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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in

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Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds in

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Speaker 1: the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety. The

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Speaker 1: unscripted series The Challenge returns to MTV on August fourteenth

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Speaker 1: for the fortieth season. That is one of four different

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Speaker 1: versions of the series that runs across various platforms of

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Speaker 1: the Paramount Global Empire, produced by the production company Buna Murray,

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Speaker 1: which is run by my next guest, Julie Peasey. Who

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Speaker 1: better to get a sense of what's going on in

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Speaker 1: reality TV these days.

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Speaker 2: So stick around, Welcome back.

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Speaker 1: We're talking with Julie, president of not one but two

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Speaker 1: different unscripted production companies owned by the French media giant Banajet.

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Speaker 1: Recent shows under her oversight include vander pump Villa, The

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Speaker 1: Family stallone, and four different versions of Below Deck. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for making some time, Julie, Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: So let's start with the Challenge. I'm still trying to

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Speaker 1: wrap my head around those factoids I dropped at the

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Speaker 1: top of the episode. Forty seasons, four different versions. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you told me thirty years ago that the real

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Speaker 1: world that seminal reality TV show would be like an

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Speaker 1: afterthought today, and that The Challenge, the spin off of

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Speaker 1: the Real World, would be still going strong and as

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Speaker 1: a multi tentacle franchise all these years later. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I need to sit down. How did this happen?

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Speaker 3: I mean, it is really an incredible accomplishment, and it's

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Speaker 3: such a testament to all the creativity and all of

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Speaker 3: the different executives that have sort of served on the

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Speaker 3: show over the years. But you know, the show was

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Speaker 3: sort of it really was one of the first franchises

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Speaker 3: born out of other franchise shows, which was The Real

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Speaker 3: World and then Road Rules, and then really looking at

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Speaker 3: something that so many networks are doing now, which is

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Speaker 3: really extending the life of these incredible characters that we

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Speaker 3: spend months and months finding, we put them on a show,

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Speaker 3: they resonate with the audience, and then it's like, what

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Speaker 3: do you do next? So what the Challenge really did

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Speaker 3: was take all of these great characters from The Challenge,

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Speaker 3: from the excuse me, the Real World franchise, and the

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Speaker 3: Road Rules franchise, and then have them in sort of

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Speaker 3: a different organization where we could continue to see them

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Speaker 3: grow and then also just see them compete and really

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Speaker 3: see a different side of them.

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Speaker 1: And we should explain for the uninitiated when we say compete,

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Speaker 1: explain what the challenge actually is.

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Speaker 3: The challenge is a massive, very competitive game format, and

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Speaker 3: it's where we change it every year, so you know,

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Speaker 3: the seeds of the show always remain the same x

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Speaker 3: amount of characters. Usually thirty plus characters show up for

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Speaker 3: a season, and they're usually vying for a big cash

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Speaker 3: prize and they compete against each other over the course

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Speaker 3: of you know, ten weeks in challenges and then if

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Speaker 3: you are sort of voted into elimination, you have a

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Speaker 3: shot to defend your title and go back into the game,

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Speaker 3: and somebody goes home in every episode, and that's sort

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Speaker 3: of the standard by which the game is played. But

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Speaker 3: the thing that's so different about this game is that,

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Speaker 3: you know, like all other games, there's like strategy, there's

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Speaker 3: obviously athletic ability, but the social game and the relationships

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Speaker 3: that are built over the years on this show are

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Speaker 3: very different than any other franchise series. I mean, some

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Speaker 3: of these cast members go twenty five years deep with

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Speaker 3: each other.

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Speaker 1: It's just it's ridiculous how durable this franchise has become

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Speaker 1: and you know, it's just interesting. It's one of I

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Speaker 1: don't know if it's a handful, probably much more than

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Speaker 1: a handful of We call them franchises, but there is

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Speaker 1: this collection of shows where I don't even think franchise

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Speaker 1: does it justice anymore. You could almost call it unscripted

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Speaker 1: cinematic universes because they spawn, you know, multiple series. Really, honestly,

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Speaker 1: if you use you know, the language of TV, it's

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Speaker 1: really fair to say they become TV networks onto themselves.

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Speaker 1: They just don't get TV networks, but the tonnage could

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Speaker 1: easily fill a linear channel. So my question for you, well,

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Speaker 1: first of all, is that a fair estimation? And number two,

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Speaker 1: is that a sign of the health of the genre,

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Speaker 1: or perhaps it's actually the opposite, is maybe a sign

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Speaker 1: of the sickness of the broader medium of television that

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Speaker 1: it's become so reliant on these unscripted franchises.

