We enjoy watching television episodes of The Hotel Inspector where the hard-nosed host, Ruth Watson; a potty mouthed, hoity toity busybody uncovers tacky and grotty hotel experiences.
Watson, with the authority of a school mistress, hectors and shames hapless Pommy accommodation owners into rethinking their hospitality lifestyles.
It would appear that New Zealand production company Cream Media that have brought us "quality reality style television" such as Money Man, 10 Years Younger and Border Patrol will soon be bringing us the Kiwi version of The Hotel Inspector for release in 2010.
The format will be the same as the English version that requires:
1) An accommodation business that is failing
2) Unusually quirky and difficult owners and
3) A straight-talking, self-professed expert hotelier that harasses and hectors the owners until they realise the error of their ways.
A Qualmark NZ inspector will be used in the programme to give the final grading after the host has subdued the operators and magically transforms the struggling accommodation business.
Interestingly, Qualmark have sent an email to all accommodation license holders seeking expressions of interest from operators who want to become involved in the TV series.
Qualmark has commented:
"This is an opportunity to showcase quality processes and best practice techniques on prime time TV, which is such a powerful medium."Yeah right! If the show is true to form, the appeal of the show is the toxic relationship between the host and the eccentric accommodation providers.
We think Qualmark's involvement in the programme is a bold initiative. We will be interested to see how Kiwi culture is translated into this successful English entertainment format.
Frankly, we can't wait!
So this begs the question - who is going to be New Zealand's version of Ruth Watson? We will require a well built, authoritative woman that looks good in brightly colored blazers and tends to say f*ck a lot.
Does this sound like anyone we know?
