Sammy Gallford (42) may soon become the first ex-Travel Agent to change the landscape of Australian television forever, after successfully pitching an agent-based TV show to major networks across the country.
The new show, titled The Novice, will take its form and inspiration from the hit Nine Network television series The Apprentice Australia, starring Australian economic royalty Mark Bouris, the founder and chairman of Wizard ‘of Oz’ Home Loans and ‘follow the’ Yellow Brick Road.
In the proposed show, 12 novice Travel Agents will compete against each other for 10 weeks in a bid to win a handsome cash prize of over $25,000 in Coles Myer vouchers* (*Conditions apply).
Could these agents be the next top Novice? or are they they already legends? Probably.
According to an inside source, three major Aussie networks have thrown their oversized bucket hats in the bidding ring, each vying to gain the exclusive rights to the first ever travel agent-focused TV show in Australian television history.
(That’s if talk of a new “I’m a Travel Agent – Get me out or here!” TV show turn out to be nothing more than rumours.)
If The Novice gets picked up, the show’s producers are expected to make contact with leading travel agencies around the country to ask for hand-picked novice recommendations to join the show.
Eligible novices will be those that have between three and six months of experience under their belts by the time the show begins production (expected in November) and must have or had a bit of ‘a thing’ for corporate dreamboat, Mark Bouris.
Source: News.com.au
In an exclusive but crackly phone conversation, Sammy Gallford, the creator of the show, spoke with KarryOn and told us how he came up with the idea:
“Having previously worked as a Travel Agent before moving into TV, I know how bloody tough those first few months can be as a novice. It’s a massive learning curve, and as much as novices say they like to help each other, we all know that’s not true. There’s totally a secret attitude of ‘i’m going to smash you’ going on between most of them. That was my vibe anyway”.
“So that’s when I thought about pitching a TV show to my boss about a show based on The Apprentice, but with Travel Agents instead of entrepreneurs. I thought, why not get agents to battle it out against each other on screen? It’ll make awesome viewing with a ton of tears and tantrums, and hopefully make me loads of cash. I reckon it’s genius”.
Source: harbourair.com
Each week during the show, according to Gallford, novices will compete in a range of challenges designed to test their skill, patience and resourcefulness, such as timed challenges on constructing Lufthansa RTW fares, Galileo command quizzes, highest email conversation competitions, staying sober at an industry event and many more. Whether or not they will have to wear fancy dress remains to be seen.
Novices that fail to deliver during the challenges will have one last chance to prove their worth to the Australian travel industry before facing up to the boss. If they still fail to impress, they’ll hear a catch phrase that’s expected to be a hit amongst agents around the country: “You’re negged.”
Details on who will host the show are a little sketchy at the moment, but names such as Graham “Skroo” Turner and Penny Spencer have been heard floating around.
Have you heard any updates on Australia’s first Travel Agent reality TV show The Novice? Let us know in the comments below…
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a KarryOn Comedy article and is obviously satire. It should in no way be taken seriously, unless you want to that is.