In all the hubub and hullabaloo regarding Channel Ten‘s announcement of their 2019 slate of Pilot Week experiments yesterday, one utterly wild revelation got slightly lost in the shuffle: Not only is Ten going to attempt an Australian version of the bathshit nuts MTV docu-reality series Catfish, but former Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan, of all people, has been tapped to host it. We are very much not kidding.
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Ten revealed yesterday that Catfish Australia will be trialled during the Pilot Week period, with Donovan – who was the victim of a catfishing saga that lasted some six years following her Idol success – co-hosting the series alongside Walkley Award-nominated documentarian Patrick Abboud.
Per yesterday’s press release, the show will “uncover the truth about online relationships,” while “coming to the aid of every day Aussies who have suspicions about their internet beau.”
That is… quite a lot to process all in one go.
Catfish Australia will have one pilot episode produced and will air among a larger slate of other experiments including the Kardashians-style reality series I Am… Roxy! following the trials and tribulations of Sydney notable person Roxy Jacenko, Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians which chronicles the lives of several “extra” characters and their “fixer” whatever that means, and My 80 Year Old Flatmate which reads like a cruel taunt from property-owning boomers to the young people who’ll be renting forever.
We should be seeing these trial series appearing on Ten at some point later in the year; the network assesses both viewership numbers and social media reaction and makes a decision on which shows will go to series after that. Last year’s inaugural Pilot Week experiment resulted in the commissioning of a slew of currently airing and upcoming series including Taboo, Bring Back Saturday Night, Kinne Tonight, and Trial By Kyle.
But really, Casey Donovan hosting Catfish Australia. You cannot make this stuff up, I tell you.
