Format

UK broadcaster ITV has commissioned ITV Studios-backed South Shore a new celebrity entertainment format for its autumn schedule as part of a new fall line-up.

Don’t Rock the Boat is a 5×60’ adventure series in which 12 celebrity, split into two teams, compete to row the entire length of Britain. Travelling more than 500 miles, the celebs will also face a series of onshore challenges at checkpoints in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Cricket legend and Top Gear host Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff and The Voice’s backstage presenter AJ Odudu will front the series as the celebs through the gruelling coastal race – which is expected to take around four weeks to film and will enter production next week.

Production team South Shore founders Melanie Leach and Andrew Mackenzie have explained how they managed to “corona-proof” their programme.

Presenters, celebrities and crew have now all quarantined for two weeks and will be tested before filming starts, with the show having the extra benefit of being filmed almost entirely outside, reducing the risk of infection.

Safety consultants specialising in Covid-19 are also to be on hand during filming, as well additional safety precautions to aid a number of inexperienced rowers taking on a 500-mile race.

“ITV was very keen to find something that was producible under corona circumstances,” Leach said. “The great thing about this show is it’s predominantly outside and we can also produce it within a bubble.

“Rowing is a great British tradition… and we thought it’s a good precinct that feels unexplored in terms of celebrity reality shows.”

Don’t Rock the Boat will air on ITV later this year