Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
8 October 2008
In a bid to brand itself as a world leader in tourism, Botswana is teaming up with the company that developed the famous reality show, Big Brother to beam the wonders of local tourism to Europe next month.
The reality show will run for the next five years.
Botswana will not commit any money towards the production, according to the Botswana Tourism Board (BTB) officials who said yesterday that they would only be providing logistical support.
BTB spokesperson, Keitumetse Setlang, says the reality show will be known as The Stars Must Be Crazy and will be filmed in Botswana starting next month.
Involved in the production are Destination Managers Botswana's director, Tamas Frei (BTB), and Two Way Traffic Broadcasting Company, known for being the proud developers of productions like Big Brother, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? or Take It Or Leave It.
According to the BTB, Destination Managers Botswana has been appointed as the coordinator of the production in Southern Africa. The television production will be broadcast live by satellite from Chobe, The Khwai, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and Mokolodi Nature Reserve.
Setlang says Tamas Frei, the twice Pulitzer Prize winner television reporter, and renowned Dutch Two Way Traffic Broadcasting Company, have been working on The Stars Must Be Crazy production since last year.
In the reality show, 10 celebrities are "dropped" in the wilderness of Botswana for four weeks. Each day they must work for their own food, water supplies, and for all other necessities. They change their locations every week; they travel from north to the south.
Meanwhile, they learn much about the country and the people. For example, they live together with the local people who will teach them how to make fire, how to fish, how to make sour milk and find food in the Kalahari.
They will stay in the game reserve for four weeks, while the viewers vote them out "live".
They have to take part in different tasks, travel the country when each location will be introduced to the viewers, Setlang explains in a press release circulated yesterday.
"The main idea behind the (reality) show is for the 10 celebrities to come to know the unique culture, society and geography of Botswana and, of course, for them to reach a better appreciation throughout their travel and adventures in all the areas that they will visit.
They will experience numerous challenging situations. The viewer will also have a crucial role in the show, as on the days of the live show, the viewer will have the chance to vote for the celebrity they like best, for that celebrity to continue the journey of their lifetime," Setlang explains.
"Botswana, with its unique wilderness ambiance, open savannahs, the Okavango Delta, and the Kalahari Desert, among other unforgettable locations, is the country all film people dream about.
For the celebrities though, it will be a true challenge to get used to the different climate, living conditions, and bits of everyday life in order to survive," Setlang said, adding that the show will reveal the stars' real personality, and the viewers will see them, as they have never seen them before.
The board says various television channels will be brought to Botswana yearly for the five years of the production. The first one to come to Botswana is TV2 Hungary next month, described as the second largest TV station in Hungary with millions of viewers. "Since the TV2 belongs to the Pro7Sat1 Group (the leading Pan-European Broadcasting Group with 26 commercial television stations and 24 premium pay channels) in 2009 and 2010 we mainly expect European TV stations to come to Botswana."
Some of the countries, which will participate in subsequent years, include France, Germany, Poland and Norway.
During the four-week production period, the daily actions will be transmitted "live" every evening from Monday to Friday for one hour to the Celebrities' country of origin.
The winner of the show in each participating country will have to choose a charity organisation to which he or she will offer part of the prize (a value of app. 40,000 Euro).
"This organisation must be based in Botswana.The representative television channel will follow and show this celebrity being personally involved in that charity's work later on revisiting Botswana," the BTB official said.
"The marketing aspect, promoting Botswana as a tourist destination is invaluable.
This production targets some of Botswana's tourism source markets and will no doubt increase awareness of Botswana as a tourist destination," he said.
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