Influencers Take On The Excessive Seas In OFTV’s New Actuality Present ‘Reel Rivals’

Social media stars are swapping filters for fishing rods in “Reel Rivals,” the newest actuality competitors present streaming on OFTV.

Produced by outside creator Isla Moon, the sequence brings collectively a number of the web’s most recognizable influencers for a high-stakes fishing problem not like some other.

Described as a mixture between “Love Island Video games,” “Too Sizzling to Deal with,” and Nat Geo’s “Fish My Metropolis,” however with out the male gaze or pointless drama, the aim of “Reel Rivals” is easy: outfish the competitors and declare the $20,000 grand prize.

Among the many contestants vying for the title of final fishing champion are Ara Bozorgian (2.1M Instagram followers), Bryce Adams (1.3M followers), and Dan Dangler (1.6M followers), who will battle it out aboard a luxurious yacht in Miami.

The twist? None of them are skilled anglers. With zero fishing expertise, they need to navigate unpredictable challenges, reeling in the whole lot from sharks to mahi mahi, all whereas proving that influencer-led content material is altering the fact TV panorama.

“I needed to take fashions who’re tremendous polished on Instagram and throw them someplace the place they’ll get down and soiled,” Moon completely instructed The Blast. “As fashions, we’re always filtering the whole lot that we publish, so I needed to push a unique narrative and present that there are different aspects to creators. We simply don’t discover it sufficient.”

With so many courting exhibits on the market already full of “over-scripted” and “repetitive” relationship drama, Isla needed to attempt to “create the identical drama by means of competitors and high-pressure conditions.”

“You’d see that a whole lot of instances on actuality exhibits like ‘Wipeout,’ which has impediment programs and is a really physical-based competitors,” she instructed The Blast. “I personally love these sorts of exhibits and watching folks get wrecked a bit of bit. It is type of humorous. I really feel like I am making a present that I need to watch. I do know from my fan base that individuals actually like watching fishing, so I needed to throw a bunch of individuals in that setting and see what occurs.”

In regard to scripting, Isla confirmed they “determined to not script something and run with what occurs.” On set, if one thing occurred through the competitions, they might “let it trip out.”

“Clearly, we’ve got our define of how the present is structured, however through the modifying course of, the story editors would look over all of the footage and give you a narrative for every individual based mostly on what truly occurred,” she defined. “It’s more durable, however it’s refreshing. It comes off tremendous personable.”

So why influencers? Nicely, Isla stated it is as a result of “we are sometimes misunderstood, however we all know what our audiences need.”

“Creators and influencers add a complete completely different perspective. They’re very attention-grabbing folks,” she instructed The Blast. “Via working with all of those folks on the present, I noticed how multifaceted they’re. There’s a lot to them, and so they’re greater than actors. They already need to be on-line and share their persona, versus actuality stars who be part of these exhibits [whose] focus is completely different.”

Isla additional defined how being a creator influenced the best way she approached producing the brand new actuality present, explaining that due to her ardour, she is aware of what her viewers is in search of.

“I knew that if I needed to base a present on influencers, I needed to present them on the social media aspect of issues,” she stated. “I additionally knew I needed to enchantment to influencers, in order that’s why having a social media presence for the present was a giant precedence. It makes a present much more partaking, and it’s one thing that’s lacking from some actuality TV. It’s worthwhile to type your neighborhood.”

Her ardour for filming performed a key position all through the manufacturing course of. With a robust understanding of digital camera work, she supplied enter on efficient angles, visually interesting pictures, and the very best gear to make use of. She additionally knew find out how to talk these concepts to the director of pictures.

Past filming, her expertise prolonged to post-production, the place she was capable of determine key components and supply clear course through the modifying course of.

Lots of the forged and crew initially fashioned their impressions of Isla by means of her social media presence, the place she is thought for her playful and lighthearted persona. Nonetheless, they had been quickly shocked by her skill to modify gears and take a extra skilled, business-minded strategy when obligatory.

One of many largest challenges she confronted was defining her internet hosting type. Over the course of the season, she regularly discovered her footing, evolving from a content material creator right into a assured host.

One other huge problem?  “Ensuring we had fish every time was a giant problem, particularly when there have been days that had been too wavy,” she admitted. “And we’d must fish within the intercoastal space in Florida. We’d be questioning if we even have an episode.”

“Whereas fishing in the future, one of many contestants caught a very huge barracuda, however then an angler who is thought to everybody in Florida as Mark The Shark got here by on his boat and rode over our line, and it obtained caught, and we misplaced the fish,” Isla teased. “We had been all screaming at one another. One of the best half was that his child drew an image of the occasion and Mark despatched it to us. It was hilarious.”

“Reel Rivals” not solely delivers high-stakes competitors but in addition showcases the rising affect of creator-led actuality TV,

“That is undoubtedly solely the beginning,” she stated of the way forward for creator-driven actuality competitors. “The movie business underestimates influencers in relation to casting us in stuff. Creators will be a part of the forged members, however they’ve quite a bit to supply behind the scenes as nicely in relation to making choices on the artistic aspect of issues. It provides a complete new perspective.”

She continued, “Even a number of the editors from our present who’ve been doing this for many years, had been saying how refreshing it was for them. Additionally, not everybody goes to be the very best actor, but when you concentrate on the advertising and marketing aspect of issues, it is tremendous cool to have individuals who have an viewers to advertise your present. We’re getting a whole lot of traction based mostly on simply having all of those folks we are able to cross-promote with.”

Isla emphasised how excited she is to see how the “response morphs because the present progresses and at the same time as I’m going on to work on future initiatives.”

“Proper now, there’s some resistance, and a few folks suppose I’m leaving the influencer aspect of issues and leaving them behind,” she added. “However hopefully, quickly, they’ll see that the purpose is to morph each of them collectively.”

And, with a $20,000 money prize on the road, how aggressive did issues actually get? “It was virtually extra of an ego competitors than concerning the money prize,” Isla instructed The Blast. “Everybody needed to be in as many episodes as they might. There’s some spicy rivalry between the man versus woman episode, although.”