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Speaker 3: Well, I love what you're saying, because we really do

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Speaker 3: have a lot of respect for the franchises that sort

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Speaker 3: of have endured the test of time, and we feel

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Speaker 3: grateful with our partners at MTV to have one of them.

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Speaker 3: But I think there's there's more to it. I think

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Speaker 3: that like all shows, there are shows that have been

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Speaker 3: on the air for twenty plus seasons, even thirty season,

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Speaker 3: I mean twenty plus years, thirty years, there's an appetite.

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Speaker 3: And I say, like without hesitation, that unscripted still remains

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Speaker 3: the most economical way to satisfy audience's appetite for new programming.

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Speaker 3: I mean, the truth is is that you know, even

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Speaker 3: some of the most expensive unscripted shows are still far

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Speaker 3: cheaper than any of the obviously the scripted fans. So

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Speaker 3: I think that there's always the opportunity to be able

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Speaker 3: to do more and to really feed into sort of

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Speaker 3: the fandom and the challenge and a lot of other

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Speaker 3: shows as well have just such a robust fandom. So

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Speaker 3: that really does what they find is when they put

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Speaker 3: a new season on, people watch, So that really does

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Speaker 3: grow the appetite and it really keeps it relevant enough

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Speaker 3: to continue to add spinoffs into that model and to

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Speaker 3: really be able to produce the shows every season.

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Speaker 1: And I get what you mean by economical, And we

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Speaker 1: should point out you've got more than one of these

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Speaker 1: unscripted cinematic universes over at you know, you've got obviously

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Speaker 1: you oversee Bun and Murray You also, as a few

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Speaker 1: years ago, added a second company in fifty one Minds,

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Speaker 1: which has the Blow Deck Cinematic Universe over at Bravo,

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Speaker 1: which it just seems like it never goes off the air.

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Speaker 2: It's just on Bravo.

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Speaker 1: But it's like season after season after season, and I

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Speaker 1: have to wonder whether do you or Bravo ever get

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Speaker 1: concerned that it's like, isn't there something to be said

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Speaker 1: for like letting the field life fallow for a bit,

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Speaker 1: and like you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder,

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Speaker 1: But it feels like you guys never take a break.

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Speaker 3: Well, from a business standpoint, and this is a business podcast,

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Speaker 3: I would say I hope that never happens. That we

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Speaker 3: love having it on all the time. But I think

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Speaker 3: really what it comes down to is that you know,

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Speaker 3: proven ratings, so you know, if the show continues to perform,

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Speaker 3: and it does perform incredibly well, and it also has

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Speaker 3: a really robust fan base, there's no reason why a

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Speaker 3: network like Bravo can't continue to feed that.

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Speaker 1: Okay makes sense now, Also, I totally agree it's economical

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Speaker 1: when you compare to scripted, but are there rising costs

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the best unscripted programming, I assume,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's not as cheap as it used to be.

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Speaker 1: And you know, there's of course now all this talk

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Speaker 1: and maybe it's just talk about the potential for unionization

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Speaker 1: among unscripted talent that I assume will potentially rise costs. So,

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Speaker 1: whether it's rising costs in general or the potential of unionization,

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Speaker 1: how do you feel about these trends.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you know, nothing is really as cheap as

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Speaker 3: it used to be, so certainly reality programming or unscripted programming,

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Speaker 3: the costs have also risen. I think really even just

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Speaker 3: in the last twenty four months. I think as we

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Speaker 3: really tried to keep our budgets flat, or the networks

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Speaker 3: try to keep our budgets flat or even sometimes decrease them,

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Speaker 3: I think one of the things that we're really you know,

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Speaker 3: the bigger struggle is just finding, you know, ways to

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Speaker 3: navigate like increased flight costs, fuel costs, food costs, and

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Speaker 3: labor costs. So you know, and I do I have

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Speaker 3: noticed really, particularly with flights, they've really gone up a

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Speaker 3: lot in the last twenty four months. But we always

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Speaker 3: think like maybe this is just sort of a moment

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Speaker 3: in time and not permanent. And then in terms of talent,

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Speaker 3: I think talent costs have one hundred percent gone up

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Speaker 3: a lot, and actually they're quite competitive with Union shows

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Speaker 3: as well. I mean, you know, obviously first season, brand

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Speaker 3: new people that are entering into unscripted have more you know,

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Speaker 3: their rates are not as high. But once you're bringing

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Speaker 3: in people that have been proven, that are of celebrity,

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Speaker 3: that have been in multiple shows, they you know, they

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Speaker 3: really do get a really competitive fee to participate in unscripted.

