Ratings fly wild for Alaska

She calls herself the "worst Eskimo ever" but happens to star in the highest-rated new series about life in Alaska.

Senior Ariel Tweto stars alongside her family in "Flying Wild Alaska," a reality show on Discovery Channel chronicling daily life running a private airline business in Unalakleet, Alaska. The broadcast journalism major has appeared on two other reality TV shows since she was 13 and wants to turn a love for being in front of the camera into a career.

"Flying Wild Alaska," which premiered Jan. 14, is about Tweto's tight-knit family and her parents' airline business in the northern region of the state.

"She's living her dream and we're happy for her," said her mother, Ferno Tweto. "The only reason we're doing this show is for her."

Tweto, 23, appeared on a Nickelodeon reality show, "A Walk In Your Shoes," in the seventh grade, in which she traded lives with another young teen in America. More recently, she competed on ABC's obstacle course game show "Wipeout," which prompted her to brainstorm ideas for her own TV show. A friend working on "Wipeout" traveled to Alaska with her, where they filmed a pilot episode to pitch to networks.

"Being in the entertainment business has always been a goal of [Tweto's]," said Jeannie D'Agostino, a Chapman '10 graduate and Tweto's friend since sophomore year. "It fits perfectly with her personality."

In the first episode, which featured the perils of fuel shortages, plane malfunctions and flying in the subzero temperatures and hurricane-speed winds of Alaska, Tweto was very much the comic relief.

She worked for the ground crew of the airline but brought an amusing flair to her job, singing and dancing as she tried to marshal planes down the runway.

"I was always the clown of my group of friends," Tweto said. "I loved doing plays and making people laugh."

Tweto has been an "attention hog" since she was a little girl, her mother said. She participated in cheering, wrestling, basketball, cross-country and dog racing, which gave her a competitive spirit and made her "hungry for more action."

Tweto came to Chapman looking for sunshine and a career in entertainment.

After going to a high school with only seven kids in her graduating class, all of whom she was related to, she quickly fell in love with Chapman.

Tweto is taking time off to pursue her acting career in Los Angeles. Her dream is to have her own travel show so she "can go around the world and goof off." But her immediate goal is obtaining her pilot's license.

She started learning how to fly when she was about 10 years old, and a pilot's license is a necessity in the Tweto family.

"Now that my little sister has hers, there's no way I'm not getting mine," Tweto said.

Although Los Angeles seems to be the polar opposite of Unalakleet, Tweto is enjoying her fast-paced life in Hollywood.

"Ariel can't sit still," D'Agostino said. "I think the first time I ever watched TV with her was when we watched the premiere of her show together."

Filming of the first season, which is 10 episodes long, took place over four months, from August to November of last year. Tweto is keeping her fingers crossed for a second season.

More than 6 million viewers tuned in to Discovery on the night of the premiere of "Flying Wild Alaska," Meredith Strober, a junior publicist for Discovery Channel, wrote in a press release. It launched as the highest rated new series premiere of all time on Discovery Channel for households and adults, age 18 and older.

"Flying Wild Alaska" airs Fridays at 9 p.m.