Date in Reverse Set for South Africa

Armoza Formats has inked a deal for a South African version of Date in Reverse.

The adaptation of Date in Reverse is set to air on the Afrikaans-language lifestyle channel VIA. Created by Volley Formats, Shenhar Productions Ltd. and Daniella Slavik, it will follow two singles each week who are looking for love and get to know each other by experiencing a relationship’s most meaningful milestones in reverse. In one day, the couple will move backward through major life events—from the marital bed to the wedding reception, from the first family get-together to the first weekend getaway.

The setup gives the pair a chance to peek into their future and avoid wasting time with the wrong person. At the end of it all, each couple will decide whether or not they’re willing to show up for their “first date.”

Izelle Venter, channel head at VIA, said: “The whole world has gone mad for dating-as-social-experiment formats and so have we. We’ve been playing around with the idea of sinking our teeth into a big, new dating format and when we stumbled upon Date in Reverse, we fell in love almost instantly. Relationships and dating are part of our DNA and Date in Reverse ticked several boxes for us. Not only does it speak to global viewers’ current fascination with ‘dating experiments’ but it is also conducive to lean TV production—which is something we aim for with all of our shows.”

Louise Melzack, senior sales director of APAC, Nordics, GSA, GB and Africa at Armoza Formats, added: “We are thrilled to be working on a South African adaptation of Date in Reverse with our fantastic partners at VIA. Following the success of three seasons of Marry Me Now, VIA is a great fit for this unique dating format and we look forward to seeing many more versions around the world.”