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Speaker 1: But I'm wondering even for something like you know, your

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Speaker 1: own below deck, where you're not for what I understand,

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Speaker 1: bringing in celebrities, they're part in the pun. You know,

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Speaker 1: they're fresh off the boat to bring on the boat.

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Speaker 3: There's so many puns. There's so many with below deck.

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Speaker 3: We use them all the time. We can't even help ourselves.

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Speaker 1: I'll keep them coming. But even for those people, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's not even just a matter of cost. I'm just

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Speaker 1: wondering whether, like, is there just an increasing sophistication among

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Speaker 1: those who are to use that pun again off the

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Speaker 1: boat in terms of like what their demands are, what

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Speaker 1: their expectations are as we come into this, perhaps more

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Speaker 1: sophisticated world of people know what to expect when they

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Speaker 1: do these shows, and they want to be more protected.

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Speaker 3: I mean in terms of like sort of the financials.

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Speaker 3: I think what we've sort of found is that if

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Speaker 3: you go back to the early seasons of the real world,

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Speaker 3: for example, those cast members didn't have all of these

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Speaker 3: extended opportunities to make money on themselves as a brand.

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Speaker 3: What we sort of learned over the years is many

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Speaker 3: of the participants in unscripted, because they're playing themselves, they're

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Speaker 3: not playing a character they are playing, they are themselves,

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Speaker 3: have the opportunity to make significantly more money than what

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Speaker 3: they're making on the show and sort of on their

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Speaker 3: social media platforms and endorsements. So in a way, the

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Speaker 3: shows become sort of the gateway to getting into a

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Speaker 3: separate business model that provides for them on such a

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Speaker 3: greater level.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, I mean there's been a lot of headlines

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Speaker 1: and I don't think they're to be fair, not necessarily

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Speaker 1: related to your programs, but certainly to programs that are

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Speaker 1: on networks that you probably do business with. And I

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Speaker 1: think unscripted TV and I think they've been you know,

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Speaker 1: the genre has been dealing with this probably throughout its existence,

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Speaker 1: but there's probably a sense that the genre needs to

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Speaker 1: clean up its act. Do you feel the sense that

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Speaker 1: there's that pressure out there? Do you feel that maybe

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Speaker 1: there's bad apples that are spoiling the bunch?

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Speaker 3: You know. I what we've sort of done is what

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Speaker 3: we do consistently as a company and also as a brand,

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Speaker 3: is we work really closely with the network to constantly

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Speaker 3: refine sort of the rules of engagement, the protocols careen custody.

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Speaker 3: You know, we've all learned a lot about careen custody

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Speaker 3: over the course of thirty years of unscripted history, and

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Speaker 3: there's really more intention than ever before to make sure

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Speaker 3: that our cast mental health is you know, is a

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Speaker 3: consideration that people feel that they have the fortitude to

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Speaker 3: basically participate in these shows because they can be intense.

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Speaker 3: So there is sort of certainly a swing of the pendulum,

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Speaker 3: and it has been for like many years to really

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Speaker 3: help people sort of navigate the business that is real

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Speaker 3: because it's not scripted and people aren't just like ending

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Speaker 3: when they call cut. It's a twenty four hour experience

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Speaker 3: that a lot of these participants are put in, whereas

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Speaker 3: like they're really doing a job on below deck, and

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Speaker 3: of course they have off duty hours, but the cameras

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Speaker 3: are always there and that is not for everyone. And

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Speaker 3: I think that until you experience it, you don't know

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Speaker 3: how you react to it. So we've really worked hard

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Speaker 3: to put safeguards in place for our cast to really

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Speaker 3: have a good experience and to step in when they're not.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more with Julie Peasy of

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Speaker 1: Banajet's fifty one Minds and Buni Murray Productions. And we

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Speaker 1: are back with Julie Peasy Unscripted TV Guru with many

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Speaker 1: credits from The Challenge to other upcoming shows like vander

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Speaker 1: pump Villa, The Family, Stallone and.

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Speaker 2: Much much more.

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Speaker 1: Julie, I want to get a sense of the unscript

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Speaker 1: marketplace right now. How do you feel in terms of

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Speaker 1: what are the hot genre or I should say hot

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Speaker 1: subgenres out there, Particular categories formats that you think are

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Speaker 1: in demand among buyers.

