When four years ago three friends were launching a new reality show on Ukrainian TV, even their best hopes didn’t match the success the show ultimately achieved.
“Heads or Tails” (“Oriol y Reshka”), which runs on Inter and K1 channels, is one of a few original long-running Ukrainian TV shows not copied from a Western format. Moreover, Teen Spirit Production, which produces the show, has even managed to sell the rights to “Heads or Tails” abroad.
The concept of the show is that a pair of travelers – a man and a woman – flips a coin to decide who receives an unlimited spending allowance and who gets stuck with $100 to enjoy the same destination for two days. The viewer then gets to see both ends of the travel spectrum: from luxury to thrift.
The show for two consecutive years has been nominated for a Teletriumph, the main annual television awards in Ukraine. Even greater recognition awaited the show’s producers in Russia, where local TV channel Pyatnitsa purchased their format. This year, the program also won a TEFI, a prestigious TV award by Snob magazine for the best infotainment show. Ironically, the award is called “Made in Russia.”
The producers of “Heads or Tails” are shocked by the success of their show.
“We invented this show for our personal enjoyment,” Yevhen Sinelnikov, the program’s producer and one of the authors, told the Kyiv Post. “Since my friends, creative producers Kateryna Turova and Natella Krapivina, and I are fond of traveling, we decided that our program should be about this very thing.”
Sinelnikov says the show became popular shortly after it was launched in 2011, and within two months of its airing it was capturing a 20 percent share.
While the rich traveler is theoretically given an unlimited budget, in reality it is limited – the host negotiates purchases with the producer beforehand. Yet, some unexpected expenses still happen.
Once, former host Zhanna Badoyeva used her “unlimited” credit card to buy a €40,000 fur coat in Greece, which the producers thought was a little excessive. After this misadventure, the rules were changed to allow the hosts to spend money only on entertainment, not goods. The bills are paid by the show’s sponsors in exchange for product placement.
Even though producers spend several months scouting for little-known destinations or interesting people, improvisation does play a leading role to keep the show fresh.
“The final cut of the program usually does not include even 30 percent of the original script,” Sinelnikov admits.
The crew has so far visited 85 countries during nine seasons, or 136 episodes, in the four years of its existence.
The shooting process can be rigorous. Normally, team members spend only six days a month at home in Kyiv.
However, they do have many stories to tell. One relates to the show’s tradition of hiding a sealed bottle containing $100 in the city they are visiting, although the hosts give directions to viewers where to find the buried treasure.
“In Russia, our hosts put the bottle in the wall of a neglected building, which later turned out to be someone’s property. Locals who rushed to find the bottle tore down the wall and in the end we had to pay compensation to the building’s owner,” Sinelnikov recalls.
The producers are currently working on their tenth season, which is dedicated to undiscovered regions of North and South America. Sinelnikov believes that his show will stay on top for a long time.
“This is an eternal project because we offer new views on well-trodden tourist places,” he says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
Travel tips from “Heads or Tails” producers:
1. To save money on taxis in U.S. approach a police officer and complain about getting lost. The officer will likely take you home in his car;
2. Hitchhiking is not popular in Spain, so it’s better not to rely on it. In Greenland, however, the opposite is true, as locals are happy to give tourists a ride;
3. When travelling alone in Asia, for safety reasons it’s better to stick to traditional tourist locales;
4. In Europe, it is possible to pay for a stay with work. In Ireland and Poland, the show’s producers were doing light domestic chores in exchange for a dinner or overnight stay.
