Channel 4 hits the piste with live TV series The Jump

6 September 2013

This winter Channel 4 will be on the piste celebrating both the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and a brand new epic live prime-time event show The Jump.

Stripped over 9 nights in early 2014, the Twofour / GME produced show will see 12 celebrities get to grips with the nerve shattering physical and mental discipline needed to compete in the most demanding and dangerous winter sports events.

Coming live from a mountainside in Europe twelve well-known faces will confront their fears and each other to compete each night in a series of extreme open air alpine challenges. Competing contestants will be trained by expert coaches and Olympians in some of the most terrifying winter sports including skiing, skeleton, slalom and ski jumping.  

With training VTs, slow-mo replays, heart rate monitors and point-of-view cameras Channel 4 viewers will get the ultimate piste-side experience witnessing all of the speed, danger and emotion that the competitors will encounter.

The 9x60’ series was commissioned by Channel 4’s Head of Factual Entertainment, Liam Humphreys and will be co-produced by Twofour and GroupM Entertainment.

Of the commission Liam Humphreys said:  “This promises to be a hugely entertaining and ambitious event and we can’t wait to take both our contestants and the audience on a white knuckle, vertigo-inducing ride in the New Year.”

Twofour Group Creative Director Andrew MacKenzie added: “ The format is simple and compelling; the scale is enormous. I’m looking forward to seeing our first skier patiently waiting at the top of a large ski jump ramp.”

Richard Foster, Managing Director, GroupM Entertainment said: "We were approached by Twofour to partner on The Alpine Games prior to the initial pitch to Channel 4 and were excited by the scale and potential of the format. This series is a good example of GME working in partnership with a producer and a broadcaster to help realise a hugely ambitious project."

ENDS

Production Information:

Executive Producers for Twofour: Melanie Leach, Andrew Mackenzie, Rachel Watson.

Executive Producers for GroupM Entertainment: Tony Moulsdale and Abigail Adams

Production Company: Twofour / GME

Commissioning Editor: Head of Factual Entertainment, Liam Humphreys