For anyone who watches this, how the hell is this allowed? Seems like a significant invasion of privacy to me. I assume that people are told their rights and they can choose to be excluded?

Yes they can sign waivers or choose not to appear and they are not strong armed or coerced into appearing. Its not like anyone lies to border officials is it?

I do watch it regularly as I find it very informative on Border crossing laws. On the matter of human rights, based on the fact that some CBSA agents and citizens passing the border have their face 'blurred' by camera and some don't, I assume they give their consent for a full showing of their identity.

If you like border shows, I recommend UK Border Patrol. Only two seasons, but it follows UK border agents at airports, discovering clandestines hidden in trucks passing from Calais,and raiding restaurants & houses for illegal workers.

I like the Aussie one the best. Just like hearing the Australian accent, and their facilities are less third world than Britain. Have not seen the Canadian one yet.

I'm also surprised that people participate, especially those that are doing something dodgy. I guess if they are stupid enough to smuggle they are stupid enough to have it filmed for an international audience.

My theory is that if they are going to go down, at least they are going to go down on tv. The 'Star Syndrome'.

It's always funny to see people digging themselves deeper into the hole with their 'explanations' on the show.

It must be really easy for CBSA to spot the criminals, because they all have blurry heads!

I like some of the employees' facial expressions they caught for the opening sequence of the 2013 series...

What happens to the CBSA staff who have been on telly - surely they can't carry on with front-line duties because they will end up with minor celebrity status. Do they get appearance fees?

The other possibility is that the believe it is some sort of CBSA test, and if you say no, suspicions may be aroused. The hole digging and fake explanations are definitely amusing.

Ok FL.

I found it interesting that the theme song is 'would you lie to me?'
The Canadian officers seem a bit more rigid but I guess it must be a frustrating job at times, like all ones

I feel sorry for the poorer folks (not the criminals) and don't find their screening amusing, but also, every country needs to defend its borders

I think that on the whole they are remarkably pleasant and polite....I have lived in a number of countries where this whishy whashy nonsense would not have been tolerated. I think that Canadian Border Secutity seems to be far nicer than many countries would be.

I watched the Australian and Kiwi versions on the same channel, they seem a bit nicer. The Canadian ones seem a bit more military to me, but I guess that's just their style

I've always encountered very nice officers at yvr, definitely not 'military'.

I like the Australian one more because it's interesting to see all the food stuffs they are bringing in and then saying their auntie packed their bags, haha!

Clearly you're not Polish.

Frankly I get a bit bored of them and they wind me up, for example all the people they pull travelling up to Alaska for stupid things like having a tiny amount of drugs or not declaring booze. How is alcohol taxed anyway when your intent is travel from the US to the US? That makes no sense to me. Can you claim it back?

The most amusing one I've seen was some IT guy travelling to Toronto via Vancouver from L.A. and it was clear he was going to be working there for a few days and the CBSA inspector kept dropping hints that it was okay for him to work if he would just admit that was what he was doing and the guy never cottoned on and withdrew his application to enter!

The American ones are better but they all seem to have disappeared, I think CBP decided they were a threat to security. I thought Border Wars was quite interesting, all the various ways the drug smugglers hide things inside vehicles.

Never had any problems at Toronto or Hamilton either. Then again life is generally pretty easy on British or Irish passports.

Did get the inquisition at Detroit but that was the Yanks being uppity as usual. The bloke at Port Huron, MI (Sarnia) was far more amenable so I usually go that crossing now.

Yeah, I've found the border security folk quite reasonable and courteous on the whole in my experience, but am referring to the show in my OP