Cape Town – It proved impossible: In an extremely embarrassing turn, the highly-touted new reality show Expedition Impossible that SABC3 said it had secured, is going to be aired on M-Net.
With great fanfare SABC3 announced in September that it will air Expedition Impossible from November – a reality show in the vein of The Amazing Race.
SABC3 told media that Expedition Impossible, a new reality show by Mark Burnett with host Dave Salmoni and teams of people racing through rough terrain, will become the top new addition to SABC3's Monday night primetime line-up.
Triple-play reality
SABC3's plan was to create a new "triple-play top tier reality show" brand with seasons of The Amazing Race, Survivor and Expedition Impossible taking turns.
Expedition Impossible was scheduled to air on SABC3 from November 7 but the channel hastily had to find filler programming as it waited for the first video cassettes of the show to arrive, unsure of whether the show would be able to start on Monday November 28.
On Tuesday Channel24 learnt that M-Net had actually scored the broadcast rights to Expedition Impossible and that the reality show will be starting on the pay broadcaster in early February 2012.
According to sources, SABC3 wasn't aware that the show was lost to M-Net.
Beyond their control
On Thursday SABC3 informed press that Expedition Impossible will no longer be starting on SABC3 and that reality show The Real Housewives of Orange County will be starting on Monday November 28, followed by Survivor Samoa on January 23.
On Wednesday SABC3 still showed on-air promos for Expedition Impossible. SABC3 did not give reasons for losing Expedition Impossible, and only said: "SABC3 would like to apologise for not being able to broadcast Expedition Impossible for reasons beyond our control".
With great fanfare SABC3 announced in September that it will air Expedition Impossible from November – a reality show in the vein of The Amazing Race.
SABC3 told media that Expedition Impossible, a new reality show by Mark Burnett with host Dave Salmoni and teams of people racing through rough terrain, will become the top new addition to SABC3's Monday night primetime line-up.
Triple-play reality
SABC3's plan was to create a new "triple-play top tier reality show" brand with seasons of The Amazing Race, Survivor and Expedition Impossible taking turns.
Expedition Impossible was scheduled to air on SABC3 from November 7 but the channel hastily had to find filler programming as it waited for the first video cassettes of the show to arrive, unsure of whether the show would be able to start on Monday November 28.
On Tuesday Channel24 learnt that M-Net had actually scored the broadcast rights to Expedition Impossible and that the reality show will be starting on the pay broadcaster in early February 2012.
According to sources, SABC3 wasn't aware that the show was lost to M-Net.
Beyond their control
On Thursday SABC3 informed press that Expedition Impossible will no longer be starting on SABC3 and that reality show The Real Housewives of Orange County will be starting on Monday November 28, followed by Survivor Samoa on January 23.
On Wednesday SABC3 still showed on-air promos for Expedition Impossible. SABC3 did not give reasons for losing Expedition Impossible, and only said: "SABC3 would like to apologise for not being able to broadcast Expedition Impossible for reasons beyond our control".