Germany’s Sport1 lines up local versions of Banijay’s MasterChef and Survivor

MIPCOM: German channel Sport1 has commissioned local versions of classic Banijay formats MasterChef and Survivor.

Shona Fraser

Banijay Germany announced today here in Cannes that its German entertainment label Brainpool commissioned the two shows in partnership with Turkey’s AcunMedya for the Sport1 network, in which it took a 50% stake this summer.

Culinary format MasterChef sets out to find the nation’s best amateur cook through a series of head-to-head challenges. Survivor is the original and best adventure reality format, testing the spirit of people who are marooned, with little more than the clothes on their backs and their own animal cunning.

Shona Fraser, managing director for Brainpool, said: “The Banijay Entertainment library is a wealth of bold, entertaining and highly adaptable formats, which we want German audiences to experience. I am personally a huge fan of both Survivor and MasterChef and am delighted they have found a new home with Sport1 – we can’t wait to start production with Acun Medya and its incredible team!”

Represented internationally by Banijay Entertainment, MasterChef was created by Franc Roddam and has been commissioned in more than 70 markets.

Created by Charlie Parsons, Survivor has been adapted 50 times and runs to more than 400 seasons, making it one of the most successful reality formats of all time.

Brainpool, founded in 1994, is a leading production company in Germany. It boasts a slate of titles including TV Total, Schlag den Star (Beat the Host) and Die besten Comedians Deutschlands, NightWash.

Elsewhere today, Screentime New Zealand, part of Banijay Entertainment, launched Remarkable Studios NZ.

Based in Queenstown, the unit will stand as the town’s largest wet weather cover and first studio facility. Spearheaded by the production label’s CEO, Philly Delacey, the move aims to provide studio facilities in Queenstown, famously used as the backdrop for Lord of the Rings, for producers who previously came for the landscape but had to return to Aukland for studio facilities.