RTL Hungary has become the first international broadcaster to commission a local adaptation of A.S.S – Anti Survival Show, the Dutch reality format from Signal.Stream and John de Mol’s Talpa Studios. Announced on the second day of MIPCOM, the order is for 12 episodes, to be produced next May at the format’s international production hub in Greece.
The show inverts the survival genre. Twelve contestants compete for comfort on a luxury yacht, while anyone who loses a physical challenge is sent to a bare beach where the basics are hard and the yacht’s luxuries stay in view. Staying aboard is never secure: strategy, manipulation and betrayal can push a player back to the beach. The remaining contestants fight for a cash prize in the finale.
What RTL bought
The Hungarian commission is the first sale outside the format’s home footprint. The original was produced for NET5 and Kijk.nl in the Netherlands and for Streamz in Belgium, where it has already been recommissioned for a second season. A US version is in development with B17 Entertainment, which plans to pitch it to broadcasters and streamers.
Sebastian van Barneveld, director of global distribution at Talpa Studios, called the order “an important milestone”. The format’s selling point, he said, is its “flexibility”.
Why this matters for buyers
For media planners and programming teams, the commission is a useful case study in what makes a format travel:
- Two scheduling gears. Talpa offers a stripped daily version and a weekly, story arc-driven version, so the same IP can fit very different slots.
- A shared production hub. The Greece set-up is pitched as “high-quality, cost-efficient production,” in van Barneveld’s words, answering location and budget questions early.
- Recommission proof. The second season in Belgium signals the format held an audience rather than merely launched.
The seller’s takeaway
For format distributors, the lesson is structural before it is creative. Two versions of one format lower a buyer’s risk, because the same title can serve a daytime stripped block or a weekly primetime arc. A central production hub removes the next objection—where to shoot and what it will cost.
The next signal is the US. B17 Entertainment’s pitch to broadcasters and streamers will show whether the luxury-versus-survival inversion travels beyond Europe, or whether it works best in markets where the original already has momentum.
Source: C21media
