Tropika Island of Treasure 3 will premiers on e.TV on 20 February at 18:30. (Let's hope the treasure is a dictionary.)

If they can't even spell, how simply awesome do you think the television is going to be that they're making?

Well, Tropika Island of Treasure 3 will ''premiers'' on ''e.TV'' on the 20th Feb at 18:30 (wow, six words after ''e.TV'' in a row and no spelling mistakes. Record?).

Of course I haven't been invited to the launch in about two weeks time where the press will hobnob with the D-listers (those who decide to maybe show up this time) who's being sold to the gullable media as ''some new reality stars''. The press will get the chance to interview them after watching the ''premier episode'' (their spelling, not mine) and heat magazine will probably have breathless coverage (oh, but wait. heat magazine is the print partner.)

Of course to see how really truly awfully bad this advertiser-funded production (AFP) on e.tv - oops, I mean e.TV - will probably be, we'll have to wait for it to premiers on 20 Feb at 18:30.

ALSO READ: How Tropika Island of Treasure couldn't spell during the SECOND season in 2009

BREAKING. Is e.tv and Tropika Island of Treasure 3 going to get Heat for choosing someone from TVPlus as a contestant?

You're reading it here first.

Let's call this ballooning TV disaster the epic cluster ''you-know-what'' that its becoming: e.tv and the brand agency Stimulii willingly and knowingly including the assistant news editor (who covers reality TV shows) of TVPlus magazine as seemingly one of the ''normal'' contestants in Clover's brand-hyping Tropika Island of Treasure 3 reality show. Leaving the glossy gossip mag Heat! which is a fierce competitor, possibly forced to cover a show that has a contestant from a rival magazine in it!

I broke the news RIGHT HERE yesterday about Stimulii and e.tv who chose Clayton Morar, TVPlus assistant news editor, celebrity hunter, and reality TV writer as one of its 7 ''normal contestants'' out of the apparently thousands of South Africans who SMS'ed and MXit'ed to enter and who will be taking part in the next Tropika brand-infused installment of Tropika Island of Treasure 3 that starts shooting next week in Phuket, Thailand. Stimulii sees absolutely no conflict of interest with including this contestant. E.tv is also eerily silent on all media enquiries (as if the show is only on its schedule and has nothing personally to do with them) and one can only wonder whether e.tv's chief operating officer Bronwyn Keene-Young is aware, or at all concerned, about how damaging this kind of seemingly inappropriate behaviour is to the e.tv brand.

''Not that show again,'' sighed a print media insider at a newspaper who then laughed in disbelief, when I broke the news yesterday that Clayton Morar has been included as one of the ''normal everyday'' 7 contestants, together with 7 celebrities like Khanyi Mbau, Loyiso Gola and the former Miss SA Tatum Keshwar (who's also, yes, co-incidentally, happens to be a longtime personal friend of the contestant in question). Besides the apparently extremely compromising position that TVPlus magazine is placed in regarding how it might be covering this show (should it choose to do so) in which an editorial member is a contestant and which involves potential personal monetary gain, is the even worse way in which e.tv and Stimulii will now unintentionally be playing TVPlus and Heat! magazines off against each other. Why? Stimulii confirmed that its chosen Heat! as the official media partner. And yes, the situation becomes even more unbelievable.

Heat!'s current news editor Andre Neveling is becoming TVPlus' new editor from December. Will Heat! have to write and (directly or indirectly by implication) give a competitor at rival TVPlus exposure? Unthinkable. ''We became aware of Mr Morar's job while doing a telephonic interview with him to determine if his entry was valid and he met all our competition requirement [sic],'' says Samantha Moon, Stimulii director in answer to a media enquiry. ''We absolutely do not believe a conflict of interest exists. The definition of a conflict of interest, requires that someone benefits unduly. This is not the case here,'' Samantha Moon says.

Like, say, hobnobbing with celebrities and building future relationships in the showbiz and TV industry that can further careers for both sides? Like getting access to celebrity gossip and first-hand tete-a-tete's while working at a media outlet that generates money out of exactly that very ethereal asset? While Samantha Moon says ''we have a media partner on this campaign, Heat! We will not do or cause to be done, anything that could jeopardize our media partnership,'' sadly this is exactly what appears to is happening.

