Britannia to star on UKTV’s Battlechefs show
Marco Pierre
White is set to judge the cooking skills of
celebrities including Alex James and Keith Duffy in competitive new
travelling cookery show set at sea. P&O Cruises newest ship Britannia is to
be the star of Battlechefs, from award-winning television network UKTV.
P&O Cruises is
teaming up with Spark Media to bring the show to its flagship entertainment
channel Watch. The show will see ten amateur
celebrity chefs including Alex James (Blur), Keith Duffy (Boyzone)
and John Partridge (EastEnders) board Britannia and take
it in turns to command the kitchen. Their talents will be
judged by British celebrity chef and P&O Cruises Food
Hero Marco Pierre White.
Filmed over two Mediterranean cruises on Britannia,
each itinerary will be host to its own self-contained competition
featuring five celebrities, who will each assume the role of head chef
and prepare a meal for the Captain and his VIP guests. In each
episode, we follow the untrained chefs as the ship sails from
port to port they discover charming and captivating stories about
each location and the food that is grown and produced locally.
Using the new cooking
techniques they’ve learnt, they will each try to impress the Captain
with their skills. Their competitors will help prepare the
meal, but as they also get a chance to score each
other, will they play tactically as they fight it
out to become Battlechefs Champion?
The new series was
ordered by Dave General Manager, Steve North. In partnership
with P&O Cruises, the show was brokered by UKTV’s
Director of Commercial Partnerships, Sally Quick, Spark Media Partner
founders Mark Baker and Steve Havers and
P&O Cruises Marketing Director, Christopher Edgington.
UKTV Commissioning Editor Victoria
Summer commented, “Travel, food and healthy competition come together in Battlechefs.
It’s an energetic show which centres on challenge and
good-hearted rivalry, which sits perfectly alongside Watch viewer
favourites such as the hugely
popular Masterchef Australia. Seeing whether our celebs can pull
off the menus they’re given against the clock is going to be very
entertaining.”
P&O Cruises marketing director
Christopher Edgington said, “We are very excited to be making Battlechefs on
Britannia. Watch provides an ideal audience to encourage newcomers to cruising
and will showcase our food ethos. Our cookery school on board provides the
perfect backdrop for the show as the celebrities prepare speciality dishes
from around the Med."
UKTV’s Sally Quick
added, “We’re very excited to be announcing our first
advertiser-funded programme for Watch. We work within the
commissioning team to keep the brands really close to the action of making
brilliant, must-watch TV. We are delighted to be working with P&O
Cruises and Spark Media on this project, they both really understand how to
make great content.”
Spark Media’s Mark
Baker said, “Battlechefs is part travelogue and part game
show. It’s a TV hybrid that features celebs who are passionate about
food. They’ll be on Britain’s biggest cruise liner as it tours the Med in the
world’s first floating cookery competition.”
Battlechefs will
air on Watch in 2016. It joins a raft of new content coming
to the channel including Singing in the
Rainforest, starring well-known celebrities
including Myleene Klass and the Happy Mondays, Nigel
Marvin’s Cruise Ship Adventures, which travels to some of the
world’s most exotic locations discoveringincredible wildlife and
top rating US acquisition Secrets and Lies.
About P&O Cruises
P&O
Cruises has a fleet of eight ships offering holidays tailored to British tastes
combining genuine service, a sense of occasion and attention to detail,
ensuring passengers have the holiday of a lifetime, every time. Azura was
launched in April 2010 – officially named by Godmother Darcey Bussell CBE.
Small ship Adonia was added to the fleet in May 2011, named by Dame Shirley
Bassey, DBE. Britannia, a new 141,000 ton ship, was named by HM The Queen on March
10, 2015.
For further press
information please contact:-
Michele Andjel, michele.andjel@carnivalukgroup.com 023 8065 6653 / 07730 732 072
Jenny Hadley, jenny.hadley@pocruises.com
023 8065 6650 / 07825 120 088
