GAME: Extreme fisherman, and now host of the country's most popular TV show, Matt Watson with a kingfish caught off the Karikari Peninsula. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
GAME: Extreme fisherman, and now host of the country's most popular TV show, Matt Watson with a kingfish caught off the Karikari Peninsula. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
A Northland-made fishing series has beaten big-budget international competition to be voted New Zealanders' favourite TV show.
The ITM Fishing Show, hosted by Northland extreme fisherman Matt Watson, has ousted the long-running soap Shortland Street from the number-one spot in the TV Guide Best on the Box Viewers' Choice Awards.It was also named Best Sports Show, a title held for the previous three years by The Crowd Goes Wild.
Watson said the win was a big deal for the Kerikeri-based production company.
"As a smaller local show based in Kerikeri, we don't have the same media presence as other programmes. So to get this recognition from the viewers we're stoked, but more so, I think it shows how much Kiwis are into fishing, and that viewers can relate to our Kiwi number-8 wire style of show."
A total of 466,000 votes were cast, giving The ITM Fishing Show a landslide win despite strong competition from local and international programmes.
The voter response spoke volumes for the motivation of fisherfolk and the seriousness with which they took their sport, Watson said.
"We definitely don't follow TV trends or production styles, we're unashamedly a fishing show made by fishing enthusiasts, but we seem to have more and more non-fishers watching every season. When we make the show we just try to do stuff we think is cool or interesting, and we listen to what our fans have to say."
The show has just been signed on a multi-year broadcast deal with TV One with a new timeslot to be advised later.
