IN IMAGES. 14 photos of M-Net's press screening for the media of the debut episode of the 7th season of Survivor South Africa, Survivor SA: Island of Secrets, held at MultiChoice City.

On Friday afternoon M-Net (DStv 101) held a press screening of the debut episode of the upcoming 7th season of Survivor South Africa, entitled Survivor SA: Island of Secrets, for the media inside the cinema auditorium at MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg.

Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets, produced by Afrokaans, will start on M-Net on 16 May at 19:00.

M-Net's press screening - with journalists and TV critics who had to sign the usual non-disclosure agreement (NDA) not to reveal or publish anything about what they've seen or to discuss any content or insider information about the show until the broadcasting date - was extremely professionally done, with a lot of care and attention.

M-Net literally rolled out the blue carpet for the media and the screening of the first episode - minus the tribal council vote and result of who gets eliminated.

The press screening was followed by a question-and-answer session in the auditorium with the M-Net executive, Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local productions; the Survivor SA host Nico Panagio, the show's executive producer Handrie Basson, as well as Leroux Botha who is the series director.

Jan du Plessis, director of M-Net channels, also gave his time and sat in and attended the press screening.

Afterwards, M-Net had beautiful, delicious, and extremely substantial finger-food for the media, including beverages and dessert.

Media received a goodie bag with the season's logo on it, containing a bag of rice complete with an embossed Survivor SA Island of Secrets logo on it as well, a Steers gift card and a Steers bottle of sauce.

Something that is however problematic and likely something that will have a negatively impact on the exposure of Survivor SA: Island of Secret this season and lead to the lower media interest and attention the season will probably get, is the fact that several journalists and publications are known to be rankled and to various degrees unhappy with the handling of media access for the Samoa-set season.

This has been triggered by two things - firstly M-Net's odd decision around how it decided which media to send to Samoa, with no island-access this time for the bulk of the dedicated media covering the show, and who have consistently covered the show in the past.

Only certain journalists were chosen with media outlets that couldn't motivate for a set visit opportunity.

Secondly, M-Net that earlier this year said all media will have equal access, gave the photos and information of castaways of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets to one print publication only that was published and became available on Thursday evening.

Journalists perceive that as preferential treatment by M-Net in terms of basic show information that should be made available without exclusivity and to all press at the same time. (The rest of the media were sent a press release on Thursday night containing 5 of the 21 contestants, after all 21 were already published in a magazine.)

By Saturday morning M-Net has still not shared the full photos and profiles contestants press pack of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets with the media, yet many journalists and media outlets were already aware by Friday before the screening that M-Net gave the information over a week ago and to one magazine that published it on Thursday.

It dramatically lessens the likelihood that other media will now do castaway reveal and bio articles (and later exit interviews) which shortchanges the show and the contestants.

TVwithThinus will do a review on the launch date of the broadcast on M-Net, as well as a news report, but the first episode of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets looks absolutely great, with the best editing, pacing and music soundtrack of any season of the South African version yet.

M-Net told the media that journalists interested in seeing what happened behind-the-scenes should watch Bravo! on kykNET (DStv 144) with Reynard Slabbert on the Sunday before Survivor SA: Island of Secrets starts, who did a set visit and of the Afrokaans production on the island.

BREAKING. SABC3 adds Survivor back to its schedule with the 32nd season, Survivor Kaôh Rōng, tentatively set to start on 13 May.

The cash-strapped SABC has added Survivor back to the struggling SABC3 schedule, with the 32nd season, Survivor Kaôh Rōng, that has been penciled in for a starting date of Monday, 13 May at 19:30.

It must be noted that South African viewers should treat it as a "tentative" starting date since SABC3 has abruptly dropped the promised start of the last couple of Survivor seasons.

Season premieres got pushed out with SABC3 that then also botched the season premiere episodes. That remains a possibility with Survivor Kaôh Rōng.

However, for now, SABC3 has Survivor back in its schedule and once again scheduled a season of the American Survivor to start just days before the next season of Survivor South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) - this time the 7th season entitled Survivor SA: Island of Secrets set in Samoa that will kick off on Thursday 16 May at 19:00 following the conclusion of The Bachelor SA.

This is the second time that SABC3 has done this and did the same with the previous season, Survivor: Cambodia that it originally scheduled to start at the same time as Survivor SA: Philippines in mid-May 2018 but then abruptly postponed because of non-payment and non-delivery of tapes, that only saw it start in mid-August 2018.

Because of the SABC and SABC3 financial problems American TV shows like The Bold and the Beautiful, Survivor and to a lesser extent The Amazing Race have vanished from the programming schedule of the South African public broadcaster's only commercial TV channel.

