National Geographic Greenlights Its First-Ever Global Adventure Competition Series, Race to the Center of the Earth

Series produced by multiple emmy award-winning Bertram van munster and elise doganieri, The creative team behind "The Amazing Race"

Four Teams. Four Different Corners of the World. One Chance to Win $1 Million.

WASHINGTON, D.C./NEW YORK, N.Y. Continuing in its legacy of adventure, exploration and unrivaled storytelling, National Geographic announced today Race to the Center of the Earth, an adrenaline-fueled global competition that pits four teams against one another in a nonstop sprint across the globe for a $1 million prize. The eight-part series, created by the producers behind the hit show "The Amazing Race," is an extreme nonelimination competition that follows four groups of adventurers, each starting from different corners of the earth as the race to a buoy in the middle of the ocean that holds a $1,000,000 prize.

Each team is challenged with navigating their designated route, featuring unpredictable terrains, harsh climates and unique cultures as they make their way to the finish. Along the way, they will face untamed jungles, frozen arctic, arid deserts, bustling cities, treacherous mountains and vast oceans to reach the location where all four routes intersect - a buoy with the cash prize. The first team to arrive claims it all.

Our goal is to create a gripping, completely real experience that pushes the edges of adventure and embeds viewers in extreme action, breathtaking drama and stunning locations as we follow four highly skilled teams on the race of a lifetime," said Geoff Daniels, executive vice president of Unscripted Entertainment, National Geographic Networks. "Unlike other competition formats, Race to the Center of the Earth will combine the grittiness of a survival show with the cinematic style of a feature film action-thriller dropping viewers into the middle of a heart-pounding journey unlike anything ever made for television."

"I'm thrilled to team up with National Geographic. Our rapidly changing world has allowed us to reimagine a new and exciting way to showcase adventure," said Bertram van Munster. "What excites me most about Race to the Center of the Earth is that this partnership is such a natural fit. By combining our expertise in adventure competition series with National Geographic's legacy of exploration and unrivaled visual storytelling, this series promises to raise the stakes of this genre and deliver something totally unique, breathtaking and exhilarating."

Race to the Center of the Earth is National Geographic's first-ever global adventure competition series and is set to go into production later this year. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com or our press site www.natgeotvpressroom.com, or follow us on Twitter using @NatGeoPR.

Race to the Center of the Earth is produced by New Media Collective from a format by Plum Pictures for National Geographic. For New Media Collective, executive producers are Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri. For National Geographic, Matt Renner is executive producer and vice president, original programming and production; and Geoff Daniels is executive vice president of global unscripted entertainment.

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About New Media Collective

New Media Collective is a newly launched, full-service production company that develops and produces programming for the worldwide marketplace. Founded in 2019, New Media Collective is a partnership between television producers Elise Doganieri, Mark Dziak, Bertram van Munster and Doug Vargas. NMC will capitalize on the partners' 35-plus years of experience in worldwide production through its partnerships with foreign production companies. Doganieri and van Munster have earned 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, a DGA Award, three PGA Awards and the 2013 GLAAD Award for outstanding reality program. Dziak has been producing in film and television for over 25 years, having spent the past 10 years running Doganieri/van Munster-owned Profiles Television. Vargas has been head of finance/controller at Profiles TV for six years and has spent the past 16 years running finance and accounting for various top television production companies. Thus far in 2019, NMC has closed over $62 million in production deals with networks. The company is currently in production on a tent pole project for National Geographic to air in 2020, as well as multiple new series for CBS and Disney+ to be produced in 2020 and beyond. In addition, multiple projects are in development across a wide range of broadcast, digital and cable networks.

About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Disney, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 131 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information, visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.