MTV ‘Buckwild’ Production Halted After Shain Gandee’s Death (Updated)

The network says it is "shocked and saddened" by death of the "Buckwild" star

Update, Monday 1:16 p.m.: MTV's reality series "Buckwild" has halted production on its second season, after one of the show's stars, Shain Gandee, was found dead on Monday, a spokeswoman for the network told TheWrap on Monday.

It is not clear how long the shutdown will last.

Previously…

Shain Gandee, star of the MTV reality series "Buckwild," has been found dead, MTV confirms to TheWrap.

“We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident," the network said in a statement on MTV.com. "We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly.”

A spokesman for the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office told TheWrap that Gandee, 21, was found dead with his uncle, David Gandee, in a vehicle in Sissonville, W.Va., in a 1984 Ford Bronco belonging to the Gandee family.  A third man in the truck has been identified as Donald Robert Myers, 27.

Also read: MTV's 'Buckwild' Slammed by West Virginia Senator Before it Even Airs (Video)

The Sheriff's Office spokesman said that the vehicle was in a muddy area along a worn path in a wooded area of Sissonville called Thaxton Hollow. Deputies from the department and members of the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department had to use all-terrain vehicles to access the Bronco.

Gandee and the other individuals were found by a friend of Gandee's who was searching the area for him and the others in the truck, the Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

The vehicle was partially submerged in deep mud, the Sheriff's Office spokesman said. Mud covered the lower part of the passenger door, but the driver's side of the Bronco sat above the mud.

The muffler of the Bronco was completely submerged in the mud.

There was no sign of foul play, the Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

Also read: Two of Three Dead in Reality-Shoot Copter Crash Identified

The deaths are currently under investigation, and will likely be determined following an autopsy by the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

"Buckwild," which premiered in January, chronicles the exploits of a group of young people in Sissonville and Charlotte, W. Va. The show drew controversy before it even aired, with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin III complaining that the series would put the state in a negative light.

“Instead of showcasing the beauty of our people and our state, you preyed on young people, coaxed them into displaying shameful behavior – and now you are profiting from it," a letter from Manchin to MTV president Stephen Friedman, which asked for the show to be pulled, read. "That is just wrong.”

The series aired its first season finale on Feb. 7.

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