The SABC's contract of The Bold and the Beautiful with BBL was cancelled with the broadcaster that has been silent when asked several times about the fate of the remaining Survivor and The Amazing Race - legacy series on SABC3 that, together with Bold, continued to pull in strong viewership and ratings for the channel.

In February until its cancellation, Bold was the second most-watched regular programme on SABC3 (587 080 viewers) with once-off sport broadcasts stripped out, while both Survivor and The Amazing Race perennially make the list of top 10 most-watched shows on SABC3 when broadcast.

In February 2018 SABC3 made the hollow promise and said that it will catch up and start to show seasons of Survivor on Mondays and The Amazing Race on Wednesdays sooner with smaller breaks between seasons to stop falling further and further behind America.

Instead, Survivor has been absent from SABC3 for months, with The Amazing Race that was moved back to Mondays and finished its 27th season in February with 401 547 viewers as the 9th highest rated regular programme on the channel (the 31st season is set to start in May in the United States).

Earlier this month, Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, told South Africa's parliament that the situation at the out-of-cash broadcaster "is so bad that several major content providers of key programmes actually refuse to engage with us. Understandably, because we have not been able to pay them in the past couple of months".

Now Survivor has popped back up on the SABC3 schedule with Survivor: Kaôh Rōng that was broadcast in 2016 in the United States, that will see contestants get divided into three tribes according to "brains" (intelligence), "brawn" (physical power) and "beauty" (external attractiveness).

Filmed in Cambodia as well - similar to the previous season - this season will introduce the power to remove a member of the jury for the first time.

How far away keeps the press at bay and media coverage muted: How shows - from the Saftas to Survivor SA - will likely get less coverage this year taking place so far away with expensive travel costs that makes productions drop the media.

The media coverage in and by the press of some shows broadcast on South African television in 2019 will be notably down and less this year than in the past and what it could, and would, normally be.

Blame far-flung on-location production shoots making it too expensive for media to travel there without the inclusion or assistance from broadcasters, and travel costs that are too prohibitively expensive for broadcasters and organisers and their limited marketing budgets who end up dropping the media contingent from their plans.

The result is less coverage - a blend of media simply not being there and being able to report on it, and media also snubbing something where it can't effectively compete to provide coverage against perceived competitors who did get access.

Once again the coverage from, and on, the South African Film and Television Awards, organised by the department of arts and culture's National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), will be severely limited since the 13th Saftas took place at the luxury Sun City resort in the North West province, in the middle of nowhere, with very few media in attendance compared to years past.

The NFVF that did host press in the past said it isn't hosting any media this year, with the majority of editors from media outlets who are reluctant and simply don't have the travel and accommodation budget to dispatch journalists to cover the Saftas.

Media coverage of the latest upcoming season of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets on M-Net (DStv 101) starting on 16 May and set on islands in Samoa will this time very likely be similarly dramatically down from previous seasons, with a number of media who in all likelihood won't be covering the show at all.

The number of journalists and media who got a chance to visit Survivor SA: Island of Secrets on-location during filming of the Afrokaans produced show set in the South Pacific was dramatically cut this year as well.

Similarly to the Saftas the editors of print and online publications as well as broadcast media can't pay to send their journalists halfway around the world to do first-hand reporting for M-Net's island reality TV show, and M-Net this year only flew less than half a hand of journalists to Samoa.

Neo Moretlwe, NFVF communications coordinator, in response to a media enquiry asking whether the 13th Saftas would be hosting media and press this year, told TVwithThinus it won't.

While the NFVF did so so in the past when the Saftas took place in Johannesburg, as well as a few times in Sun City since the inexplicable and out-of-the way move to the North West province, the NFVF and Saftas organisers are not doing so anymore.

SABC2 as the broadcaster of the Saftas has never even bothered to try and involve or invite press in any of the years it has broadcast the awards show.

It all means less pre-award show coverage, fewer print interviews, fewer profile pieces and articles, fewer broadcast interviews, fewer photos, and less real, credible, first-hand coverage - in short: less earned-media coverage overall for what is supposedly South Africa's most important TV and film awards.

"Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the NFVF is unable to accommodate media this year," said Neo Moretlwe. "Some of the event sponsors have taken the liberty to invite media directly at their own cost. On our part, we will do our best to prioritise all media queries from journalists unable to attend the live event".

For M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets, media coverage will likely be less than what it was for any other previous season as well, with the show's 7th season taking place the furthest away from South Africa it has ever been.

That has led to the smallest number of media visiting during any of the seasons of the show, with travel time taking up to 60 hours to get there from Johannesburg to Hong Kong and then to the South Pacific.

For media visits to the production of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets, due to travel and accommodation costs, M-Net put specific criteria in place as it made a shortlist for who could go, and that cut down on the number of journalists who were invited to go to the island this year.

M-Net emphasises that all media will have equal access to stories about Survivor SA: Island of Secrets this year, with the only difference being that there would be 2 or 3 journalists who got to experience the filming process.

