VietNamNet Bridge – Dancing with the Stars, Clash of the Choirs, Vietnam’s Got Talent and Vietnam’s Next Top Model are among reality shows on the national television system Vietnam Television or VTV.

This is the time of reality shows in Vietnam. Most of them are world famous programs and brought to Vietnam by media firms and TV broadcasters.

VTV has just announced to produce two more reality shows – The Amazing Race and The Voice.

VTV and BHD Star Cinema have bought the copyright from the Disney Media Distribution to bring ‘The Amazing Race’, a world popular reality show, to Vietnam.  The show has been broadcast for 20 seasons in the US and won 8 consecutive Emmy Awards.

A total of 10 teams, each comprising 2 contestants, will take part in the Vietnamese edition. They will have to race through different popular tourism attractions in 11 provinces across the country using a variety of transportation modes, including cars, motorbikes, ships and boats.

Teams are progressively eliminated until three are left. The winning team will receive a cash prize of VND300 million.

The 13 episode-show will be on air from May 18 to August 10 and BHD will start recruiting contestants in mid-March.

“The voice,” an original Dutch singing talent search, will also hit Vietnamese television this April, featuring top local music stars as its judges and coaches.

The singing show which took US television by storm last year with an estimated 11.78 million viewers will have top singers Dam Vinh Hung and Ho Ngoc Ha as its first two judges for its premier season in Vietnam.

The rest of the judging panel includes Thu Minh and Tran Lap, of whom the first is a well-known pop ballad and dance singer, and the latter is the front man of the veteran rock band “Buc tuong” (The Wall).

Premiered on April 26, 2011, on the America’s NBC television network, “The Voice” is an American reality talent show based on the reality singing competition “The Voice of Holland”, a series created by Dutch television producer John de Mol and produced by Mark Burnett.

The Vietnamese adaptation of “The voice” will start recruiting contestants on March 20 and conclude on December 16, 2012.

The series will be broadcast on national channel VTV3 with 17 episodes.

Most recently, “Clash of the Choirs,” a Swedish reality show whose format has been purchased in 14 countries around the world has just come to Vietnam under the name “Hop Ca Tranh Tai.”

The show, held by VTV and BHD Multimedia Company, sees the participation of top Vietnamese singers including Siu Black, Phuong Thanh, My Le, Phan Dinh Tung, Duc Tuan, Ngoc Anh, and Khanh Linh, who lead seven 16-18-piece choirs, formed by talented voices chosen from the artists’ hometowns. The singers themselves will select members and train their teams for the 4 month long competition.

Different from other reality shows, “Clash of the Choirs” does not have a panel of judges. Instead, the audience will decide the result.

The highest prize--VND500million in cash, together with all the money that audiences use to vote for their favorite choir, will be donated to charity activities to be completed by the winning team.

The show has been broadcast live on VTV3 every Friday from February 24.

Dancing with the Stars is returning this weekend, with the third season. This show attracted large numbers of viewers in the two previous seasons because it had the participation of many famous artists.

The ongoing Vietnam’s Got Talent, the first season, is now a “hot spot” on VTV. The show is now in the semi-final round.

In late 2011, “Cap Doi Hoan Hao,” the Vietnamese version of “Just the Two of US” was a great hit. The show also had the presence of many celebrities.

However, some people say that these shows will gradually lose their attractiveness because the audience will be fed up with seeing the same celebrities in these shows.

Actor Quach Ngoc Ngoan and singer Ngoc Anh was an outstanding pair in “Just the Two of Us” 2011. Now Ngoc Ngoan is preparing for the Dancing with the Stars 2012 while Ngoc Anh is competing in Clash of the Choirs.

Singer Siu Black was a competitor in Dancing with the Stars 2010 and then the judge of Just the Two of Us 2011, Vietnam Idol 2011 and she is now a contestant of Clash of the Choirs.

In addition, when these reality shows are brought to Vietnam, their quality is not assured.

It is a challenge for producers to keep the audience with their shows for a long time.

Nam Nguyen