Debt monkey - New online reality show launches search for its ‘monkey’ star
DEBT MONKEY, a new internet-based reality show, is launching a competition to find one lucky person who will have all of their debts paid off in exchange for agreeing to be filmed 24 hours a day for six months. The highlights will be shown in weekly online episodes (or ‘webisodes’) downloadable from the debt monkey show’s website.
The series, whose first episode hits the web on January 9th, 2009, will follow the winning Debt Monkey as he or she tries to live a normal life free of debt but under the harsh glare of the production’s ever-present cameras. It doesn’t matter how the person has run up their debt, we will clear it for them. Whether from university fees, or because they decided to have cosmetic surgery, as long as they agree to be our monkey, we will clear their debt.
The Debt Monkey will also have to successfully complete numerous tasks and challenges set for them by the producers and the public in order improve the quality of his or her day-to-day life over the duration of the show.
The format is highly interactive, with the audience communicating with the Debt Monkey and the production team via the show’s website and using existing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Debt Monkey is the first project from indie start-up MeFisto Media. Director of Content, Sophie Brookes-Parker: “We are hugely excited about the potential of Debt Monkey, both as show which engages the audience beyond anything which has been attempted before and as a format we believe could be very successful in other territories.”
Running for 25 weeks in total, Debt Monkey hopes to appeal to an increasingly internet-savvy population who are very accustomed to communicating with friends, family and work colleagues through a wide variety of channels and see no reason why they shouldn’t be able to interact with the people in the programmes they choose to watch in exactly the same way.
While primarily an entertainment format for the 25-34 demographic, the show also has a more serious side, according to Brookes-Parker: “Although Debt Monkey is packaged as entertainment, we are also seeking to tackle the serious issues surrounding personal debt – particularly relevant in the current economic climate – and we are very excited about helping one person to break out of the vicious cycle of borrowing and giving them the opportunity of a brand new start.”
Wannabee “monkeys” should visit the Debt Monkey website at herefor more details. The lucky winner will be announced at the end of December.