EXCLUSIVE. M-Net's burnt Big Brother Africa Hotshots on DStv most likely moving house to London or Israel's Big Brother fascilities.

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Big Brother Africa Hotshots will most likely "emigrate" to the Big Brother fascilities in London in the United Kingdom or to the Big Brother house in Israel, TV with Thinus can exclusively reveal.

According to sources close to the production, the producers Endemol South Africa and M-Net's AfricaMagic on MultiChoice's DStv had identified the Big Brothers in the United Kingdom and Israel as the top two, and most likely, choices following the destructive fire at Sasani Studios which ruined this Sunday start of the 9th season of the voyeur reality format show.

Whether either of the most likely houses or most practical houses will be used is not definite, but it is what discussions centred around on Wednesday in meetings I've learnt.

I asked M-Net and MultiChoice whether its correct that Big Brother Africa is considering using the UK or Israel Big Brother houses, and when there would be an answer as to where the show is being moved to for 91 days.

"At this stage no decision has been made and a multitude of options are all being explored," MultiChoice Africa said on Thursday.

It will mean the relocation of the African contestants to a whole other continent as well as uplinking and other logistical challenges.

"M-Net and Endemol SA have a full team working on an alternative venue for Big Brother Africa," Caroline Creasy from MultiChoice Africa said on Wednesday.

A huge logistical nightmare is looming for the show if its able to secure a new house. The production staff already had a massive headache securing visas for pan-African contestants following abrupt changes to South Africa's visa regulations which first saw Ghawa and then the contestants from Sierra Leone and Rwanda dumped from the show.

Moving house will mean not just a move for the contestants but also some of the South Africa crew and producers who didn't need visas - and a new round of visa applications and changes for the contestants, as well as the shipping of some technical equipment and props.

Sivan Pillay, managing director of Endemol South Africa, and Anton Burggraaf, the head of entertainment television at Endemol SA have so far not responded to media enquiries regarding the fire which gutted the production.

Big Brother Africa Hotshots frantically looking for a new camera house elsewhere in Africa - or in the world!

Following a devastating fire which destroyed the Big Brother Africa Hotshots house at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg yesterday, M-net and Endemol South Africa are frantically working on finding a new camera house which could be elsewhere in Africa - or in the world!

Big Brother Africa Hotshots, the 9th season of the voyeur reality show format was supposed to start this Sunday at 19:00 with a live event, after which cameras would have tracked the antics for 24 hours per day for 91 days on two DStv channels and with highlights shows on the AfricaMagic Showcase (DStv 150) channel.

A destructive fire caused the cancellation of the start of the show and plunged the Endemol South Africa produced show into chaos.

With 56 cameras and special one-sided glass panels destroyed, a frantic search started to find a new Big Brother house - possibly one elsewhere in Africa, or on another continent the contestants and crew would be transported to.

"M-Net and Endemol SA have a full team working on an alternative venue for Big Brother Africa," Caroline Creasy from MultiChoice Africa tells TV with Thinus. "This includes a global review of Big Brother houses that may be available for the production".

"At this stage no final decision has been made on the venue or the possible timing," says Caroline Creasy. "The team is working around the clock to find solutions to get the show on-air".

A huge logistical nightmare is looming for the show if it is able to secure a new house.

The production staff already had a massive headache securing visas for pan-African contestants following abrupt changes to South Africa's visa regulations which first saw Ghana and then the contestants from Sierra Leone and Rwanda dumped from the show.

Moving house will mean not just a move for the contestants this time who are from across Africa, but also the South African crew this time and a new round of visa applications and changes, as well as the shipping of some technical equipment and props.

BREAKING. Fire engulfs M-Net's Big Brother Africa Hotshots house at Sasani Studios; reality show's start on Sunday cancelled.

A massive fire has engulfed M-Net's Big Brother Africa Hotshots house at Sasani Studios, leading to the immediate cancellation of the start of the the upcoming 9th season of the pan-African voyeur reality show which was set to begin this Sunday 7 September on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

No-one was injured in the devastating blaze which engulfed the studio at Highlands North in Johannesburg on Tuesday and sent clouds of billowing black smoke into the air.

The cause of the fire which erupted and plunged the production into further crisis is not known.

Production company Endemol South Africa and M-Net had no choice but to cancel the start of the show which has seen multiple production challenges the past few weeks before the cameras had even started rolling.

Due to stringent changes to South Africa's visa regulations, Endemol South Africa first had to dump the originally selected contestants from Ghana and start a frantic search for Ghana residents already living in South Africa to put in the show.

Then Endemol South Africa had to also jettison Rwanda and Sierra Leone as countries from the 9th season which was set to start on Sunday with a live launch show at 19:00, followed by highlight shows running on AfricaMagic Showcase (DStv 150) and two 24-hour DStv TV channels on channels 197 and 198 following the housemates.

After fire fighters battled the destructive blaze, M-Net and Endemol South Africa say that "due to a devastating fire at the Big Brother house, Big Brother Hotshots will not launch this Sunday as scheduled".

