London – Los Angeles and London based formats company Small World IFT announced a major new commission for primetime celebrity sports competition format Eternal Glory, as UK commercial broadcaster ITV order a six-part series for launch later this year.
In the deal, brokered by Small World as part of its recently announced pact with Belgium’s The New Flemish Primitives (TNFP), Eternal Glory will be produced in the UK by Twofour. It was commissioned by ITV’s Kate Maddigan. It will be exec produced by Melanie Leach, Andrew Mackenzie and Cat Lawson for Twofour. Bruno Wyndaele, CEO at independent producer and TNFP partner TV4mats, and creator and host of the original Belgian version, will be representing TV4mats.
Eternal Glory follows eight sporting legends, bound together by camaraderie who will live together in a beautiful location, as they embark on a series of tough physical and mental challenges in a quest to win ‘Eternal Glory’ – with one star eliminated each week. Currently in pre-production, filming on the UK version will commence in Croatia in June. The series will be presented by Richard Bacon, alongside expert insight from TV’s leading sports scientist Professor Greg Whyte.
Small World partner Content Media will also distribute the resulting 6 x 1 hour UK version to the international market through its Content Television division. Small World’s new partnership with TNFP sees it distributing a package of formats from the leading Belgian company’s portfolio across the U.S., UK, Asia (ex-China) and Latin America.
Luci Burnley, Senior Vice President at Small World IFT, said, “We’re really pleased to announce such a landmark commission so soon after partnering with our friends at TNFP. Eternal Glory offers hugely entertaining primetime viewing, as the country’s top sports stars compete against each other in demanding challenges that, despite being outstanding in their field, they will never have faced before. Kate and the team at ITV were quick to recognize the impressive performance of the format throughout Europe and this will be the ideal home to debut Eternal Glory to UK audiences.”
ITV’s Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, Kate Maddigan said, “We have seen sports stars succeed in dancing, the jungle, cooking and the ice but I can’t wait to see them take on each other in these specially created challenges. This show is designed to reveal what makes sporting legends tick and I for one am excited to see under their skin and hear personal stories from their careers and beyond. With 8 of this country’s top sporting heroes going head to head we are in for a competition like no other and with Richard at the helm we hope to have plenty of laughs along the way.”
Full of personal stories and old rivalries reignited, Eternal Glory follows the eight stars, who will be of all ages and disciplines. All are prize winners in their own sport, but what else are they good at? Each episode comprises of four tough physical or mental challenges. One athlete will go home in each episode, determined by the ‘night duel’ game. Finally only one will emerge triumphant and achieve Eternal Glory.
Eternal Glory has already achieved strong success throughout Europe. It recently completed its sixth season for NRK Norway, where it regularly attracted a 65% share, and Sweden’s series 7 concluded on 31st May 2015 with a 61% share and 2,58 million viewers. Other European versions include three series in Belgium, as well as series for Denmark, Finland and Holland.
