Africa begins Model search

A South African broadcaster has picked up the rights to the Next Top Model format and will air its own version of the reality show across the continent.

MNet will broadcast Africa’s Next Top Model pan-regionally on its Africa Magic channels later this year, following an audtioning process covering eight African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Angola and Tanzania.

The series, hosted by Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Orlandi, will be coproduced in Cape Town, South Africa, by New York-based LuLu Productions and Never Machine Productions.

Orlandi will also be a co-executive producer of the show, which pits wannabe supermodels against each other for a career in the modelling industry.

“Africa’s Next Top Model is sure to be an entertaining celebration of the great beauty, fashion and unique stories of aspiring models from across the African continent,” said Roxanne Pompa, VP of international format sales and production at the format’s distributor CBS Studios International.

Twenty international versions of the format are currently in production, including a version in the Caribbean.

Season 20 of America’s Next Top Model is due to air this year in the US on The CW, produced by 10 by 10 Entertainment and The Tyra Banks Company.