Space: the final reality-show frontier.
That’s the thinking behind a new reality competition from Survivor‘s Mark Burnett and Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson that will see ordinary people compete for a chance to go where no reality contestant has gone before — outer space.
As reported by TV Guide, NBC Has picked up the show — to be titled Space Race — in which “ordinary people will compete for a ride on one of Branson’s first Virgin Galactic suborbital space flights.” The winner, adds TV Guide, will travel aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico, possibly as early as next year.
“The scope of this endeavour is so staggering, that it took these two titans to even imagine it,”; says Paul Telegdy, NBC’s president of alternative and late night programming. “This will be a remarkable experience for anyone who has looked at the night’s sky and dared to dream of space flight.”;
This isn’t the first time Burnett has pitched an outer-space reality show; back in 2000, the Survivor producer sold NBC a show called Destination Mir, with the network agreeing to pay somewhere between $35 million to $45 million for the series in which contestants would live on Russia’s Mir space station. When the decrepit space station crashed down to Earth in 2001, however, so did Burnett’s show.
“For the past 10 years I have relentlessly pursued my dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space and look down upon mother Earth,”; Burnett says. “Last year I spent time in New Mexico at the state-of-the-art facility and last week spent time in the Mojave Desert with Sir Richard and his impressive team. We got to see the spaceship up close and hear of Sir Richard’s incredible vision of how Virgin Galactic is the future of private space travel. I am thrilled to be part of a series that will give the everyday person a chance to see space and that NBC has come on board so that viewers at home will have a first-class seat.”;
Adds Branson: “Virgin Galactic’s mission is to democratize space, eventually making commercial space travel affordable and accessible to all. Space Race allows us to extend this opportunity of a lifetime to as many people as possible right at the start of our commercial service — through direct experience and television viewing.”;
Branson has long championed the idea of commercial space travel, and has found plenty of deep-pocketed travelers willing to shell out $25,000 per seat. Among the famous faces who have already bought tickets are Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher and Angelina Jolie.