"The cause of the fire at this stage is unknown and investigations will commence as soon as it is safe to do so."

"At this stage M-Net and Endemol are urgently looking for an alternative Big Brother Africa house in which to film the production, however as this production has highly technical infrastructure, alternative camera and edit requirements are not immediately available".

"Every effort will be made to find a solution as quickly as possible to ensure that Africa's biggest reality TV show will continue".

Sasani Studios has become a hive of television activity over the last few years for South Africa's TV industry.

The studio complex houses a concentration of some of the most watched TV shows in South Africa that is being filmed there, ranging from weekdays soaps like Isidingo on SABC3 - which ironically moved there after its former studio space was destroyed by a fire - to e.tv's Scandal! and Rhythm City; as well as other shows like SABC1's Gospel Gold, and recently e.tv's game show I Love South Africa.

The live finale of M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Champions was broadcast from Sasani Studios' new Stage 8 earlier this year - the first live TV broadcast from that part of the studio complex.

Stage 1 at Sasani Studios housed the Big Brother Africa house since 2007 when the reality show was moved there from M-Net's Randburg studios.

It's not yet clear what the impact of the fire has been on all of the other TV shows and soaps in production in terms of  possible technical and equipment damage and destruction, as well as possible set damage.

TV with Thinus was told late Tuesday night that e.tv's two soaps Rhythm City and Scandal! are both safe and that filming on these two productions will resume on Wednesday.

All of the shows at Sasani Studios besides Big Brother Africa were however impacted on Tuesday through the loss of production and recording time due to the shut down and evacuation of the complex due to today's fire on the studio lot.

Today's fire is the second massive TV fire in Africa involving M-Net TV productions; the second massive fire involving a TV studio in South Africa, and the second massive fire for an Endemol South Africa produced TV programme in South Africa.

It's the second massive TV studio fire in Africa involving M-Net TV productions in just over a year, following the devastating and destructive fire which razed M-Net, SuperSport and MultiChoice's studios in Lagos, Nigeria in March 2013. (Not a studio, but an out-of-control wildfire also threatened, and caused the shutdown and evacuation of M-Net's soap The Wild in July 2011).

Today's Big Brother Africa fire at Sasani Studios is the second massive TV studio fire in South Africa leading to the shut-down of a major TV production following the shocking fire which engulfed the SABC's Isidingo soap in June 2012 which was then filmed at the SABC's Henley Studios in Auckland Park.

Interestingly, both Big Brother Africa and Isidingo are both produced by the same production company, Endemol South Africa.

M-Net's Big Brother Africa Hotshots scandal grows as Rwanda and Sierra Leone follow Ghana and are also dumped from the show.

The scandal around M-Net's latest upcoming season of Big Brother Africa set to start on Sunday on MultiChoice's DStv is growing with Rwanda and Sierra Leone contestants now also dumped from the house, following the decision to dump the originally selected contestants from Ghana.

The 9th season of Big Brother Africa, entitled Big Brother Hotshots and produced by Endemol South Africa from Johannesburg in South Africa, is now also eliminating the selected contestants from Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

It raises questions about whether, and how much, the supposedly pan-African reality format voyeur show is really going to be representative of the continent and the countries where contestants were originally allowed, and asked, to enter from.

Big Brother Hotshots is set to start on Sunday 7 September at 19:00 for 91 days with highlight shows which will be broadcast on AfricaMagic Showcase (DStv 150) as well as running for 24 hours per day on MultiChoice's  DStv 197 and DStv 198 channels.

Endemol South Africa and pay-TV broadcaster M-Net last month dumped the originally selected contestants from Ghana, launching a frantic search for people from Ghana already in South Africa to rather include.

Now Rwanda and Sierra Leone's originally selected contestants are also out of the house just days before the reality show is set to start.

The South African government's dramatic and negative change in visa regulations is to blame, now majorly impacting on South Africa's TV and film industry.

Already the confusing new visa regulations impacted on Homeland, the international and award-winning series currently filming some of its 4th season in Cape Town South Africa and which saw production and filming delayed. Homeland will film until November but would have been done sooner.

M-Net's AfricaMagic's Big Brother Africa has become the first and biggest casualty of the non-sensical new visa regulations, impacting not just the production and production values of the show but directly impacting what viewers - not just in South Africa but across the African continent - gets to see (or rather not see) on their TV screens.

Endemol South Africa and M-Net says in a statement it can "confirm that Sierra Leone and Rwanda will no longer form part of the countries participating" in Big Brother Africa Hotshots.

"Unfortunately, due to schedules and logistical constraints there was insufficient time to follow the necessary procedures in order to process the required travel documentation which has recently become a more complex procedure," says Endemol SA and M-Net without mentioning by name South Africa's sudden visa regulations changes.

"M-Net and Endemol SA wish to extend their gratitude to all those individuals, organizations and parties which assisted in working to secure the inclusion of housemates from both countries".

"Whilst it is not possible to include housemates from both countries in this season, M-Net and Endemol South Africa are confident that they are able to improve the process in order to successfully incorporate housemates from both countries if there are future editions of the series".