Netflix is jumping, climbing, and swinging into the reality TV world. According to the Hollywood Reporter, this Friday February 24th on Netflix, Ultimate Beastmaster will go live. In Netflix binge-watching style, all 10 episodes will premiere at once, per Variety.
Ultimate Beastmaster is Netflix’s first reality-style competition series and will be headed by executive producers Sylvester Stallone and Dave Broome, reports Variety. It features 108 contestants from 6 different countries (18 contestants from each): the United States, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, and Japan. According to Variety, each hour-long episode will focus on a pair of Beastmaster hopefuls from each of the six countries as they attempt to work their way through the assorted challenges and obstacles of The Beast.
There will be six different versions of Ultimate Beastmaster based on location in order to give viewers from each country a feature on the contestants from their own nation. Each version of Beastmaster will also be distinguished by their different hosts: Terry Crews and Charissa Thompson from the U.S., Anderson Silva and Rafinha Bastos of Brazil, Seo Kyung Suk and Park Kyeong Rim from South Korea, Ines Sainz and Luis Ernesto Franco from Mexico, Hans Sarpei and Luke Mockridge of Germany, and Sayaka Akimoto and Yuji Kondo from Japan.
Beastmaster can be compared to an international version of Ninja Warrior, which has had varying iterations in Japan, the United States, and the U.K. as well as a team version. Most recently, NBC has aired the American Ninja Warrior All Star special.
The new colossal obstacle course is 600 feet long, extremely physically demanding, and dubbed “The Beast.” To be crowned “Beastmaster” not only to complete the obstacle course, but also to finish with the fastest time. Then after nine winners are decided from the first nine episodes, they must all compete in the final episode for the champion title of Ultimate Beastmaster.
Ultimate Beastmaster is one project that strengthens the international appeal and audience for Netflix. The Hollywood Reporter reports that such a globally ambitious show has only become possible in recent years, since Netflix’s international push and especially since growth from 2010 to the present.
The Beastmaster trailer calls The Beast a “monstrosity of an obstacle course,” and could possibly be even more extreme than obstacles seen on Ninja Warrior shows. The first season of Ultimate Beastmaster will appear this Friday the 24th on Netflix, but even if you binge watch it all before Saturday morning, The Hollywood Reporter states that the second season has already been ordered and filmed with a mysterious new set of countries from which the contestants hail.