★★★★★ 0/5

Wizard creator for local Apprentice series

FremantleMedia Australia is to produce an Australian version of The Apprentice led by former Wizard Home Loans creator Mark Bouris.

22
Leave a comment

mbourisFremantleMedia Australia is to produce an Australian version of The Apprentice led by former Wizard Home Loans creator Mark Bouris.

The ten part series is due to screen on Nine later this year, with a call for contestants expected this week.

Bouris said the local format would be less ostentatious than either of the previous Mark Burnett formats and maintain a ‘quintessential Australian feel.’

“Trump’s pretty fast … he’s not my go,” Bouris told the Sunday Telegraph.

“I’m not one of those boys who like to show off their toys and I don’t think it’s the right time to be doing that. I think it’s a bit insensitive.”

The winner of an Aussie series will secure a “senior position” at Bouris’s financial-services firm, Yellow Brick Road, and will be paid a handsome “six-figure salary.”

Nine CEO added, “We’ll be giving a group of aspiring professionals the chance to be exposed to one of the country’s best businessmen.

“Mark’s tough and aggressive, with mountains of integrity.”

But not all reality adaptations fare so well in Australia, and The UK Apprentice starring Sir Alan Sugar didn’t fire on the Seven Network, despite having a charismatic frontman.

Both of Burnett’s Survivor adaptations in Oz sank as well: Australian Survivor and Celebrity Survivor. Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? is proceeding to its third local series.

Source: Sunday Telegraph

22 Responses

  3. cant wait for this one. i liked both Trump and Sugar versions. i think an Australian version should go well, hopefully Bouris wont rely on his attractiveness and display some of Sugar’s charecter.

  4. This was exactly the sort of negative comments that people left when MasterChef was commissioned. It did 1.8m last night.

    This with Mark & Freemantle this will work.

    Why is everyone so anti factual formats on commercial networks and pro anything ABC or SBS?

    The reality of our industry is that we need to support shows like this.

  5. Homemade, Ladette to Lady, Wipeout, Survivor, Skating on Thin Ice……and so many more!!

    They need to st ick to their crime dramas….it’s the only thing people want to watch on Nine. Channel 9 is the serious network. They need to remember that before they start comissioning things like this and wasting their money.

  6. Ha ha ha ha what a waste of money!! I can’t believe Nine actually picked this up!!!! That’s such a hoot!

    I would understand Foxtel doing something like this……but Nine?!? Home of the reality killer?Ha ha ha ha

    They just wasted millions of dollars engaging in something like this. What fools.

  11. Good luck! Seems to be a win win situation for all concerned………..good news for Ch 9 as with Mark Bouris’ charisma, the ladies will be sure to tune in…………Mark gets advertising for his company & gains an employee and the contestants exposed to his expert business knowledge.
    Enjoyed watching the US version with Trump, so will watch this version to see how it goes.

  13. The US version of Apprentice got boring, because Don Trump was only interesting in it for the first 2 seasons. It needed different successful business people for other seasons (which I realise are very hard to find, as most are private). Plus while all Aus viewers love money, most aren’t that interested in the way to legally obtain it (being in business).

  14. I was just thinking last night how much I miss The Apprentice and was wondering if 7 would show more of the Alan Sugar version in a late night time slot. Good news, but I’m sure it will flop.

  17. put it on channel 10 and it’ll go well

    reality shows such as dance, biggest looser, idol all seem to do well on channel 10

    but on 9 or 7 they go bad.

  18. I’m not sure this will do well – Nine doesn’t have the good track record of adapting successful reality tv formats from overseas to suit the Australian audience, unlike Ten. The success of the US version (which, I think, was a lot better than the UK version) had a lot to do with Donald Trump – he was already very well known and charismatic and he didn’t take himself too seriously.

  19. Interesting that Fremantle Media will be producing the program, and with their success with MasterChef and The Biggest Loser they should be able to make it work.

  21. well the US version never had much interest, even in late nights, 7 gave it another shot last year with the UK version still no interest. and seeings that Aus adaptions rarely work (eg. ladette, wipeout ect). the signs are not good

    but good luck to them.

  22. I’m a big fan of the USA and UK versions, with the UK version easily being the best, so I’ll definitely give a local version a go, but I can’t help thinking of our own versions of Survivor and Masterchef and feeling a little unsure about what to expect.

Leave a Reply