Before they exchange their vows, 16 soon-to-be-wed couples will race, strategize -- and in short, battle it out for a fantasy primetime wedding -- in the new NBC reality series “Race to the Altar,” it was announced today by Jeff Gaspin, Executive Vice President, Alternative Series, Longform and Program Strategy, NBC Entertainment.

ADVERTISEMENT


The one-hour, eight-episode series will be filmed on location, and is slated to premiere in Spring or Summer 2003.

The couples will face a variety of challenges designed to test the key points of marriage - teamwork, compatibility, compromise, sex, trust, honesty and coping under pressure. They will also be thrust into unpredictable situations where their fate will be decided by how they react and cope together as a team.

In the second-to-last episode, the audience will vote interactively to determine the ultimate winning couple with the actual wedding to be conducted in the final episode.

“This is a reality show that will take the trials and tribulations of preparing for a wedding and push it to the limit,” said Gaspin. “Here we have 16 couples who feel they’re ready to commit to one another for better or for worse. I think it will be quite telling how those relationships hold up under the strain of the challenges we’ll throw at them.”

"We're excited to be teaming with a network that has a tremendous track record in developing and sustaining successful reality series," said Bob Horowitz, TWI Senior Vice President. "The advantage here with NBC is the fact they already have a strong viewer following on the topic of relationships and marriage through their ‘Today’ show weddings."

“Race to the Altar” is from NBC Studios and TWI. The executive producer for TWI is Bob Horowitz.

Discuss this news story on our message boards