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Speaker 3: I mean, one of the things that we're hearing a

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Speaker 3: lot about right now is obviously crime crime docs are

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Speaker 3: doing really well, and then anything to do with sports.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there was a time when nobody would hear

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Speaker 3: a sports pitch and now it's like the opportunity has

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Speaker 3: really risen. There's an audience that is built, it's been tested,

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Speaker 3: and it works. So you know, we're certainly developing in

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Speaker 3: those spaces and that we're always developing and dating, social experiment,

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Speaker 3: competition genres that we're sort of really we're really strong

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Speaker 3: in as a brand, but also that we feel like

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Speaker 3: do incredibly well. I mean, just this summer looking and

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Speaker 3: this is not a show that I have anything to do,

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Speaker 3: but I'm just you know, speaking in terms of like

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Speaker 3: something that I've just heard a lot about, and you know,

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Speaker 3: Love Island is really having such an impressive run. And

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Speaker 3: what's been really fascinating is that like young people are

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Speaker 3: watching it. They're watching it live. I mean, and I

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Speaker 3: say that because I have two teenage sons. They're fourteen

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Speaker 3: and seventeen, and they're watching a dating format and they're

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Speaker 3: watching it they like, and it's like twenty hours of content,

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Speaker 3: and they're watching it on Peacock and they are tuning

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Speaker 3: in for the finale that happened the other night, and

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Speaker 3: they're screaming from my living room. And I'm going to say, like,

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Speaker 3: hats off, because that is amazing and that really does

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Speaker 3: go to show that people really engage with these formats

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Speaker 3: and have a lot of fun watching them, and that's

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Speaker 3: dating and it's really successful. And I think that that

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Speaker 3: says a lot about the appetite right now and sort

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Speaker 3: of what people are looking for. And again, it's a

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Speaker 3: you know, it's a it's a it's a good day format,

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Speaker 3: but it's it's not doing something that feels like manipulative

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Speaker 3: or like a big left turn in the dating genre.

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Speaker 3: It's really kind of forward and you know what it is,

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Speaker 3: and people really get invested in characters.

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Speaker 1: And how do you feel about the state of play

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Speaker 1: right now among the potential buyers out there? I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously you do a big chunk of business with Paramount Global,

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Speaker 1: which is, let's say, in a state of flux right now.

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Speaker 1: We don't know that there's going to be, say, the

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Speaker 1: same number of streamers that are in the marketplace maybe

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Speaker 1: a year from now. So how does how do you

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Speaker 1: feel about all that? Well?

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Speaker 3: I mean, I can only speak from my observations and

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Speaker 3: my experience running Peter MraY in fifty one, but what

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Speaker 3: I will say is that, you know, like all businesses,

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Speaker 3: the entertainment business has been involving a lot And the

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Speaker 3: biggest shift that I'm seeing is how shows are being

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Speaker 3: sold because network's, cable and streamers are all still buying

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Speaker 3: shows like We've sold this year eleven new shows, brand

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Speaker 3: new shows, not tethered to any like IP, and of

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Speaker 3: those shows, I would say the process has been like

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Speaker 3: the buyers are using like strategic caution, which means that

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Speaker 3: these shows are being taken off the market, but then

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Speaker 3: they're being put into development steps that are lengthier than

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Speaker 3: than maybe they've been in the past. But the difference

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Speaker 3: is is in the past, I feel like there was like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: we need this show, but it has to air in

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Speaker 3: six months, so like you're just rolling really fast to

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Speaker 3: get all the creative done and it's sort of straight

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Speaker 3: to series. Now it doesn't feel as though the air

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Speaker 3: dates are is imminent, so there's a lot more time

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Speaker 3: put into the development and it's very thoughtful and it's lengthy,

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Speaker 3: and sometimes it can take like a year before you

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Speaker 3: actually get to the green light meeting with your like

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Speaker 3: you know, your casting tapes, your presentation, your budget, your schedule,

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Speaker 3: your calendar, everything else. So that's kind of changed a

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Speaker 3: little bit where we're not getting that sort of immediacy.

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Speaker 3: And then the other thing that we've really noticed is that,

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Speaker 3: and this is particularly for shows that are returning, is

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Speaker 3: that the seasonality is changing a little bit. Whereas in

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Speaker 3: the past, and this goes back to air dates. In

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Speaker 3: the past, we could sort of count on a show

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Speaker 3: either coming back two seasons a year or at least one,

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Speaker 3: and now sometimes after we deliver a show, the air

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Speaker 3: dates not till fourteen months after that, so we almost

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Speaker 3: miss a window of a year. So I feel like

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Speaker 3: there's definitely an impact made with not that the show

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Speaker 3: is going away, it just the viewers are waiting longer

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Speaker 3: for it to hit the airwaves, which would then based

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Speaker 3: on those ratings, determine a commission for the next cycle.

