Israel’s top-secret reality show set to shake up television

The rumors have been flying around for months now. But TV network Keshet still won’t confirm that it is working on the most extensive and expensive project in Israeli television history.

But Keshet’s radio silence hasn’t prevented leaks and reports about the new show – tentatively titled either 2025 or Gold City – from permeating Israel’s relatively small entertainment industry.

The network won’t officially confirm the existence of the program on the record. But over the weekend, a promo teaser for the new reality show was leaked – or strategically distributed – on social media.

“In this place, a city will be built,” proclaims the text in the dramatic teaser clip. “A city in which everyone starts out on equal footing. No matter where they come from, what they’ve accomplished or how hard they’ve fallen. When they get to the city – the game begins. Whoever knows how to play it, will reach the pinnacle. Whoever doesn’t, has no place in the city.”

The show has been in the works since at least July 2017, when Walla! reported that two well-known TV industry figures – Yoram Zak and Erez Tal – were working on the secret project.

Globes reported in August that Keshet was seeking to take over a cable channel to enable it to broadcast live feeds for all or most of the day – as it has done in the past for Israel’s Big Brother.

Last month, media website Ice. co.il said the show is “the biggest and priciest mega-reality show in Israeli television history.”

So what exactly is this new show?

If the reports are to be believed, it is set to be a reality version of the famed 1998 film The Truman Show – where an entire city outfitted with cameras was built to monitor its residents 24/7.

According to Ice, Keshet is in the process of building such a city on the outskirts of Yavne, and is spending NIS 50-60 million on production of the show. The “city” is slated to be a self-contained neighborhood, including shops, a bank, a movie theater and more.

Reports indicate that 2025 is set to hit airwaves sometime in the first quarter of 2019. There’s no doubt that Keshet is eager for Israelis – and international TV executives – to tune in.