All her life, Anna Mohr wanted to go to Sweden.

Her Swedish heritage had played a major role in her life for as long as she could remember. Mohr’s maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were both from Sweden, a heritage that affected everything from her Christmas meals — lutefisk and Swedish meatballs — to her appearance.

“I’m very tall and very blonde, and I look very Swedish,” said Mohr, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Columbia Falls.

When she attended college at Pacific Lutheran University, Mohr — who is Norwegian in addition to Swedish — considered majoring in Scandinavian studies. She was eaten up with jealousy when her parents and brother took a trip to Sweden four years ago, when her duties as a military wife and mother of three wouldn’t allow her to accompany them.

Mohr’s dream finally came true this year when she was chosen as a contestant on “Allt for Sverige,” a reality television show. As it turns out, the fact that she’d never been to the country before made her eligible to compete.

The show — translated “Everything for Sweden” in English — brings 10 Americans who want to reconnect with their Swedish roots to the country to compete against one another for the grand prize of meeting their long-lost Swedish relatives. 

They compete in challenges and face elimination over the course of the eight-episode season, and learn everything from the language to the history to cultural issues in classes taught by host Anders Lundin.

“It was kind of an immersion into all things Swedish, past and present,” Mohr said.

While the show has “Survivor”-like challenges, the backbiting so common to American reality television is absent from “Allt for Sverige,” she said.

“We were told by the producers a lot that they were portraying us very positively. They were not looking for on-camera skirmishes between each other,” she said.

“The point of the show in Sweden is to highlight Sweden to the Swedish people through Americans’ eyes. The Swedish people love it because it’s such a positive thing,” Mohr added. “They have such a bad view of themselves. It’s a culturally accepted thing to say, ‘Oh, that’s so Swedish,’ in a negative way.”

The fact that the contestants are vying for a family reunion, not a cash prize, also keeps the show positive, she said.

“Everybody wants everybody else to be able to meet their family,” she said.

Mohr’s mother first learned of the show last year and sent her daughter an email about it. Mohr jumped at the opportunity to go to Sweden and submitted a last-minute application. But she wasn’t heartbroken when she wasn’t chosen for the show’s first season; her husband, Jarrod, a Navy Reserve officer, was just back from a year in Afghanistan and Mohr was busy with her family.

“I forgot about the whole entire thing,” she said.

Then, last December, the show’s casting directors emailed her. They had seen her application and were interested in getting to know her better before the second season. After emails, phone calls and Skype interviews, Mohr agreed to meet the directors in Los Angeles.

She’d had a busy, trying year and wasn’t sure she really wanted to appear on the show, despite her lifelong dream. But when she found out she was one of 10 Americans chosen — out of about 3,000 applicants — for season two, Mohr was thrilled.

“I figured there must be some reason that I’m going on this strange television show,” she said.

She left Montana for Sweden May 24 — her youngest daughter, Kajsa Linnea’s fourth birthday. Her parents agreed to help with the children for as long as Mohr was gone.

“I knew it could be anywhere from eight days to 40 days,” she said.

Mohr can’t reveal how long she was in Sweden, except to say it was a “good long time, let’s just say that.” Because of a confidentiality agreement, she can’t share how many of the show’s eight episodes she will appear on.

But she was popular enough to get invited back to Sweden to promote the show before the season premiere last Sunday.

The program drew 1.28 million viewers, which was doubly impressive considering the country’s population of 9 million and the fact that it was up against the No. 1 show, Mohr said.

“Everyone’s really happy with how well it did,” she said.

Mohr’s second trip to Sweden was a whirlwind of interviews and promotional events.

“They thought my story came alive and was relatable to the Swedish public. That’s why I was asked to go back,” she said.

Mohr suspects her obviously Swedish appearance had some impact on that invitation, as did her determination to pass on her heritage to her children. In addition to Kajsa, Mohr and her husband — who is not at all Scandinavian — are raising 11-year-old Kara and 7-year-old Jaegar.

“My kids have to know they’re Scandinavian, too,” Mohr said.

Appearing on “Allt for Sverige” definitely gave Mohr the chance she’d longed for to connect with her roots. It also helped her connect with herself.

“It sounds cliche, but it helped me reawaken to myself. As a mom and a military wife ... there’s a tendency to forget that, oh yeah, I’m a person, too, with an individual identity,” she said.

“It was an intense experience, an emotional experience. It forced a lot of introspecting. It opened my eyes to who I even am and who I want to be for my family, too.” 

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.