No frills as ABC announces new travel hosts

The ABC has announced the winners of its competition to host the new ABC2 travel show, Fanging It.

24-year-old Dan Taylor from Tasmania, and 23-year-old Robin Burbidge from New South Wales have been sent off on a no frills three week Australian road trip. They will film the “thrills, chills and challenges of travelling round Australia on a budget” as well as adding video-diary and blog updates.

Executive Producer James Boldiston said. “These presenter’s jobs are no walk in the park. They have some real challenges ahead of them. This is a road trip that will test their filmmaking and “fanging it” mettle to the max.”

Press Release:
ABC TV and Screen Australia today announced two winning hosts for Fanging It, the irreverent and contemporary multi-platform travel show for ABC2.

After a challenging filmmaking weekend in Melbourne where the five finalists were put through their paces, the judging panel made up of members from ABC TV, Net Effective/NMG and Screen Australia selected 24-year-old Dan Taylor from Tasmania, and 23-year-old Robin Burbidge from New South Wales.

David Jowsey, ABC TV’s Commissioning Editor said, “It’s fabulous to discover two great new young talents like Dan and Robin. Fanging It is another innovative ABC TV venture, which will provide content for both TV and on-line.”

Claire Jager from Screen Australia said, “It’s been an extraordinary couple of months – and this weekend really put everyone through their paces. Dan and Robin cut right to the chase with their story-telling, skill and humour – we know they’ll last the distance!”

James Boldiston, Executive Producer and Director of NMG said “These presenter’s jobs are no walk in the park. They have some real challenges ahead of them. This is a road trip that will test their filmmaking and “fanging it” mettle to the max.”

On hearing they had won, Robin from Narooma commented “I am totally flabbergasted. There is no doubt that the next three weeks is going to be a bit of a wild ride!” Dan hailing from Burnie, Tasmania said, “I can’t say I am that fased about the lack of creature comforts. Being unemployed I am used to living on the scraps of life and it is definitely worth it to be able to get this great opportunity.”

Today, the two presenters were immediately packed off on a three week Australian road trip, all no frills expenses paid across the width and breadth of “The Great Brown Biscuit”. En route they’ll make a series of mini-documentaries about their exploits that show the thrills, chills and challenges of travelling round Australia on a budget. They’ll make regular video-diary and blog updates of their adventures and engage with viewers via website forums and live chats.

On their return, the presenters will host a new ABC2 travel show featuring all that is fresh, edgy and fun about travel in contemporary Australia. As well as their own footage, the show will include the best of travel mini-clips uploaded by Phase Two participants in the running to win $4000 worth of travel prizes.

So far the response from the Australian public has been incredible with over 170,000 hits, hundreds of members, and almost nine hours of material uploaded to the website.

Fanging It is a co-production funded by ABC TV and Screen Australia. Fanging It is a Net Effective/NMG production for ABC TV. Net Effective/NMG is a Melbourne-based production company that specializes in new media formats.