Mark Burnett and Sony Reviving ‘Fantasy Island’ — As a Reality Show!

Get ready for lots of ‘de plane’ jokes as the ‘Survivor’ producer tackles a TV classic.

"Survivor" creator Mark Burnett is moving on to a new island: "Fantasy Island."

Sony Pictures Television and the powerful reality icon Monday announced plans to develop a non-fiction version of the classic Sony-produced drama, which aired on ABC in the 1970s and 80s. The news was revealed in Cannes at the annual international TV trade show.

Here’s the press release:

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and Mark Burnett announced the development of a new hour-long competition-elimination reality show inspired by the hit series, Fantasy Island. The announcement was made today by Mark Burnett and Steve Mosko, president, SPT.

“Fantasy Island has all of the elements of a hit series,” said Burnett, “an exotic location, dream fulfillment, competition and most of all, emotional story telling. Not only is the competition exciting, but the stories of the people whose fantasies are being fulfilled will be extremely compelling.”

Located in a resort hotel on an exotic island, Fantasy Island will follow 12 contestants as they vie to become the next real-life Mr. (or Ms.) Roarke, the wealthy and mysterious owner of the island in the original series portrayed by Ricardo Montalban, and win a dream job at the hotel. However, to make their own fantasies come true, the contestants will have to make other people’s dreams come true, as new guests arrive at the hotel each episode with fantasies that must be fulfilled.

The fantasies will often be big and outrageous, but always grounded in an emotional story of deserving guests having their fantasies come true, whether it’s a dream wedding, a chance to rock out with their musical heroes, or an opportunity to recapture lost love.

After the guest’s fantasy has been completed, the guest will be asked who among the contestants did the most to make them feel welcome and make their fantasies become reality. Based on this guest assessment, one contestant will be chosen as the star performer for the week and will be safe from elimination. All of the contestants will then vote on who should be expelled from paradise and have their quest for a dream job come to an end.

“With a legendary title and a strong, new and universally applicable format, the new Fantasy Island is a show that will be marketable around the world,” said Kees Abrahams, president, international production, SPT. “We’re thrilled to be working with Mark and his team on a great new take on this landmark series.”

Mark Burnett is a leading executive producer for primetime television, cable and the Internet, and has produced over 1,100 hours of television programming which regularly air in over 70 countries around the world. Burnett has revolutionized television with continuing hits such as “Survivor” (CBS), “The Apprentice” (NBC), the now syndicated “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” (FOX), which is currently being produced in 55 countries, the daytime syndicated hit “Martha,” and the new hit series from SPT, “Shark Tank” (ABC); giving Mark different series on each of the four major networks.

Comments