M-Net's 7th season of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets set 'extremely far, far away'; filming with 21 contestants to start soon on an island furthest away from South Africa yet, with some much older contestants than before.

With pre-production that's been underway, filming is about to start on the 7th season of Survivor SA on M-Net (DStv 101) - set on the most remote island location that the South African version of the show has ever done - "extremely far, far away" on literally the other side of the world and including some much older contestants than before.

TVwithThinus can reveal that Survivor SA: Island of Secrets, with South African production company Afrokaans again producing the Banijay Group's Survivor format show for its second consecutive time, will have 21 contestants for its 7th season, again filming for 39 days like the previous season.

With Nico Panagio once again back as Survivor SA host, the new season is set on a location further away from South Africa than ever before, with the show that previously had exotic set-piece seasons playing out as far away as Panama, the Maldives, Malaysia and even the Philippines in the previous 6th season.

With a rough time difference of between 10 to 11 hours compared to South Africa, it takes the production crew, filming equipment and contestants between 4 to 5 different - including extremely long - flights just to reach the fantasy island locale in its far-flung time zone.

The travel time? Roughly over a 24-hour day and a half spent on planes and waiting in international airports for flight connections to get there.

Coming with the exclusive M-Net show however - that will once again feature built-in scene-chewing location shots including waterfalls, dense jungle vegetation and tropical palm trees, beautiful beaches and vivid blue hues of completely transparent waters - is a premium TV production price to match.

With Survivor SA: Island of Secrets currently in pre-production and set for broadcast from mid-May on M-Net after the first season finale of The Bachelor SA, Afrokaans will be under extreme time pressure to film, edit and deliver the new season's episodes for playout on air, having roughly three and a half months to do so from when the castaways are dropped on the island, to the broadcast date.

As in the previous season, some of the editing of the thousands of recorded and logged hours will already start and take place in a production room on-location once filming starts.

On Friday morning M-Net showed the gaggle of press and TV critics attending its comprehensive 3-day programming upfront at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg a brand-new teaser of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets containing some brand-new location shots in the video promo that was packaged and emailed from the show's production hub on one of the islands.

Lani Lombard, M-Net's head of publicity, says M-Net will reveal the location of the Island of Secrets soon but only once all of the selected contestants have arrived and filming has started with the 21 contestants in the game.

"Contestants on this season of Survivor South Africa, similar to all previous ones, are not allowed to know beforehand who the other contestants are or the location. Even when they arrive at the mystery location they are kept in isolation."

"If they know what the location is, they can research quite a lot about the location, so the whole idea behind Survivor is for it to be a surprise for them when they go."

"As soon as all of the contestants are there, M-Net will make an announcement of where the latest season is set," says Lani Lombard.

"This season is going to be very interesting. Of course the contestants are going to be very different to the previous season's contestants. I can reveal that there are a couple of much older contestants this year, and then there's the Island of Secrets where a lot will happen that will create all kinds of drama."

"There's a big difference between the ages of the contestants this season - there are very young contestants and there are much older contestants as well, and there are very feisty contestants, and then very funny contestants as well."

TV CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK. That coolest M-Net announcement that came at the end of the Survivor SA: Phillipines finale, and what viewers don't actually realise it means.

On Thursday night Tom Schwartz from Port Elizabeth was announced as the winner of Survivor South Africa: Philippines on M-Net (DStv 101) but the coolest announcement was actually what host Nico Panagio started teasing midway through and revealed right at the end: that M-Net has renewed Survivor SA for a 7th season in 2019 that will be entitled "Island of Secrets" and that entries has opened.

Many South Africans viewers don't realise what this actually really means and signifies about M-Net, about Survivor, and about Survivor South Africa, produced by Afrokaans.

South Africa isn't America.

And our much-smaller TV industry - where commissioning of shows and scheduling works more like the British TV system than the American one, and less local content is produced than what gets made in the United States - doesn't really have the "luxury" of being able to announce another season of a show right at the back-end of a just completed season.

While the American Survivor on CBS has always announced the next season at the end of the reunion show, it's been virtually impossible for South Africa because these decisions for big-budget shows take much more time.

This makes what M-Net and Survivor South Africa pulled off on Thursday night when it announced Island of Secrets, extremely groundbreaking, significant and special.

During the post-show press briefing a crucial part of this puzzle, is what became my most important question to ask: When during the just completed 6th season did M-Net decide to renew the show?

Kay Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films for M-Net channels, explained that the decision was made midway during this season after analysing the ratings and viewer response.

It's incredible that M-Net was able to push to get all of the necessary paperwork and all of the must-sign-off-on's out of the way in order to make the announcement of Island of Secrets at the end of Survivor SA: Philippines.

It's a very smart and positive move, and a win-win for M-Net and for Survivor South Africa.