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Speaker 3: So that's kind of one of the major ships that

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Speaker 3: we've sort of seen on our business side. But the

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Speaker 3: sales are still happening and there's still a lot of

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Speaker 3: interest in new programming. The process is longer.

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Speaker 1: And yet, as you pointed to those eleven transaction actions earlier,

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Speaker 1: you're doing well, which is great, but how do you

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Speaker 1: scid have.

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Speaker 3: To get them on the air. But we're pleased that

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Speaker 3: our development team is incredibly talented and we're still selling

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Speaker 3: projects to all of the buyers. They're still an appetite.

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Speaker 1: Okay, how do you square that appetite though with It

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Speaker 1: just feels like, whether it's on social media or in

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Speaker 1: some of the press coverage, it seems like there is

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Speaker 1: a ton of anxiety from the rank and file of

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Speaker 1: those who work in the unscripted world. A lot of

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Speaker 1: talk about there's not a lot of jobs out there,

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Speaker 1: the budgets aren't what they used to be. Just a

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Speaker 1: lot of pessimism out there, and is that an accurate

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Speaker 1: reflection of what's going on out there? Are there just

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Speaker 1: maybe some people that are complaining and distorting what's actually

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Speaker 1: the reality of the business.

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Speaker 2: What do you think?

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Speaker 3: I think there's some truth to all of this. I mean,

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Speaker 3: there are less shows in production right now in this

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Speaker 3: very moment. It's summer, but you know, we still are

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Speaker 3: shooting quite a few projects this summer. But usually in

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Speaker 3: the summer you can't hire anyone, so obviously there are

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Speaker 3: less projects. But I do think there's probably more projects

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Speaker 3: in development than ever before. There's I mean, certainly a

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Speaker 3: lot of development happening. But then I would lean back

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Speaker 3: into and even you know, as we work with buyers.

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Speaker 3: It's like this is betting on unscripted is a great

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Speaker 3: bet because unscripted, you know again, has a great price point,

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Speaker 3: has such engagement and audience, lots of fandom, and I

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Speaker 3: think that you can turn it over pretty quickly, which

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Speaker 3: you know not some of the scripted shows are so

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Speaker 3: remarkable and there's so many scenes in so many locations

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Speaker 3: that you know, it just takes longer to create.

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Speaker 1: But does it repeat well? Because it wasn't that the

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Speaker 1: knock the unscripted back in the day that oh, the

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Speaker 1: streamers don't want to buy this because you know, it's

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Speaker 1: not like a procedural where or people will be watching

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Speaker 1: it twenty years from now.

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Speaker 3: Well maybe, but I will say that, like people are

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Speaker 3: watching The Challenge on multiple platforms. They're watching old seasons

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Speaker 3: of The Challenge on Netflix, they're watching seasons of the

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Speaker 3: Challenge on Hulu. So I think that when people fall

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Speaker 3: in love with a genre, or fall in love with

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Speaker 3: even you know, one of the big formats, they'll go

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Speaker 3: back in time and watch some of the iconic series

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Speaker 3: that led up to it. I think that before we

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Speaker 3: had all of these streaming services, I don't think a

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Speaker 3: network would normally or a cable channel would program a

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Speaker 3: season five year from five years ago in prime time,

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Speaker 3: but to have these whole seasons, and when you look

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Speaker 3: at the challenge, there's forty living somewhere for people to consume.

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Speaker 3: They're still consumption happening.

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Speaker 1: And going back to what you were saying before about

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Speaker 1: where we are right now in summer and the seasonality,

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Speaker 1: step back, though, if you will, I'm curious to hear

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Speaker 1: you put unscripted in the context of the bigger picture

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Speaker 1: of the industry going back maybe a year or so,

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Speaker 1: in terms of how unscripted fared going into the strikes

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Speaker 1: and then after the strikes, and what a lot of

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Speaker 1: people say is a industry that is still in recovery

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Speaker 1: from the strikes. How has unscripted do you think fared

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Speaker 1: all along that arc that I've just described.

