Who Dares Wins gets local; to target India in a big way

‘Who Dares Wins', the reality show aired every Friday at 9.00 pm on action-adventure channel AXN is set to go local with an India special series lined up for telecast during November-December 2002. The series spanning six episodes will be launched on November 17, 2002, with Indians across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai performing ‘street dares' or ‘mini dares', and a chosen few enacting the grand finale, which is the ‘main dare', in Australia.

Commenting on this initiative, Rohit Bhandari, assistant vice-president - sales and marketing, SET (he heads AXN's business interests in India), emphasises it is the "first time ever that the channel has attempted any localised programming". He says the reason for looking at India was the high level of interest expressed by Indians to participate in the show. "We've been getting a number of requests from our general viewers in India to be a part of the show and the best thing we felt we could do in such a circumstance was to get the show to India rather than vice versa," he adds.

The production effort for the AXN Who Dares Wins - India Special will start on September 18, 2002. In a five-city tour of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, programme host Mike Whitney would be doing what he does best - approach ordinary citizens at home or work, on street corners or shopping malls and daring them to attempt certain stunts, which will be televised for the show. The five-city tour will eventually conclude on October 7, 2002. Simultaneously, six Indians will be selected through a lucky draw to participate in the ‘main dare' in Australia.

With advertisers such as Samsung, Perfetti, Palmolive Shave Gel, Bharti, Adidas, The Park Hotels and Hero Honda having bet their bucks on the show, Bhandari is pretty upbeat that the India Special series will clock the ‘necessary viewership figures'. "On an average, Who Dares Wins has a channel share of 15 to 20 per cent across the six major markets of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin and Hyderabad. And we hope it will get better with this series," he adds.

Claiming that the street dares have been devised keeping Indian sensibilities in mind, he adds that the dominant element in the show continues to be the aspect of having fun. "Who Dares Wins is a fun-related show where ordinary people are dared to do something quite extraordinary," he avers. "Of course, even though one of the key drivers, especially with the street dares, is the exchange of money at the end of a successful performance, we won't be disbursing money in India," he adds.

Quizzed about the rationale behind this decision, Bhandari concludes, "We do not want to give the programme a contest-like feel. The point is that people should have fun and at the end of it there is a mixed bag of offerings including exclusive AXN-Who Dares Wins merchandise such as T-shirts to be taken home." © 2002 agencyfaqs!