MTV’s Geordie Shore: from Jersey to Newcastle

As a remake of British youth-TV drama Skins makes waves in America, another small-screen phenomenon is set to cross the pond in the opposite direction, with MTV starting the hunt for a group of extrovert Geordies to star in a homegrown version of the US show Jersey Shore.
 
The new project has been given the imaginative title Geordie Shore and will follow the same format as it's American counterpart - namely placing around a dozen pert, fame-hungry young wannabes in a house together, encouraging them to 'party hard' and then documenting the results.
 
The original version of the show, also broadcast on MTV, made stars of many of the housemates, most notably Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino, a fitness instructor and underwear model from New Jersey.
 
The US show was unashamedly low-brow, prompting Guardian writer Andrew Clark to comment that it makes "Big Brother look like Dostoyevsky". Sorrentino's explanation of how he earned his unusual nickname is a case in point. He once told an interviewer: "I walked by a girl with her boyfriend. She's holding her boyfriend's hand and as she walks by me... she's like: 'Oh my God, honey! Look at his abs!' And my boys are like: 'Dude, that's a situation right there.'"
 
Anyone expecting the British version of the show to attract a more intellectual class of participant is likely to be disappointed. Kerry Taylor of MTV Networks UK said: "Jersey Shore is set in the summer and it is always summer in the north-east... No one wears a coat and Geordie girls are always out in their miniskirts."
 
Geordie Shore will follow in the footsteps of another British reality TV show, The Only Way is Essex, billed as a remake of US reality vehicle The Hills, which focuses on a troop of over-privileged socialites. The ITV2 show and its perma-tanned stars arrived on screen in late 2010 and became an immediate hit.
 
The production company behind The Only Way is Essex, Liverpool-based Lime Pictures, will also make Geordie Shore, which will air in the spring.
 
Reaction to the news that MTV had begun its search for the stars of its new show created a buzz on the social networking site Twitter. Some hailed it as a new low for British TV, others appeared uncontrollably excited by the news. ·