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The channel claims to have received over 5000 entries across the
country from places like Gaziabad, Baroda, Hyderabad and Nagaland
since launching the contest on 24 June. Next week, the auditions
travel to Delhi and Bangalore. The finale is scheduled to take place
on 4 September in Mumbai.
On Saturday, a ramp was put in place and contestants strutted up
and down trying to project the desired persona in front of cameras
and the judges - model Milind Soman, choreographer Achla Sachdev
and AXN VP marketing Gregory Ho. To maintain the level of consistency
in the judging parameters, Soman and Sachdev will remain on the
panel for the entire duration of the contest. In addition to the
catwalk and photo shoot, participants had to field questions from
the judges.
The winners are (L to R): Rohit Chopra, Deepica Sarma, Salil
and Parmita Katkar |
It was not as wild as Mumbai promised, thought. Although the second
round held only 11 shortlisted candidates, the goings on were sluggish
at times and the flow inconsistent, thanks probably due to some
technical delays. Also, there tended to be a kind of sameness in
the questions being asked. Not surprisingly, most of the girls dressed
in skimpy outfits were either aspiring models or were already in
the business doing small time stuff. Most were looking for a break
in television. The guys' backgrounds were more diverse - ranging
from a couple of engineers to an aspiring filmmaker. Rohit Chopra,
Deepica Sarma, Salil and Parmita Katkar were the ones who finally
made it to the selected four.
AXN plans to create one-minute vignettes for each of the eight
designated contenders which will air on the channel every day from
16 August. Viewers can vote for who they think is the hottest couple
through SMS at indiatimes' 8888 facility. Provisions will also be
made for online voting.
The judges (from L to R) Milind Soman, Achla Sachdev, Gregory
Ho |
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the initiative, Ho said, "The
Hot n Wild programme band has seen our channel share grow by 30
per cent in the 11 pm slot. As far as our contest is concerned,
while looking good is one criterion, it is not enough. The person
must be able to relate to the camera. Therefore we have two monitors
next to us so that we can keep a close eye on the participants'
looks, screen presence, behaviour. Also the person should fit the
AXN brand profile, which is adventurous, daring, and charismatic.
"That is why I am a part of the judging panel. A person may be
confident but if he/she is too sophisticated then they might be
better off working with CNBC. A person may not live the AXN lifestyle
but he/she must be able to project it onscreen. They should also
be able to come off as role models for our viewers. Of course Achla
and Milind are well versed with the television business and know
exactly what attributes the participants must possess."
 Ho
added that the reality show would commence shooting sometime in
October. "Besides the television production load the anchors must
be able to deal with hundreds of people in the street. Sometimes
they might get insulted and their spontaneity is going to be key.
Therefore a person auditioning is asked point blank "How come you
are bald?" After all there are no retakes in a reality series."
To illustrate to our readers the kind of spontaneity, AXN is looking
for, when one of the participants was asked what four-legged animal
she would like to be the pat response was dinosaur. "I have been
fascinated by them for a long time and I will also be able to appear
in many Steven Spielberg movies." Not surprisingly the person was
chosen.
Meanwhile, Ho pointed out that the hardest part of the process
was sifting through so many entries before selecting people for
the auditions. "We would try to gauge from the photograph itself
whether or not the person could make it. The 'I am Hot'n' Wild because'
replies were another. Of course there is the chance that the intelligent
response may have been written by that person's friend. But on the
ramp there is no escape if he/ she looks down or breaks into a nervous
sweat or goes "uh uh".
SET's assistant VP marketing Rohit Bhandari who looks after the
channel in the country added that there were good looking people
who were rejected in a hurry because the responses they had written
were entirely inappropriate. "The final eight will be given special
training to spruce up their poise. Achla Sachdev will go through
their videos and give them pointers as to what they should do and
shouldn't. It will come down to how hard somebody wants the job,
Bhandari said.
 "The
person chosen should be able to get the audience interested and
getting into the groove through body language and attitude. That
is why the viewers' choice is important. At the end of the day we
are what we are because our viewers make us. The whole logic to
the selection process is the comfort level the viewer has with a
particular person. If we just wanted two good looking people we
would simply have contacted modelling agencies. We would not have
gone through this trouble." He also said that besides the viewers
choice there would be two other rounds for the grand finale, which
are in development.
As far as other AXN shows were concerned, Ho pointed out that the
next big ground event after Hot n Wild was around the corner
but added that negotiations were still on. He also said that Guinness
World Records, which was held successfully last year, would return
next year. "For us it is a been there done that situation and we
want each ground event to be unique. Different people have different
tastes. Not everyone wants to break a record or event strut up and
down the ramp. Therefore by doing something different each time
we are touching our entire audience base."
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