Graham Norton's new ITV reality show The Neighbourhood, featuring families competing in challenges for a £250,000 prize, is tipped to rival Claudia Winkleman's The Traitors. The series, filmed around the clock for three weeks in the Peak District, encourages cut-throat gameplay with secret voting and eliminations.
Producers on the series actively encouraged cut-throat behavior, with contestants playing nice to each other's faces before secretly voting rivals out, according to major media reports. Eliminations involve contestants placing a 'For Sale' sign outside the house of the person they wish to evict on 'removal day'.
Welcome to The Neighbourhood. Where you are now - this is Keep Your Enemies Close, and this is the hub of the show where all the drama, tensions and laughs will unfold right here.
The show features large-scale, high-energy challenges, including an oversized clothesline task and a chaotic sprint involving 2,500 garden gnomes. Contestants live together in a purpose-built 'Neighbourhood' with Graham overseeing events via a group WhatsApp chat. The series was filmed around the clock for three weeks in the Peak District.
Graham Norton admitted he couldn't turn down the opportunity to front the series. "Anyone that knows me will know that as much as I enjoy my job, I'm also very lazy, so when the brilliant teams from Lifted Entertainment and The Garden asked me in for the pitch, I thought, well I'll do that but then I'll say no. And then as I was sitting there, I thought oh this is really good. I have to say yes to this, so here I am," Norton said at a press conference. Ed Daggett, Development Executive at Lifted Entertainment, expressed hopes that the new ITV show could rival the BBC's The Traitors. "The Traitors has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of the way it's attracted reality fans and people who may not normally come to reality shows. Of course, we would want to come close to that sort of success," Daggett said.
You are the first people in the world to get a sneak peek at The Neighbourhood, and it's a show that I'm really excited to be at the helm of.
Several details about the show remain unknown, including its premiere date, the number of families competing, and specific rules for challenges and eliminations. It is also unclear how the £250,000 prize compares to other reality shows and whether any celebrity contestants will participate.
Anyone that knows me will know that as much as I enjoy my job, I'm also very lazy, so when the brilliant teams from Lifted Entertainment and The Garden asked me in for the pitch, I thought, well I'll do that but then I'll say no. And then as I was sitting there, I thought oh this is really good. I have to say yes to this, so here I am.
It has that combination of big challenges and also all the behind-the-scenes, behind-the-doors 24/7 filming, combining those with a life-changing prize of £250,000, and I was hooked. Being here, you get the scale of this competition - it really is extraordinary.
The Traitors has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of the way it's attracted reality fans and people who may not normally come to reality shows. Of course, we would want to come close to that sort of success.