It will be the first time that the reality show - which has been done in Israel, Portugal and currently in Brazil - is being done as an English language show anywhere in the world.
The show - a bit of a cross between elements of Fear Factor, Love in the Wild and Temptation Island will revolve around 8 couples competing in various challenges in and around a camera-filled villa in Cape Town, to win an ultimate cash prize - worth more than R1 million - premised on how well they know each other.
Auditions for Power Couple SA kick off on 14 February - Valentines Day - in Cape Town at The Bay Hotel, with auditions also taking place on 18 February at the Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban and on 28 February at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg.
People who want to enter need to be older than 21, irrespective of how long or short they've been a romantic couple.
Power Couple SA, produced by production company Afrokaans, is set to debut in August on M-Net for a total of 14 weekly episodes and will be filmed over the course of 5 weeks from the middle of March to mid-April.
Viewers will decide the eventual winner through public voting who will be announced during a live finale broadcast on M-Net in December.
M-Net executives, the show's executive producers and some South African power couples like Nico Panagio and his wife Christi announced the show to the media on Tuesday afternoon at the Table Bay Hotel in Camps Bay at a press conference, calling Power Couple SA "a revolutionary concept" which "combines all the elements needed for compelling television".
"No show we've ever tested that was brand-new to M-Net has ever tested this highly," Anne Davis, M-Net's senior commissioning editor told TV with Thinus.
The 8 couples will compete in some small yet difficult and intimate, and some spectacular high-adrenaline action adventure challenges, through which they will accumulate thousands of rands depending on what they've bet and how successful they think their partner is going to be in completing specific tasks.
If they win in Power Couple South Africa a couple adds money to their savings pot; if they fail the money they've bet is lost.
Power Couple SA producer Handrie Basson when asked, told TV with Thinus that the new show is specifically not looking for famous or established power couples - although the idea was discussed - but is looking for ordinary South Africans couples to enter.
"We are not looking for famous couples. We want ordinary South African couples. Any couple can enter and maybe be one of the 8 couples chosen to live in the villa. They can be straight or gay, but must be romantically involved. It's about sharing a bedroom," said Handrie Basson.
"The house where the 8 couples will live is a luxurious villa in Cape Town where they will stay for the duration of the production in the lap of luxury," said Handrie Basson.
Although divorced people and those who are not a romantic couple can't enter, he says "maybe there's a relationship we could save on this show. It's about how well people know each other - or how well people who realise they don't know each other, work and communicate to get to know each other".
Based on the outcome of the challenges, two couples will be up for elimination each week as the others will decide whom they would like to keep in the game.
"At the heart of Power Couple SA is that it is a feel-good show," said Handrie Basson. "Power Couple SA will be done in English but when a couple speak not in English but in their love language - like Afrikaans or other - you can speak it, there will be subtitles".
"The interesting thing for couples entering Power Couple SA and for viewers watching, will be whether they know each other well or learn to get to know each other very well when starting the game - or learn to communicate very well," said Handrie Basson.
"You're going to see very intimate and revealing challenges which will make you laugh out loud and which will be full of entertainment value - however we're not laughing at them, viewers will be laughing with them," said Handrie Basson.
"The challenges the 8 couples will face over the course of their stay in the house will be big in scale and also fun," said TV director and producer LeRoux Botha.
TV with Thinus asked Victor Eckard, M-Net director, whether the production and broadcast of Power Couple SA means no further seasons of some other as yet unannounced renewed or cancelled reality shows like MasterChef SA this year.
"Making Power Couple SA doesn't mean we're not doing any of the other big reality shows or that we will continue doing them. The idea with Power Couple SA is to bring something new to South African viewers that people haven't seen before and we're very excited about this show".
"We consistently evaluate all the M-Net reality shows and we're looking for brands to take us to even bigger ratings and to take M-Net on channel 101 on DStv to the next level - something which we're definitely evaluating every single day at M-Net and M-Net Edge," said Victor Eckard.