Tropika Island of Treasure 3 will start on e.tv in February. It would appear that neither Stimulii or e.tv, nor the contestant, nor whoever all okay'ed this, has/had any idea or gave any real thought to all of the compounding, and incredibly sensitive macro implications to all the various roleplayers involved. Once again, what is essentially a brand marketing campaign on TV trying to buy a measured treasure of goodwill, is in my opinion making all the wrong choices.

ALSO READ: e.tv's Tropika Island of Treasure 3 involved in dubious contestant selection.

BREAKING. e.tv and Tropika Island of Treasure 3 involved in dubious contestant selection for terrible tropi-trash show.

You're reading it here first.

e.tv and Stimulii are involved in seemingly highly unethical behaviour regarding contestant selection for the new season of the downright horrible advertiser funded show Tropika Island of Treasure 3 in which one of the chosen contestants - ''selected from the hundreds of thousands of entries submitted either by SMS, MXit or on the Tropika Island of Treasure website'' according to the organizers - just happens to be not only a TV magazine writer, with a celebrity blog, with a radio slot, but also has a family member who have done marketing and promotion work for Tropika and for this exact specific branded show.

The organizers make it to allegedly appear as if Clayton Morar who works at TVPlus magazine has been randomly ''chosen'' as one of the seven seemingly normal contestants out of thousands to take part in the crass product placement heavy, extended brand integration TV show. The shill production aimed at trying to advertise Clover's Tropika brand is more infomercial than so-called ''reality show'' and will be filmed in Phuket from next week which could be an indication of why the specific contestant selection was made: pandering publicity. Even if Clayton Morar really were randomly chosen, he should have been disqualified by e.tv and Stimulii because of a blatant and very obvious conflict of interest when this was discovered. It wasn't done. And the consumer magazine TVPlus - in what way does it compromise its integrity because its reality TV writer who has to cover all reality shows seemingly fairly and objectively is suddenly in one himself?

Tropika Island of Treasure 3 will be broadcast on e.tv from February 2011. It seems to appear in a very distateful way, that e.tv, Clover, Tropika and brand agency Stimulii inserted Clayton Morar into the show hoping for much more free mileage, publicity and exposure for this absolutely terrible tropi-trash production.

This is inherently the danger: When broadcasters like e.tv allow, condone and simply go along with utterly dubious production practices like this, it shows how desperate broadcasters - when they get into bed and allow advertisers funded shows on their schedules, start to lose not only control over productions, but also their own brand integrity.

UPDATE 13:00 Thursday 11 November: Stimulii director Samantha Moon responds as follows on my media enquiry: ''I am unable to speak for e.tv but can speak for the process. A large number of entrants were received. A random amount were selected, these potential contestants were evaluated to ensure that they met our entry requirements as stated in our terms and conditions. From these the 7 final contestants were selected. Mr Morar, and all 6 our other public contestants entered the competition via an accepted means of entry and were selected randomly.''

BREAKING. e.tv heading to Thailand with Tropika for more low-class ad-funded television.

Scarier than a bomb scare at e.tv (like what happened last week) is the broadcaster's relentless pursuit to tarnish its image by continuing to dump advertiser-funded faux programming fare on its schedule like Tropika Island of Treasure 3 of which the next sad bunch of sell-out contestants are now known.

The D-list gaggle damaging their reputations for the sake of money when e.tv turns over its precious airtime to Tropika for yet antoher TV marketing exercise does include a celebrity A-lister in the form of Khanyi Mbau (who frankly don't care about reputation) and a B-lister in the form of former Miss SA Tatum Keshwar (what is she thinking?).

Also on the show that will be filmed in Puket, Thailand towards the end of the year is a motley group who don't quite crack invites to Madiba's birthday party but is obviously good enough for Tropika and e.tv. Rounding out the group of seven in this year's Tropika Island of Treasure 3 is Bonang Matheba, Dionne Song, JR (no, not the one who got shot in Dallas), Loyiso Gola (and this isn't one of his jokes) and Afrikaans singer Snotkop.