The production of the Arabic version of the reality TV show will continue into the last week of September 2020.
OSN has commissioned ITV Studios Middle East to produce the Arabic version of the British reality TV show Come Dine with Me, BroadcastPro ME can reveal. The first season will have 45 daily episodes with the first week already shot at a home in Dubai at the end of July. Production will continue into the last week of September 2020.
Speaking to BroadcastPro ME, ITV Studios Middle East CEO Ziad Kebbi said: “This localised version of Come Dine With Me will definitely reflect Arab culture through the variety of cuisines that exist across the Arab world. We have worked closely with the commissioning and programming teams at OSN to set the parameters on which the production is based including the cast, look and feel and tone of voice.”
With the pandemic, the number of people on location was minimised and technical solutions were found to address the challenge, says Kebbi.
“We invested in a remote production system that was licensed from Ionoco. This combination of hardware and software using the latest technological tools enables us to monitor and control the production process in real time from Lebanon. Our Head of Production, Jenane Mandour, and Head of Creative and Content, Hikmat Ghazal, both stationed in Beirut, supervised the Dubai shoot. We have the ability to receive feeds of all cameras and audio channels as we film the contributors. We can directly interact with the cameramen and the production team on the ground.”
The team consists of an executive producer, a content producer, story producers and production manager in addition to the usual roles that everyone is familiar with.
Although production resumed, the team had to progressively come up with new solutions when the lockdown period was extended.
“It is a challenge that we had never faced. We have adopted several measures on the ground to guarantee the safety of our teams, crews and contributors with PCR tests, face masks, social distancing, constant sanitisation of spaces and ensuring a limited number of people on site,” added Kebbi.
