The Fresh TV showcases are among the most popular sessions at MIPTV and MIPCOM, and this morning’s session was no exception: the Grand Auditorium was jam packed as Virginia Mouseler of The Wit ran through the “most talked-about” formats from around the world.
Here’s what she showed off, with details of the distributor for each show, to help you if you’re keen to find out more during this year’s MIPCOM market. This session focused on the latest game shows.
Dating Naked (Electus)
“Naked shows are kind of fashionable,” said Mouseler, introducing this US show. In a remote exotic locale, a man and a woman each date two different suitors. They are all naked. At the end of each episode, everyone concerned analyses what they learned from the experience.
Love @ First Kiss (WBITVP)
This format comes from the Netherlands: two single strangers enter a room and, without saying a word, walk towards one another and kiss. They then decide whether to enter a ‘Speed Date’ room, and then – if they like one another – they can go on a proper date. The harsh part of the middle section: one person may enter the Speed Date room, but the other might decide not to show up.
Love Prison (A+E Networks)
This show sees online couples meeting for the first time in real life, on a remote island. In a lone cabin rigged with fixed cameras. Judging by the footage shown in the Fresh TV session, not every couple found it a pleasure…
Beat It (Talpa Global)
This show from the Netherlands involves two famous artists competing to find the best singer, except with auditions where three contestants are performing simultaneously. The judges decide which singer to put “on speaker”, and push a button to remove them from the stage. The button-pushing bit looks most fun: contestants are gunged, catapulted or cannonballed into water tanks and so on.
The Singer Takes It All (Endemol International)
Starting in the UK, this talent show has no jury on screen: it’s viewers using an app who vote for the contestants. They can move the performers forward into a “gold zone” on the moving track, or move them towards the back, and elimination. The contestant who spends the most time in the gold zone is the episode’s champion, going through to a final round where they perform a song chosen by the audience, to win cash. The app also functions as an audition platform for singers at home.
Stand Up For Your Country (La Competencia / Televisa)
This show is airing in 2015 in Mexico, featuring parent/children duos with “all types of talent” who’ve already proven popular on YouTube. They get to compete in front of a live audience, trying to get a standing ovation – complete with an on-screen visualisation of exactly how many audience members have stood up.
Tumble (BBC Worldwide)
This show sees 10 celebrities team up with professional gymnasts to take on “spectacular challenges” – it was broadcast in the UK this summer, and is now being sold around the world. Viewers get to vote for their favourite celebrity to stay on the show, and avoid the dreaded “vault-off” to decide who’s eliminated each week.
Celebrity Pole Dancing (NeweN Distribution / Imagina Sales)
From the Netherlands, 12 celebrities compete to be elected the best pole dancer, with a panel of judges critiquing their skills on a giant pole in the middle of the studio. “I love the pole!” says one, in the trailer.
Heaven Or Hell (Fremantlemedia)
From Germany, this format sees the set divided into two parts: heaven and hell. They have to give 10 correct answers to questions, although if they pass on a question they have to move to ‘Hell’ where they take on a “funny or disgusting” challenge.
Soul Out (Secuoya Distribution)
This time, contestants put their souls on sale to make their dreams come true. But this means doing what the show’s “soul buyers” demand, if they want to get their prize. Who are the soul buyers? The audience, through a mobile app. Some of those buyers then get the chance to go to the studio and make their demand in person.
The Bully Project (Lineup Industries)
This was apparently a very controversial show from the Netherlands, with hidden cameras in a schoolchild’s rucksack to film the bullying that they encounter. “What’s it like to be bullied on a daily basis? To be harrassed, humiliated and mistreated?” explains the voiceover. At least one school went to court to try to prevent the show airing.
50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy (Sky Vision)
An Irish comedian takes his 70 year-old mother around the world with him, taking on extreme challenges in Africa, Asia and the US. Skydiving, for example.
