Banijay Entertainment takes Korean identity swap reality show My Name Is Gabriel
Banijay Entertainment has acquired My Name Is Gabriel (Mai Neim Ijeu Gabeuriel)
Banijay Entertainment has acquired the worldwide format rights to a reality show from Korea’s TEO Corp originally produced for JTBC and Disney+.
My Name Is Gabriel (Mai Neim Ijeu Gabeuriel) takes celebrities out of their comfort zones and gives them a new identity through a life swap.
Participants assume the life of someone else, in another country, where no one recognises them. In doing so, they experience living as their alter ego for three days, in an entirely new culture, even taking on their job, with each experiment culminating with meeting the real person behind their assumed identity.
Kim Tae-ho, the producer of the programme, wanted to convey “there is no such thing as a meaningless life, and if you peel back the layers of anyone’s life, you will find beauty,” Banijay said.
TEO Corp is a content production studio led by PD Kim Tae-ho (Infinite Challenge) and PD Jung Jong-yeon (The Devil’s Plan).
Helen Greatorex, head of format acquisitions at Banijay Entertainment said: “My Name Is Gabriel is a clever reality format which strips back the identity of well-known faces and brings them back to earth with a bump, as they get to experience the lives of everyday people, without the trappings of celebrity.
“The universality of celebrity culture makes this format ideal for the international market, and we are confident it will appeal to local buyers.”
Other recent additions to Banijay Entertainment’s third-party portfolio include factual-entertainment format, Atypical Critics, created, developed and produced in French-Canada by Pixcom; and heist-themed gameshow The Infiltrators, from Cowshed Studios.
Others include The Game of Wool, from Hello Halo, part of STV Studios; dating reality show Alumni Lovers, from MBC; and Genuis Game from CJ ENM. These strategic acquisitions have joined the group’s expansive 200,000-hour catalogue of multi-genre content.
