Competitive Spirit

October 2008

Imagine being asked to don a shiny Lycra suit and bend your body to fit through a hole in a moving wall. Or standing on a pedestal ten feet above a pool of muddy water while a rotating hurdle swings towards you. Think you’re up for the challenge? Then you’d make an excellent contestant for TV’s newest physical-competition programs.

The latest trend to hit the formats market challenges competitors to take on a range of physically demanding tasks, from obstacle courses to weight-loss boot camps to racing cross-country while combating nature’s harsh elements. And these shows have been drawing in viewers in big numbers, giving broadcasters a prime-time offering with a competitive edge.

Endemol’s obstacle-course format Wipeout, airing on ABC, was the summer’s number one TV program in the U.S. among men 18 to 49 and 25 to 54, and the number two show in total viewers and adults 18 to 49. And it is the highest-rated freshman summer series for any network in three years. The American version of the show has been number one in its slot on Nine Network in Australia as well, attracting an average of 1.43 million viewers in its first four episodes.

“The amazing thing about Wipeout’s international sales roster is that we signed 15 countries to produce the format before the show even aired in the U.S.,” says David Goldberg, the president of Endemol USA. “As a result of the show’s success and the recent announcement that ABC has ordered 16 more hours, the number of countries has grown to 18 and includes the U.K., Germany, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Sweden and territories in the Middle East. We expect that number to grow, and it gives us very nice momentum moving toward MIPCOM.”

SIDE-SPLITTING ENTERTAINMENT

The show features contestants battling it out on the world’s largest obstacle course to win the title of Wipeout Champion and a $50,000 grand prize. But the road to victory is paved with all sorts of hurdles—literally—including a wall covered in boxing gloves that punch at random; “The Dreadmill,” where contestants must dodge various objects such as doors, tennis balls and inflatable fish; and a series of giant rubber balloons stacked over muddy water that must be crossed to get to the next platform. If all of this sounds like a recipe for disaster, that’s because it is. The show’s contestants are all of different ages, shapes and sizes, and the challenges are set up to see most of them take the fall. This adds an element of humor to the traditional dramatic competition.

“I think TV shows are often a reflection of the times,” says Goldberg. “We set out to make Wipeout because we thought viewers would be in the mood for something escapist and funny. Audiences at this moment are more interested in laughing their asses off than being made nauseous.”

Also scoring big laughs is Hole in the Wall, from FremantleMedia. Based on a segment from a popular Japanese variety show, the body-bending format watches competitors try to contort themselves to fit through various cutouts in a large wall moving toward them. If the contestants don’t make it through, they’re swept into a pool of water.

“The format has sold very extensively and very quickly,” says Rob Clark, the senior executive VP of entertainment and production for FremantleMedia’s worldwide entertainment division. The show is being made in 28 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. Broadcasters include FOX in the U.S., Nine Network in Australia and BBC One in the U.K. Hole in the Wall has also been a big hit in Indonesia, where more than 200 episodes have been made, and is in its third season in Argentina and its second in Russia and Israel.

“It is the universality of the ‘banana skin’ slapstick comedy that makes this show popular,” explains Clark. “Some territories use celebrities, others use [ordinary people]. All are chosen not for their physicality, but for their sense of fun and their willingness to put on a Lycra silver suit,” he jokes.

GETTING PERSONAL

While some shows are more about the hilarity of the tasks than the people performing them, others are scoring success by showing the heartfelt trials of their contestants. Take, for example, The Biggest Loser, which first launched on NBC in the U.S. and is distributed by ShineReveille International. “In its conception, The Biggest Loser was a weight-loss show,” says John Pollak, the senior VP of ShineReveille. “It was watching people lose weight, and, when we were developing the show, that was what we felt that it would be. And then in the first season, we really saw the journey that these contestants were taking as they were losing weight, and it almost became that winning the grand prize was secondary for the winner, as [viewers were] watching these people really transform their lives.”

With 25 unique productions and airing in 95 countries, the serialized competition holds a strong international presence. The show has been a tentpole hit for NBC. Season six debuts this fall with 13 episodes and season seven kicks off in 2009. The past two cycles of the U.S. treatment featured couples—mothers and daughters, best friends, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters—and ShineReveille plans to relaunch the refreshed format to the international market at MIPCOM.

“[By] changing the format a bit, the personal stories become even more intense because you’re not only losing weight for yourself, but you have somebody with you that you’re losing weight with,” explains Pollak. “All the viewers can relate to a situation where they’re having to push and carry someone that’s close to them to continue [in order] to succeed and excel. That additional layer brings such a strong piece to the format.”

Distraction is looking for similar success with its two new weight-loss formats, The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp and Bulging Brides. The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp puts women who are motivated by a special event, such as an upcoming vacation or reunion, through a rigorous fitness and nutrition regime to slim down in record time. Bulging Brides centers on a similar concept, where brides-to-be are put through the paces over a six-week period to fit into the wedding dress of their dreams before the big day arrives.

Distraction’s president and CEO, Michel Rodrigue, explains that “the pulling power of these shows lies in seeing other people outside of their comfort zone and their consequent reactions to being in this environment.” He adds that in regard to weight-loss programs, “there is often an educational factor as well as a feel-good factor from the outcome of the show” that viewers are drawn to. But the audience isn’t the only one getting added value from these programs. “From a broadcaster’s perspective, this genre of format has a proven ratings history,” Rodrigue explains. “In production terms, putting together these formats is relatively simple and cost-effective.”

