Sign in to view
member only content

Even though it sometimes may not seem that way, there are still not enough reality TV shows to host ALL the consumers in this world who crave instant fame and shame. To the rescue comes Reality Village, part of the Bravo Club in Stintino (Sardinia), a new type of holiday village in Italy inspired by Big Brother and numerous other reality TV shows. Bravo itself is owned by Alpitour, the largest tour operator in Italy. The ‘adventure’ begins upon arrival at the village, where 180 guests go through a real casting session to form six teams of each 30 people, facing a week of challenges, all captured by ubiquitous cameras. Think putting together a naturist calendar, cooking a dish or taking part in pool games. Every night, footage is shown and judges announce an individual winner who gets to pick another contestant to take to a holiday suite and spend the night with. The day’s loser will be sent out on a raft together with a person of his/her choice. Cost: EUR 1,000 to EUR 1,500 (USD 1,255-1,880/GBP 680-1,020) per person depending on the period; not surprisingly, participants were mostly young singles and married couples. The first Reality Village ‘experiment’ lasted 12 weeks (June-August 2005); some footage may be shown on national TV this month.

Opportunities

Why do we fear that this concept would do just as well in holiday villages in the US, Taiwan or South Africa? Consumers will go to great lengths to get their fix of attention and celeb status, so there’s money to be made if you’re in entertainment, lodging or advertising. Just don’t tell people you read about it here first 😉