Keep It In The Family (ITV Studios)
This sees three generations of two families of four compete in games, with all members of the family taking on the challenges – but the children choosing the prizes. One round involves “working out what the nannas are describing” with a panel of older ladies. Another round sees the families dressed as characters including SpongeBob SquarePants and Iggle Piggle from In The Night Garden.
Keep Your Dog Alive (Endemol International)
Six contestants, five games, “all they have to do is make sure their porcelain dog stays undamaged throughout”. But why? Because if they do, they can win… Well, here’s how it’s explained. “Thanks to a South Korean scientist, dog-cloning is a fact… it will give everyone a chance to win a clone of their dog”.
100 Years of Wisdom (Lineup Industries)
A quiz show where contestants have to be at least 100 years old. They compete by answering “all sorts of questions… it could be about modern objects, or objects from the past…” They can call relatives for help when they don’t know the answer, and they’re encouraged to share their life stories while playing – and everyone gets a prize at the end: the show aims to celebrate the contestants, not humiliate them.
Trash or Treasure (Zodiak Rights)
This is a game show riffing off the Deal or No Deal formula: a couple have to find out which object among eight is worth $100,000 – they can be worth anything from $50 to $100,000, so they’re trying to spot the most expensive. An in-studio expert tries to help, but the couple have to eliminate objects one by one, and are told each time how much money they’ve missed out on.
Don’t Ask Me Ask Britain (Sky Vision)
A new pilot that sees three teams of contestants try to second guess the opinions of the nation. Teams see a question, viewers vote, and then the teams have to identify what the most popular answer is. Viewers vote through the show’s smartphone app. Example: having to choose which celebrity chef would win in a fist fight, or who’s the best James Bond?
The People’s Choice (Armoza Formats)
A similar idea: contestants have to guess how their friends, family, co-workers and the entire country react to “edgy and entertaining” dilemmas. For example: ‘Would you rather spend a month without sex or a month without your smartphone?’ The twist being that viewers at home can win a share of the cash prizes.
Decimate (Red Arrow)
Due to air in the UK later this Winter, this has a big wall of cash as its main visual element. The team of three has to protect the wall by answering general knowledge questions, protecting a column with each correct answer. If they get a question wrong, the column “decimates”.
The Stack (Shine International)
This sees contestants competing at a stack of blocks and money that they strip until it falls over – essentially it’s TV Jenga – taking turns to pull blocks out from the stack and answer questions. But woe to them if they knock over the stack.
TUG (Global Agency)
Contestants pull on a rope and answer questions to drag their opponent on a “money rail”, with the loser being the one who is dragged to the zero line first. Tug of War meets general knowledge, basically.
Help! I Can’t Cook (Keshet International)
“A cooking contest for dumb celebrities,” said Mouseler. This Israeli format sees the ceebrities attend an intensive three-week cooking bootcamp, which aims to turn them into super-chefs. Or, at least, slightly less awful chefs. On-screen, a man flips a pancake and dances for joy.
Celebrity Takeaway (DRG)
Five celebrities cook a dish and deliver it personally to their customers – viewers, who place their orders through an app. And then the fans get to score the efforts of the celebrities, who then sit down to watch those reactions – and complain, judging by the trailer.
The Island (Shine International)
13 ordinary men are challenged to survive on an island for four weeks, with no production crew on the island – so they have to film themselves. “It was promoted as a show about male identity, rather than survival skills,” said Mouseler.
All-Star Lifeguards (Small World lft)
10 celebrities train to be lifeguards, and are eliminated each week until the champion walks away with a cash prize.
Man vs Fly (SPTI)
Aired on the website of The Sun at the moment, it sees a man and a fly placed in a padded cell. “One minute to kill it,” as the voiceover puts it. “Today we have Mohammed, a kung-fu expert. And Justin, a house fly…” The action is accompanied by sports-style commentary. “You’ve got to think like a fly,” says one commentator sagely. We suspect there will be quite a buzz around this format…