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Speaker 3: I think unscripted has been pretty consistent. What I will

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Speaker 3: say is post COVID, unscripted was able to get off

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Speaker 3: and running probably quicker than some of the scripted fair

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Speaker 3: So there was a lot, I mean more than I've

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Speaker 3: ever seen in my career of unscripted programming being made,

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Speaker 3: and a lot of that programming was airing the next

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Speaker 3: two years and we still Andrew have probably fifty to

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Speaker 3: sixty hours of programming that we produced eighteen months ago,

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Speaker 3: maybe a year ago, that has not yet aired. So

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Speaker 3: I think what we all saw was that when the

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Speaker 3: strike did happen, there was a lot of new program

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Speaker 3: It had just been produced a year before.

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Speaker 1: And you know, as you keep referring to this stuff

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Speaker 1: that's sitting on the shelf, does that get stale?

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Speaker 2: I mean, is.

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Speaker 1: There such a thing as sort of perishability when it

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Speaker 1: comes to unscripted content?

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Speaker 3: I think it depends on what the format is. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I think, you know, dating doesn't really have an expiration date.

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Speaker 3: I think if you lean into something that has a

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Speaker 3: real urgency and it has to do with something that's

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Speaker 3: sort of of the moment, that can certainly wane over time.

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Speaker 1: And when you say that, I think about certain shows

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Speaker 1: where there's this strange, uneasy but sometimes symbiotic co exist

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Speaker 1: distance between what happens on camera and then what plays

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Speaker 1: out on social media, where it's like social media tends

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Speaker 1: to sort of scoop what happens on camera but also

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Speaker 1: promote it, and sometimes it cannibalizes, but sometimes it doesn't.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, it's.

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Speaker 1: Just sort of it's a weird thing, and I was

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Speaker 1: just curious to get your take on it. Is it

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Speaker 1: a bit of an advantage or a blessing and a curse,

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Speaker 1: or maybe it's all blessing and I'm being a little

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Speaker 1: too pessimistic.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think there are some I mean, the truth

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Speaker 3: is is that if you're looking at Docusope where you're following,

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Speaker 3: you know, the Kardashians or Housewives, those characters, those participants

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Speaker 3: very much live in the public eye. So a lot

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Speaker 3: of news and obviously social media fair is going to

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Speaker 3: come out about them. But what we had found just

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Speaker 3: in our history of even doing the Kardashians is that

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Speaker 3: audiences will st be patient to kind of hear their

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Speaker 3: side of the story, so knowing that they will get

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Speaker 3: a different point of view from the show than what's

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Speaker 3: out there on social media or that's reported about to

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Speaker 3: get a little closer to the story. I think there's

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Speaker 3: sort of that there's a real sense that when you

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Speaker 3: tune into some of these docuseries that you're going to

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Speaker 3: get a point of view that comes directly from the

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Speaker 3: characters within that show, and that it's going to be

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Speaker 3: a little bit more intimate than what we've already seen.

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Speaker 1: So one last question for you, obviously got a busy docket.

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Speaker 1: Give me a project or two coming in the months

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Speaker 1: ahead that we haven't talked about yet that you're excited for,

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Speaker 1: something that you think people should keep an eye on.

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Speaker 1: It's going to make a splash. Maybe it's a unique format.

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Speaker 3: So I can't talk about any of our new stuff

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Speaker 3: that's sold, which I would love to because there's so

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Speaker 3: many fun projects. But of what's been sort of announced

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Speaker 3: is obviously Challenge forty. It's like Eras. We have forty participants.

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00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 3: It's the biggest, the most amount of cast members we've

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00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 3: ever had on a show, and it's epic. So we're

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00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 3: super excited about the audience getting to see how this

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00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 3: plays out with all of these incredible relationships. And you know,

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00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,760
Speaker 3: obviously we have the Never Mets, which just aired, and

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00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,200
Speaker 3: we have a new season coming up that's been announced

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00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 3: with own. It did incredibly well, and it's really for

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00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 3: people that have been dating online but have never met

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00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 3: and then they come into this They come into this

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00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 3: house and get to meet each other for the first time.

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Speaker 3: And Andrew, that still happens where people have like years

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00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 3: long relationship without meeting each other, so it's really really noisy,

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Speaker 3: all right.

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Speaker 1: I will set my DVR. Julie, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: taking the time out. Appreciate your insights.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us

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00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 3: a review at Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. We love

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00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,679
Speaker 3: to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety dot com

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Speaker 3: and sign up for

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Speaker 1: The free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to

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Speaker 1: tune in next week for another episode of Strictly Business.