Nine climbs aboard Monster’s Bus

Australian broadcaster Nine Network has commissioned a local version of popular Norwegian reality dating format Babes on the Bus.

When Love Comes to Town, produced by Endemol-owned Southern Star Entertainment, follows 12 single women from Australian cities who travel to some of the country’s far-flung towns in order to find romance. After spending time with local bachelors, they will decide whether to stay to develop their relationship or move on.

Babes on the Bus was devised for TV Norge by Oslo’s Monster Entertainment, part of Nordic Independent Creative Entertainment (Nice), which is currently the subject of a takeover bid by UK broadcaster ITV.

In 2011, distributor Nordic World sold global rights to Endemol, which has gone on to produce local versions in the Netherlands (BNN), Slovakia (JOJ), Germany (Vox) and Denmark (Kanal 5).

Endemol USA has also produced a pilot version set in North Carolina, which was commissioned by Fox.

In Australia, the show is being slated for a 2014 launch and will be produced by Southern Star, which has been behind a host of local formats including Deal or No Deal, Big Brother and Beauty & the Geek.