''New Zealand's Got Talent'' was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show which premiered in 2008. The show was based on the ''Got Talent'' series. The show featured singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other variety performers of all ages competing for a top prize of $100,000 cash and a

Toyota RAV4 The is a compact crossover SUV produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. Considered the first ever compact crossover SUV, it made its debut in Japan and Europe in 1994, and in North America in 1995, being launched in January 19 ...

car. Three judges appear on the show each week to provide feedback for the contestants. The show originally screened on

Prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

for one series before being dropped. TV One later revived the show, with series produced in 2012 and 2013. The original line-up on Prime included Andrew Mulligan and Jason Reeves as hosts, with Miriama Smith,

Paul Ellis Brian Paul Ellis is a New Zealand record producer, talent manager, manager, and radio host. He is most known to audiences for being the former judge of ''New Zealand Idol'' and a former judge of the reality series ''New Zealand's Got Talent''. E ...

and Richard Driver as judges. After the show was revived in 2012, the show was presented by

Tāmati Coffey Tamati Gerald Coffey (born 19 September 1979) is a list Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the New Zealand Labour Party. Prior to entering Parliament, he was most notably an award-winning broadcaster fronting many shows over a decade, for ...

, with

Ali Campbell Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer of the British reggae band UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records worldwide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008, C ...

Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter (born 8 September 1969) is a New Zealand model, actress and the host of Imagination Television's ''Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty''. She has appeared on several magazine covers, including ''Vogue'', ''Elle'', ''Rolling Stone'', ' ...

, and Jason Kerrison on the judging panel. Choreographer Cris Judd replaced Campbell for the show's 2013 series.

History

In 2008, New Zealand broadcaster

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capi ...

launched a local version of the hit international show. The hosts were TV presenter Andrew Mulligan and radio host Jason Reeves, with actress Miriama Smith, former

NZ Idol ''New Zealand Idol'', also known as ''NZ Idol'', was the New Zealand version of the Idol series originated as the hit British TV series ''Pop Idol''. New Zealand first saw the ''Idol'' format when TV2 aired '' American Idol 2'', which garnered i ...

judge

and television producer and presenter Richard Driver as judges. The series had a top prize of NZ$100,000. The first episode went on air on 8 September 2008. Despite good ratings for the network, Prime was unable to outrun costs and decided not to renew the series for another season. In 2012,

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

bought the rights to the series and on 9 September season 2 premiered on TV One, with

as the host, and model

Opshop Opshop is a New Zealand rock band who formed in 2002. They released their first album, '' You Are Here'' in 2004, their second album ''Second Hand Planet'' in 2007, and their third album '' Until The End of Time'', which debuted at number one on ...

singer-songwriter Jason Kerrison and

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...

frontman

judging.

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was confirmed to be the foundation partner. TVNZ confirmed a third series would be produced in 2013. Tāmati Coffey returned as host, and Jason Kerrison and Rachel Hunter returned as judges, joined by American choreographer

Cris Judd Cristan Lee Judd (born 1968-1970) is an American actor, dancer, and choreographer known for his brief marriage to Jennifer Lopez. Dance career At age 21, Judd became interested in dance. Within a year, he switched jobs and began dancing prof ...

. In 2014 TVNZ confirmed that a fourth series of the show would not be produced that year, with the network instead putting its resources towards producing a local version of cooking show ''My Kitchen Rules''. Since 2014, New Zealand contestants have been on

Australia's Got Talent ''Australia's Got Talent'' is an Australian reality television talent show. The show is based on the ''Got Talent'' series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell. The first six seasons aired on the Seven Network, from 2 ...

, such as in 2019.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1

The series began on 8 September 2008 on

and ended on 29 October 2008. It was produced by

South Pacific Pictures South Pacific Pictures is a New Zealand television production company. The company produces drama series, mini-series, telemovies and feature films for the domestic market and international market. SPP's largest property is ''Shortland Street'' ...

. Starting 29 September, the live semi-finals started aired on Monday nights, with the results show on Tuesday nights. The top two finalists were dancer Chaz Cummings and musical group TMC, with Chaz Cummings eventually becoming the winner of the first series of ''New Zealand's Got Talent''.

Series 2

Series two ran from 9 September 2012 and ended on 2 December 2012. Episodes were pre-recorded and broadcast on Sunday evenings at 7.30pm. In February 2012,

announced that a new local version of the show was in the early stages of production and would screen on TV One. Broadcast funding agency

NZ On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission oper ...

committed to $1.6 million in funding to the new show. The series was hosted by

, with

, and Jason Kerrison as the judges. The series was won by 15-year-old singer-songwriter Clara van Wel from Blenheim who performed her own song "Where Do You Find Love?". 11-year-old singer Jessie Hillel from Wellington was the runner-up, with 17-year-old singer-songwriter Evan Sinton from Auckland in third place.

Series 3

In November 2012,

confirmed the show would return for a third series in 2013. Applications for the 2013 series also opened in November. Series three premiered on 15 September 2013. Host Tamai Coffey and judges Rachel Hunter and Jason Kerrison returned to the series, with choreographer Cris Judd replacing Ali Campbell on the judging panel.

funded $800,000 towards the series, a 50% reduction from the 2012 series production. NZ On Air noted that any future series would not be eligible for funding.

References

External links

Official Facebook profileOfficial page at TVNZ
{{Got Talent 2008 New Zealand television series debuts 2008 New Zealand television series endings 2012 New Zealand television series debuts 2013 New Zealand television series endings Got Talent New Zealand reality television series New Zealand music television series Prime (New Zealand TV channel) original programming Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series by South Pacific Pictures TVNZ 1 original programming New Zealand television series based on British television series