After nearly sidelining a second season due to a payment dispute, the cast of CMT's hit reality show Party Down South is now headed to Athens, Ga. for filming.

Party Down South Season 2 Cast Dispute

Following the success of the show's first season, the Party Down South cast reportedly sought pay increases of an estimated $7,000 per episode before agreeing to work on season 2. CMT refused to budge and even issued a vague threat that the cast would be replaced, resulting in an eventual settlement of new $2,500 per episode paydays.

With that drama behind them, the cast is now headed to Athens, the home of the University of Georgia, to begin filming the second season, set to begin airing June 5.

Mattie & Josh Resolve Their Fight?

According to The Times-Picayune, the cast was originally supposed to head to Pensacola, Fla. for the new season, but this was met a social media resistance campaign called "Locals Against Party Down South," which petitioned that the cast not be allowed to film there, citing the cast's promiscuity and drunken nights.

"Jersey Shore and Party Down South are like the TV producers big inside joke of stereotyping us," Pensacola residents Amber Kelley and Bri Snellgrove wrote in a February Facebook post. "PDS makes a mockery of our Southern pride by showing adults who claim to have manners and then cut immediately to some of the worst behavior seen outside of a frat house."

If the cast interacts with University of Georgia students it could prove for an interesting new twist to the show's second season, as the school has been ranked among the top party schools in the country. It held the number 1 spot back in a 2010 survey by the Princeton Review, and was voted into the number 11 spot in the August 2013 survey.

The premise of season 1 was eight young Southerners moving into a Murrells Inlet, South Carolina Vacation home to party and live together for one summer. It starred 31-year-old Josh Murray from Louise, Miss., 28-year-old Lyle Boudreaux from Lafayette, La., 33-year-old Ryan "Daddy" Richards from Orange Beach, Ala., 26-year-old Walt Windham from Frankfort, Ky., 21-year-old Lauren White from Pineville, La., 24-year-old Mattie Breaux from Gheens, La., 23-year-old Taylor "Lil Bit" Wright from Rockingham, N.C. and 25-year-old Tiffany Heinen from Eunice, La.

Part two of the Season 1 reunion show airs on CMT Thursday, April 3 at 10 p.m. Season 2 begins airing Thursday, June 5, and a special preview of the new season will air right after the CMT Music Awards on June 4.


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Tags: Party Down South CMT Reality TV