13 April 2011

Queenstown will beam into millions of US homes in a highly anticipated New Zealand special episode of the hit reality television show “The Biggest Loser: Couples”.

Two episodes of the top-rating show were filmed under wraps in New Zealand in February this year and the second episode, which goes to air on 19 April, features the remaining eight contestants battling it out in Queenstown.

It follows the contestants undertaking a river boarding challenge and the winner receiving the coveted prize of immunity plus a helicopter ride to Milford Sound. It also features The Biggest Loser host Alison Sweeney and some of the contestants bungy jumping, rock climbing and canyon swinging.

Feedback from The Biggest Loser team showed Queenstown to be a hit. Whilst in town trainer Bob Harper tweeted:

"We are in Queenstown, New Zealand, and I gotta say God really outdid himself down here. This place is fantastic."

Alison Sweeney was also a big fan, posting the following blog whilst in Queenstown:

“I am having such a fantastic time in New Zealand. Every beautiful day here leads to another exciting adventure.”

The Biggest Loser show regularly attracts more than nine million viewers in the US and was targeted by Tourism New Zealand as high profile opportunity to showcase New Zealand's beauty, thrilling adventures and demonstrate how accessible and fun it is to Americans considering a visit. The US is a major source of visitors to New Zealand with 190,000 travellers arriving in the last year.

Destination Queenstown assisted with the logistics of the visit and various Queenstown operators provided their time and expertise to ensure the filming was a success.

Destination Queenstown CEO Tony Everitt says it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Queenstown to one of its major international visitor markets.

“Money can’t buy the kind of exposure this has given Queenstown. This has given us some real cut-through to a huge US audience which is a difficult thing to do given the size of its media industry. In time, the series will also roll out to the rest of the world which will give us even more international exposure.”

For more information about Queenstown please visit www.queenstown-nz.co.nz

ENDS

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