular enough to be renewed for a second run of shows beginning in winter 2018.