Shay Mitchell is taking her love of travel to South America for her new Max series “Thirst.”
In the docuseries, the 37-year-old travels to Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil to learn about the unique drinks that are specific to each location. For Shay, this project has been a long time coming!
“I’ve always loved traveling, and I’ve always felt very fortunate to be able to go to these places, so you know, I wanted to bring people along with me as much as I could. So, filming it and putting it out there for people to see was my way of doing that. I’ve always had a curiosity for exploring new cultures, the history, the human connections that I have abroad, and this was just a way of doing that through the way of drinks, specific to each location,” she said.
So why South America? Shay told Access Hollywood the idea came to her after having dinner with a Brazilian chef.
“We sort of let the drinks lead us to these different locations,” she said. “So what started with us knowing we wanted to go to Brazil – then after that, I was like, ‘Wine in Argentina, of course!’ But like, why is it so good? What else do they have there? And then we went to Argentina, that was phenomenal. Then it was, OK like, well we’re here, Machu Picchu, of course, Peru…and then I honestly feel like the drinks lead us to all of these places.”
The show often breaks the fourth wall and gives viewers a behind the scenes glimpse at what really happened during filming, including Shay getting sick.
Although that was an unexpected hiccup in their plans, Shay wanted to include it in the episode because it shows the reality of traveling.
“There is the reality of getting sick sometimes when you travel,” she said. “There is the reality of plans changing when you’re on the road. Whether its flights being missed or what have you. The unexpected is kind of also what makes traveling fun, and I wanted to showcase that with this.”
“Thirst” streams on Max May 23.