And often the success of the original show can lead a broadcaster to license its own local adaptation. AXN Asia, for example, had been faring tremendously well with the CBS series The Amazing Race. The Sony Pictures Entertainment–owned cable and satellite network licensed the format from Disney-ABC International Television to create the first pan-Asian production of The Amazing Race in late 2006, which attracted some 20 million viewers in its first season. The show has since been a top performer on the network and is now in its third season.

EXTREME ENDURANCE

A large part of The Amazing Race Asia’s allure comes from watching your average Joe and Jane trying to overcome adversity in some of the world’s most beautiful (and dangerous) locales. The first two seasons took contestants to far-away places such as the scenic point at the Cape of Good Hope, the deserts of Dubai and the rugged terrain of New Zealand. But this is no day at the beach for the show’s competitors, who are racing against the clock while battling intense elements of nature and game play.

“When it comes to travel/adventure shows, they don’t get much bigger than The Amazing Race or The Amazing Race Asia,” says Frank Sutera, the VP of international production for Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). He explains that the challenges are designed to highlight unique cultural aspects of the location, but frustrating game elements are added to keep the excitement going. September marked the launch of the show’s third season, which the contestants dubbed “the toughest race ever,” and Sutera says that “with even more grueling challenges in some of the toughest environments around, we’re confident everyone will find this the most interesting season yet.”

Outright Distribution is also offering up physical-competition formats that focus on the extreme. Dangerous Jobs for Girls, from its sister company Ricochet, watches super-fit women put to the test to see if they can perform some of the toughest, most physically demanding tasks that are typically reserved for men, including heli-logging in Canada and trawler fishing in the Southern Ocean off Australia. Unbreakable, also from Ricochet, features eight elite athletes as they go head to head in a series of physical and mental tests used by some of the world’s toughest organizations and found in some of the world’s harshest environments. Being buried alive in the African bush, facing off with a wild anaconda in a tropical jungle of Guyana, water torture and simulated missile attacks are just some of the challenges the contestants face.

MAKING IT SAFE

An interesting element in Unbreakable’s competition style is that rather than having a formal elimination process, the show allows competitors to continue as long as the project medic deems them fit to do so. This raises a key issue—how important it is to safeguard contestants when putting them through such difficult physical tests. Ricochet takes its contestants’ wellbeing into account right from the start, with a number of safety measures in place for its competitions.

Chris Bonney, the CEO of Outright Distribution, explains, “For Unbreakable, contestants were carefully selected through medical screenings and even interviewed with a clinical psychologist. During recording there was an on-screen medic who administered as required on camera and there was also a health-and-safety team for each location who was specially qualified to deal with that environment (jungle, desert, etc.).”

FremantleMedia’s Clark agrees that when it comes to physical competitions, protecting the contestants is a top priority. “Any show with a moving wall, a swimming pool and a collision will obviously mean the highest standard of health and safety measures will be taken,” he notes.

The same applies for the aptly titled Wipeout, which also features a number of slips and spills. Endemol’s Goldberg explains, “Safety is our number one concern. Our contestants are fitted with protective gear when necessary and we use more foam than any other show in the history of television.”

Then there are those programs where, in essence, anything can happen, and producers must do their best to try to pinpoint exactly what that “anything” could be and plan accordingly. For this reason, SPTI’s Sutera says, The Amazing Race Asia “is one of the toughest shows to produce in the world. There’s no studio, no set, and everything is fluid and contingent upon the actions of a number of people. Anything can affect what will happen on the race, but it must always go on. Bad weather, canceled flights, broken-down buses, really slow or even really fast teams can wreak havoc. But that’s what we’ve got Michael McKay for. A good executive producer is the key to a show’s success, and Michael is fantastic. He has worked very closely with the show’s creators, Bertram van Munster and his wife, Elise Doganieri, to ensure that anything that can go wrong, won’t. Having done 14 seasons, Bert knows what can happen out there, and he’s been great about sharing those experiences with us to help ensure the success of the format.”

READY FOR BATTLE

Set amid an increasingly crowded market, these physicality-based formats are facing some tough competition of their own. The challenge is keeping the programs interesting and renewed, while still retaining the essence of what made them a hit with viewers in the first place.

Endemol’s Goldberg says that to keep Wipeout fresh, “a good chunk of the show’s budget is dedicated to R&D [research and development]. We’re constantly developing new stunts on paper. The ones that seem viable and capable of producing good wipeouts are roughly built and tested by stuntmen. If a stunt works really well and is determined to be safe, it moves on to the official construction phase and makes it into the show. The team is always dreaming up new ideas. As long as we have enough lead time to rebuild, I’m confident we’ll be able to keep the show fresh.”

Others, like FremantleMedia’s Clark, take the approach that “the key to successful formatted entertainment is capturing and perfecting repetition. With Hole in the Wall, the repetition is vital to the format, but the new holes, the new contestants and the natural evolution into other added games will keep the show fresh. I still laugh every time I see a man hit in the balls with a baseball bat or a football on America’s Funniest Home Videos. That show is [almost 20 years old] and the principle is the same.”

And while these formats are experiencing something of a heyday, the idea of watching others battle for victory has been around for centuries, and likely will be for many more. “Humans have a long history of appreciating physical competition,” says Endemol’s Goldberg. “It’s what gladiators were all about, and that spirit exists in the enthusiastic support of spectator sports. It makes perfectly good sense that that attraction would carry over to the enjoyment of physical-challenge reality shows. And it’s particularly more enjoyable watching someone else crash and burn from the luxury of your stadium seat or sofa.”