The booze-fuelled lifestyles of characters on new TV show The GC will turn Kiwis off going to the Gold Coast, an Australian tourism boss fears.
The GC - a "factual reality" show following a group of young Maori on the Gold Coast - aired on TV3 on Wednesday night. Itwas the channel's top-rating show of the night, drawing more viewers than 3News and Campbell Live, and became a trending topic worldwide on Twitter. But the show, which was granted $420,000 in NZ on Air funding, has also been written off by reviewers and is the subject of much criticism on social media.
Gold Coast Tourism chief executive Martin Winter said The GC had highlighted a small segment of the Kiwi community in Queensland whose lives were "less mainstream but potentially more entertaining for television audiences".
Mr Winter said the show's producers needed to ensure the rest of the series showed off Queensland's beaches, attractions, entertainment and Australian lifestyle.
Bailey Mackey, creator and executive producer of The GC, defended the show as a positive depiction of young Maori living in Australia. He told Radio Live much criticism of the show came from people who did not like seeing Maori people being portrayed positively on prime time TV.
"A large segment of the dissenting voices that would still rather see Maori on the bottom of their shoe on Police 10/7 and those sorts of shows," he said.
