October 8, 2013
Friday Night Is Whanau Night on Maori Television
Maori Television is taking viewers back to an era of light entertainment with WHANAU FACTOR, a new family game show premiering on Friday, October 18 at 8.00pm.
The 13-part series hosted by Matai Smith (Best Presenter Entertainment/Factual at the New Zealand Television Awards 2012) mixes key elements from successful overseas game shows with old-fashioned Maori humour and a dash of family rivalry.
Each week, team leaders Robynleigh Cowan-Emery and Parata Berryman will join a family pair in a series of challenges
that will test their general knowledge, mental prowess and Maori language skills over three rounds in the hope of
winning a jackpot of fantastic prizes.
Challenges include Out of Time, which takes contestants back to different periods in history; Family Whispers; Listen to Me, which tests the teams’ understanding of commands in te reo Maori, and a look through the pop culture archives for What The #Tag Are You Kids Watching?
The winning family pair then has the opportunity to win a truckload of household appliances, entertainment gear, as well
as camping and lifestyle equipment – all supplied by U Buy.
Contestants came from far and wide to represent their whanau and take part in the studio-based game show, which is
produced by the award-winning Scottie Productions and sponsored by Te Wananga O Aotearoa.
In the first episode, Raewynne Murray (Weymouth) and her aunty-in-law Kathy Thomas (Atatu North) take on the
mother-daughter combo of Riparata and Lineni Tuitupou (Papatoetoe) to compete for $4000 worth of prizes.
Strap yourself in for a rib-tickling half-hour of television that pits family against family in WHANAU FACTOR, starting Friday October 18 at 8.00pm.
BILLINGS:
Episode One: October 18
A mother of nine and her youngest daughter take on an aunty and niece in this new studio-based family game show. The
first game is set in 1841 – can you guess which items had been introduced to Aotearoa then and which are ‘Out of Time?’
Episode Two: October 25
A Ngati Hine father and son team take on a dad and daughter combo from Kawhia Moana to compete for $4000 worth of
prizes. The opening game Listen to Me will test the participants’ understanding of commands in te reo Maori.
Episode Three: November 1
It’s a cross-generational competition on Whanau Factor tonight. Team Wild, Wild West is a kuia and her great-nephew from
Raglan who face off against an aunty and her namesake niece, who hail from Waiuku.
Episode Four: November 8
Whanau Factor kicks off this episode in 1939 with host Matai Smith proudly wearing the Maori Battalion uniform. Can the
teams – a Ngati Hine mother and daughter and Ngai Tuhoe mother and son – work out which items had not yet been invented?
Click here to read bios of the contestants.
ENDS