Rise And Fall flopped in Uk but goes to Poland
Million Dollar Island goes to Romania - The new Korean wave on Netflix - A cooking competition with beer
RISE AND FALL GOES TO POLAND
The British reality Rise and Fall is going to be produced in Poland by Constantin Entertainment Polska, with the title Na Szczyt (‘to the top’): the casting has already started. The format, created by Studio Lambert, premiered March last year on Channel 4 and, despite the hype, failed to achieve the expected results and there won’t be a second series.
Rise and Fall brought together 16 ordinary people as they competed for the position of power and £100.000 at stake. The players all began as equals, before taking a position of power as a “Ruler”, living in a luxury penthouse, or as a “Grafter” surviving in basic conditions in the basement. And much as in real life, those in power will be responsible for making decisions that affect those who have none. Here a brief trailer.
The show was somewhat controversial for its ‘cruel’ challenges, one of which included grafters receiving electric shocks. We’ll see if it goes better in Poland...
Another reality is beeing adapted in East Europe. Talpa Studios’ Million Dollar Island is going to be produced in Romania on Kanal D, with the local title of Insula De 1 Milion. Also in this case the casting has already started. The format was originally launched in 2022 in the Netherlands on SBS6 and Prime Video, where it has run for two seasons to date. It has since been picked up by Belgium, the U.S., Australia and the Middle East.
This adventure competition format sees 100 people exiled to a “classical” desert island. Each contestant starts with a bracelet worth 10.000 dollars. While they’re on the island, contestants can gain and lose bracelets by competing in various games. They can also receive bracelets from other contestants: when someone gives up and decides to leave the island, they must give their bracelet(s) to a contestant who stays behind.
This way some contestants will become richer by winning games and inheriting bracelets and the last remaining contestant wins the whole pot of 1 mio Euro or, in Romanian case, leu.
THE KOREAN WAVE CONTINUES ON NETFLIX
The wave of Korean shows on Netflix continues: the streaming giant of Los Gatos unveils the 2024 Korean slate, with 31 new & returning shows, both scripted and unscripted (in small decrease: in 2023 they were 34).
Among unscripted formats that will be on air in fall 2024, we should at least mention two of them. The first one is The Influencer: inside a technological studio, South Korean influencers compete with one another to determine who has the most influence over social media.
The second one is the competition cooking show Unknown Chefs. Presented by celebrity chef Paik Jong-won, the series tries to answer the question: ‘who is the best cook in South Korea?”. Also in this case the release date is fall 2024.
Both formats do not seem particularly original (the one about influencers even seems a bit old-fashioned), but they cannot yet be judged from these few elements.
A COOKING COMPETITION WITH BEER
Encuentros Con Sabor (‘meetings with taste’), a new cooking competition show, is going to premiere Monday 19th February on the Spanish channel laSexta (here the trailer). All the episodes will also be available on atresplayer, the streaming service of Atresmedia, the producer of the format (which is not so common).
Four celebs (actor Maxi Iglesias, singer Beret, singer and presenter Ruth Lorenzo and musician Mario Vaquerizo, see pic below) will be the four guest artists whose mission will be to challenge four groups of friends to cook typical traditional dishes. Since it is a brand funded programming and the sponsor is the Spanish brewery Mahou, the twist is that each dish must enhance the flavour of a different type of beer.
In the fifth and final episode, the winning contestants will meet and duel to be the winner of the show. The locations will be in famous places of Madrid, including the Mahou brewery itself, so the brand’s presence is even stronger.
