Channel 4 launch brutal new ‘dog-eat-dog’ TV show ‘as savage as The Hunger Games’ with huge cash prize
THERE’S definitely a recurring theme in the TV world right now – and it’s all based around the idea of hunting.
First we had Hunted on Channel 4, then Celebrity Bear Hunt on Netflix with Bear Grylls and Holly Willoughby.
Even BBC One’s The Traitors hosted by Claudia Winkleman has Faithfuls tracking down their opposite numbers.
Now C4 has come up with another big show called The Hunt, which takes the idea of pursuit to the next level.
Its savagery sounds up there with The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence as skilled hunter Katniss.
Nobody actually gets killed, of course, but the winners do stand the chance of getting a £100,000 jackpot if they make it to the final stage.
Steven Handley, C4’s head of reality and entertainment, said the show “delivers high-octane adventure reality” using “innovative gaming tech”.
He added: “I can’t wait to discover what strategies a group of ordinary Brits will use to survive in a world where there is only one rule — hunt or be hunted.”
C4 is due to unveil the series at the London launch of its 2025 standout shows. But I’ve got the inside track on The Hunt, which looks like its biggest of the year.
It doesn’t have a host, and the glue keeping everything together seems to be the tech — tracking equipment that follows competitors dropped into a forest for “the ultimate real-world game of hide and seek”.
C4 is ratcheting up the hype, saying it will be a “dog-eat-dog hunt” where players become “Predator or Prey”.
The Prey keep the cash, while Predators pursue them for it, before returning to a futuristic base camp.
It all sounds very exciting, a tad familiar . . . and expensive.
Slim Brian takes jab at celebs
ACTOR BRIAN COX has revealed he takes Ozempic to treat his diabetes – and hit out at celebrities who use it to lose weight.
He was talking to Jonathan Ross during filming for the chat show host’s ITV1 programme this week.
After Jonathan complimented the Succession star on his slim figure, Brian explained: “I know, because of Ozempic.
“I am a diabetic, and Ozempic is for diabetics – it is not for fat people.”
Brian appears alongside Strictly’s Oti Mabuse, Chris McCausland and actress Christina Hendricks on Saturday at 9.35pm.
Shames 90s acts pop off
THE BBC has been forced to pull episodes of Top Of The Pops after a string of sex scandals involving Nineties chart-toppers.
The schedule was thrown into chaos as the Friday night repeats of the music series on BBC Four reached 1997, a year dominated by R&B hitmakers R Kelly and P Diddy.
Four episodes, broadcast in March and April 1997, were taken off because they feature disgraced rapper R Kelly, who was found guilty of racketeering and producing child sexual abuse images, singing I Believe I Can Fly.
The BBC will also skip a run of episodes from the summer of the same year, as Sean “Diddy” Combs topped the charts for six weeks with I’ll Be Missing You.
He is due for trial later this year on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
An insider said: “At this rate the only No1 from 1997 that will get shown is Teletubbies.”
Carol’s Brassic blow
BRASSIC fans who were counting down the days until Carol Vorderman made a cameo in the comedy drama will be disappointed.
I revealed the maths whizz, who is a fan of the Sky show, was going to be making a guest appearance as herself.
But due to diary conflicts, the former Countdown favourite now cannot commit to her scenes, and filming on the seventh and final season has started at a pace.
And time is of the essence – because leading lady Michelle Keegan, who is married to Mark Wright, is pregnant with their first baby, and is likely to take maternity leave once filming on Brassic has wrapped.
Perhaps Sky could tap up Countdown’s Susie Dent or Rachel Riley, as they only seem to work mid-afternoon.
Wildlife extreme survival
A NEW documentary series will look into the high-stakes battle for wildlife survival.
Extreme Planet Earth, on ITV1 next year, reveals how animals across the world are enduring and evolving to meet demands of environmental upheaval.
I can exclusively reveal the six-parter will feature elephants navigating Borneo’s growing floods, wombats struggling with fires in the Australian Outback, leopards suffering in droughts and the Great Barrier Reef’s clown fish in a marine heatwave.
It will meet conservationists and scientists working to protect species.
A show insider said: “From the devastating fires in Los Angeles to floods across Europe, extreme weather is constantly breaking news and affecting us all.
“We are going to unveil how our favourite wildlife faces these challenges with sheer courage, resilience and determination.”
Break is a Greek tragedy
THE production firm behind Michaela Coel’s hit I May Destroy You is working on a new BBC One drama series.
Set in Greece, Two Weeks In August tells of Zoe, who goes on holiday with her family and friends and finds herself trapped in a nightmare.
What starts with an illicit kiss turns dark, as she acts on her deepest desires and the break becomes a reckoning for some.
When the group realise they are trapped on the island, they start blaming each other.
But given they are in the land of the ancient gods, could bigger forces be at play?
The eight-parter is being produced by Various Artists Limited, which brought us I May Destroy You on BBC One in 2020.
GAME Of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage will star alongside Michael C Hall in the next series of Paramount+ show Dexter: Resurrection as Leon Prater, a billionaire venture capitalist hiding a dark secret.
The ten episodes will also feature Uma Thurman and David Zayas.
THE start date for Towie’s latest run has been confirmed as February 23.
The ITVBe show – now in its 15th year – will look into the split between show favourites Diags and Jodie Wells, and Dan Edgar and Ella Rae Wise’s reunion ahead of his Dancing On Ice appearance.
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