Proper Television taps Dragons duo

MasterChef Canada producer Proper Television has expanded its development team with the addition of two producers who worked on the Canuck version of Dragons’ Den.

Lisa Gabriele, former senior producer on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, has been appointed as director of development at Proper, where she will report to president, Guy O’Sullivan.

Gabriele created Moving Stories, one of the first reality shows in Canada, in 1999, and most recently served as a special producer on MasterChef Canada: A Holiday Special, which Proper made for CTV.

Meanwhile, Mike Armitage, former head of production for Stuart Coxe’s Canadian indie Antica Productions, has joined Proper as development producer, reporting to Gabriele.

Armitage helped develop and produce the entertainment format Dragons’ Den (aka Shark Tank), while he has also worked on other CBC shows such as Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister and The Big Decision.

Both of the roles are new and are based at Proper’s headquarters in Toronto. The firm was founded by O’Sullivan in 2004 and since then has produced formats including MasterChef Canada, Canada’s Worst Driver and Storage Wars Canada.