I would personally not be surprised if Survivor: Island of Secrets manages to get the most entries ever. Buzz builds buzz.

By announcing the next season immediately, M-Net and Survivor SA's new season can capitalise and build on the existing excitement, buzz, energy and general awareness of the programme.

It means that less effort and money needs to be spent by M-Net on marketing and publicity because the South African public and viewers know the show and haven't "forgotten" about it.

It also signals to people that M-Net remains serious about, and focused on, Survivor SA as a strong programme for the channel.

That in turn tells the media and the audience that Survivor South Africa is a programme that matters, deserves attention and is a desirable TV property to be a part of - like being a contestant in it.

Well done to M-Net for pulling off this announcement during the end of the show and everything it must have required from numerous people behind-the-scenes to get it greenlit and for the announcement to go ahead during the actual broadcast of the season finale.

The renewal announcement made Survivor SA and M-Net just that little bit more "American" in the best sense of the word - a plus for viewers, and for South Africa's local TV biz.

7th season of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets on M-Net in 2019 promises even more game-changing twists, surprises as entries open.

The entry period has opened for the new 7th season of Survivor South Africa that will be produced and broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) in 2019 with the season entitled "Island of Secrets" that will see 18 new castaways trying to outwit, outplay and outlast each other on a far-flung, exotic island locale.

M-Net renewed Survivor SA for a 7th season midway through the just-concluded 6th season that saw Tom Schwartz win, after the Philippines set season saw a 71% ratings spike for the competitive Thursday evening timeslot, and with the producers promising even more game-changing twists and surprises for next year.

Nico Panagio will once again be the host of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets that will again be produced by Afrokaans that took over production from the just-concluded 6th season that was set in the Philippines.

Survivor South Africa on M-Net is seen as such a must-watch property that the programme holds the distinction of being the only locally produced South African TV show that has its episodes being uploaded by fans to illegal torrent file-sharing sites after linear broadcast, with the latest season that was again downloaded thousands of times and watched globally far outside of the country's borders.

TVwithThinus asked Kay Ann Williams, the head of local content and independent films for M-Net channels, when during the 6th season the channel decided to renew Survivor SA for another season.

"When we saw our audience's response to it - and I don't just mean ratings, I also mean emotional engagement on social media and online, and obviously there's also the ratings - it was about halfway through when we saw that the combination of those things were extremely for Survivor South Africa and M-Net."

"This Survivor SA season proved to us that local content is really king for the audience. When they see themselves, and people like them - I think there's a part of South Africa that can identify with at one of the castaways. So the 6th season made a huge impact and it was a very easy decision to make."

"This tremendous season came about through Handrie Basson and Le Roux Botha, the series director's vision and I want to say thank you for their passion and absolute obsession with this game."

"Before Survivor SA: Philippines on Thursday evenings there were very strong international content on M-Net, and when Survivor SA came on it grew that timeslot's ratings by 71%," said Kay Ann Williams.

"So the ratings were phenomenal - it was more than what we expected, and as I've said it wasn't just the ratings, it was also the engagement of DStv subscribers and it was because of this local content on M-Net."

"Thank you for giving us excellent local content, thank you for being excellent visionaries," said Kay Ann Williams.

Handrie Basson, Survivor SA executive producer told TVwithThinus that Island of Secrets "is a secret, obviously".

"For the next season we are introducing some interesting, new, compelling elements to the show that will not only surprise the audience but moreover the castaways."

"We want to throw them curve balls - that's what this game is about, it's to keep them on their toes. And with the element of the island of secrets, the main reason behind it is to keep the game fresh - for the M-Net audience's entertainment, but also for the castaways and their game plan."

"With the firsts that unfolded on this Survivor SA: Philippines season on M-Net, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to have that as a first - not only for South Africa, but also for the world's audience," said Handrie Basson.

"Survivor is such a worldwide family, and there are so many countries that we don't even know about who are producing Survivor for their local audiences. We only sort of know of the English speaking franchises that we get to see sometimes."

About one of the castaways who decided to unexpectedly quit during this season, Handrie Basson said "when as castaway leaves unexpectedly, you need to be prepared for it. It can be a medical evacuation, it can be through their own free will, a lot of things can happen. So you build those eventualities into your planning and we plan for months ahead. So we have plan A, plan B, plan C's in place."

"Thank you to M-Net for giving us a platform to live out our passion. And for the faith in us and believing in us, and for seeing our vision and our crazy ideas through," said Handrie Basson.

Entries for Survivor SA: Island of Secrets close on 30 September at www.mnet.tv/survivorsa and no late entries will be accepted. In a change from previous seasons and moving with the times, contestants who have to be older than 18, must make and submit a video entry this time along with their photo.

A valid South African passport that expires after November 2019 is required.