{"id":47622,"date":"2025-08-06T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47622\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T10:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T10:44:09","slug":"peter-greste-makes-his-ultimate-escape-in-7plus-reality-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47622\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Greste makes his Ultimate Escape in 7Plus reality show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tAfter 400 days in an Egyptian prison, journalist Peter Greste embarked on a huge Reality TV adventure…. which has launched with little fanfare after a 2 yr delay.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE:<\/p>\n

Former Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste has made his first foray into Reality Television in Ultimate Escape, an adventure series shot in New Zealand for Seven.<\/p>\n

Greste, who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison on supposed terrorism charges, appears alongside brother Andrew in the 9 episode series alongside 8 other pairs, competing for a share of a $100,000 prize.<\/p>\n

The series, based on a Finnish format, was filmed in NZ in 2023 but delayed in broadcast by Seven.<\/p>\n

Described as \u201cAlone meets Hunted\u201d it has now dropped in its entirety on 7Plus with no fanfare from the network.<\/p>\n

Greste and his fellow cast members were advised via email shortly before the series dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no publicity about it at all. It doesn\u2019t matter to me, either way, to be honest, I had a great time with it. I really enjoyed shooting the show. Obviously, I had more fun than my brother, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s bad television. I think it\u2019s actually pretty watchable,\u201d he tells TV Tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unscripted Reality TV that\u2019s obviously highly produced and managed, but I always knew it was going to be that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series by Helium Productions, sees one member of a team placed in a \u2018hold\u2019 with no windows and limited communication with their teammate, via brief phone chats and satellite navigation, to direct them to clues and destinations in the freezing NZ wilderness.<\/p>\n

Each episode, the rescuers have 24 hours to race from a drop zone to a rendezvous point and on to the next leg, or risk elimination.<\/p>\n

Greste endures punishing conditions in his outdoor adventure while, this time, his brother waits it out in the claustrophobia of the windowless \u2018hold.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no controversy, no villains in there and maybe that\u2019s part of the reason,\u201d Greste says of the broadcast delay. \u201cThere\u2019s no-one to particularly hate. I think there\u2019s a lot of people that you fall in love with in the show, and a lot of people who come across out of it looking really good. There\u2019s no arch villain so I suppose maybe it doesn\u2019t carry the same sort of emotional investment as some programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a good fun adventure show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven originally announced the show in 2023 under CEO James Warburton, describing it as \u201cfast-paced, jaw-dropping action supercharged by real emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n

At its network-ordered 90 minute length the episodes are not exactly fast-paced, but it arguably will appeal to those who enjoy Alone, Hunted or The Summit.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear why Seven took two years to finally drop it on 7Plus instead of a later timeslot or multichannel, especially when there is a $100,000 prize on offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most of us had given up on it\u2026 we kind of assumed that the show just wasn\u2019t going to go anywhere,\u201d says Greste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey spent quite a lot of money. That opening shot involved three helicopters, plus a filming chopper. They had a lot shooter \/ producers on the show tracking each of us. There was a lot of money involved in setting up the technology to make it all work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven confirmed the prize would still be issued to winners.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said, \u201cWe know audiences are always hungry for fresh, on-demand content \u2014 especially in genres like travel, adventure, and competition. With our streaming platform 7plus continuing to grow, it felt like the right time to release Ultimate Escape to a digital-first audience that embraces bold, binge-worthy storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greste has no regrets in embarking on the adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it\u2019d be a lot of fun. I liked the premise, and I could see why they were interested in inviting me and my brother. The one condition that I made before I before I went on the show, which may explain why it hasn\u2019t been pushed out, is because I said I wouldn\u2019t do anything that would humiliate myself or anybody else. So as long as it wasn\u2019t that kind of show, I was really happy to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also had a chance to for my brother to get a deeper sense of what my own experience was like in Egypt. That\u2019s that\u2019s given us quite a lot to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimate Escape is now screening on 7Plus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 400 days in an Egyptian prison, journalist Peter Greste embarked on a huge Reality TV adventure…. which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-47622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}