Bigg Boss producer Banijay Asia’s new reality show to send contestants into space

Banijay Asia, part of Banijay Entertainment, a content producing company, is teaming up with the Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), an agency to build global community for space exploration and research, to create a reality show. The show will search across India and other countries to find six individuals who will get the chance to travel into space.

Mrinalini Jain, group chief development officer at Banijay Asia and EndemolShine India, says that while Banijay has produced major reality shows such as Bigg Boss and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi, this show is a significant challenge for the company. The aim is to convince the people of India that the platform offers a genuine opportunity for them to come, compete, and win a chance to visit space.

SERA’s spaceflight programme will provide six seats on New Shepard, Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket. It will take the chosen candidates on an 11-minute trip beyond the Kármán line (100 km), which is the internationally recognised boundary of space.

Any Indian citizen can register for the programme by paying a fee of ~$2.50 (Rs 200) to cover the costs of verification checks that ensure safe and fair voting. The final six candidates will be voted on by the public for an opportunity to fly to space onboard the New Shepard mission. They will arrive three days before the flight for training at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas.

This announcement builds on SERA’s recent news announcing India as a partner nation for their human spaceflight programme aimed at allowing citizens from countries with few or no astronauts to travel into space.

Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, shares that SERA has developed the human spaceflight programme in collaboration with Blue Origin, which engaged with countries that have had few or no astronauts. They found that over 150 countries globally fit this description.

“We intend to change this by providing access to individuals from these countries and globally, enabling them to participate in human spaceflight. It has always been a dream for people to know that they have the opportunity to travel to space, participate in the programme, and return home with a transformative experience to share. Working with Banijay Asia, which has a proven track record in production and storytelling, will help us realise this crucial component of our space mission,” he says.

“It’s something unheard of, a dream we all share but often don’t even know how to begin. Every time we've witnessed launches or space exploration in India over the past few months, they’ve been among the most viewed events in the country, which shows the strong interest people have in this. We believe we can leverage the authenticity and credibility of SERA's mission and enhance it with the power of media and entertainment. We aim to align with the nation's narrative and contribute to its efforts in space and exploration,” Jain states.

Sam Hutchison, co-founder of SERA, shares that the team will also be running a science experiment competition, allowing students and researchers in India to propose ideas that the public can then vote on. He emphasises that there is a strong STEM and engineering component to everything they do, which will be reflected in the show. He adds that this is not just a first-of-its-kind show for India but also for the world.

Jain believes that when viewers realise that the show offers them a chance to dream of going to space, it will undoubtedly elicit a strong reaction from the public, though the exact nature of that reaction remains to be seen.

Integrating brands

As of now, Banijay Asia is in talks with several brands to partner with the show, and Jain says that the brand names will be formally announced soon. Skurla adds that there’s an opportunity for sponsors to join in and be part of this moment when multiple people achieve a nation's first or second astronaut milestone.

“We see interest and believe there are brands that demonstrate global leadership and understand the transformative power of this mission. The door is open, especially through our global relationships, and we have already engaged with several corporations capable of contributing to this endeavour,” he adds.

As the show revolves around the cutting-edge concept of space travel, it naturally lends itself to a forward-thinking approach not just in content, but in how it's marketed and experienced by the audience using augmented reality (AR) or immersive ad formats.

Hutchison explains that the team is exploring various options for advertising. There’s a user-generated content (UGC) component in the first phase of selections, where participants will be given a profile as candidates and encouraged to create social media content—or any kind of content, to promote their campaign, get people to sign up, and vote.

“New technologies are part of the portfolio of options we're considering to create engaging and eye-catching content. We want everyone to watch and sign up—this is so much more than just a TV show. We’re aiming for the largest and broadest audience possible,” he says.