Ten sticks to what it knows best for 2021, with a sprinkling of new material

MasterChef, Survivor and The Masked Singer will be back plus a few new programs on craft making, dogs and inventors.

MasterChef, Survivor and The Masked Singer will be back plus a few new programs on craft making, dogs and inventors. Picture: Supplied

Network Ten is bringing back the bulk of its shows including MasterChef, Survivor and The Masked Singer next year, sprinkled with a few new programs on craft making, dogs and inventors.

ViacomCBS’s local content boss Beverley McGarvey said the US-owned broadcaster’s 2021 ­program slate was a “great mix of returning favourites”, aimed at its targeted audience of under 50-year-olds.

There will be three new locally produced programs: Making It, The Dog House and The First ­Inventors.

“I think it’s important for us to give people what they want, and our schedule was very consistent this year. We will certainly give them more of that but we’re adding in some new things like Making It,” Ms McGarvey told The Australian.

At its first virtual upfront event to unveil its 2021 program line-up to advertisers and media buyers on Thursday, Ten will announce the return of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! on January 3, followed by The Amazing Race and then the 13th season of cooking competition series MasterChef just after Easter.

Network Ten's content boss Beverley McGarvey. Picture: Adam Yip

Due to the coronavirus crisis, I’m A Celebrity will be filmed in northern NSW instead of Africa. The Amazing Race, which has taken contestants to Cambodia, Russia and Portugal, will also be filmed in Australia.

Australia’s third-ranked commercial free-to-air TV broadcaster will then premiere its new locally produced crafting series Making It, which is based on the US series with comedians Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.

Ten didn’t disclose the hosts of Making It, which is yet to commence filming, but Ms McGarvey said they would be “funny people”, like the US version.

Making It is expected to be followed by Survivor, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

The third season of its singing reality show, The Masked Singer, is expected to air around the time of MasterChef, slightly earlier than this year.

Ms McGarvey said The Dog House, which shows rescue dogs joining new families, was a “sweet, authentic observational show”, and nothing like Seven’s fledgling reality series Pooch Perfect featuring comedian Rebel Wilson.

The First Inventors, which will be a co-commission with SBS’s ­Indigenous channel NITV, will focus on life 70,000 and 120,000 years ago and will be presented by actor Rob Collins.

Ten’s long-running shows such as The Project, Have You Been Paying Attention? and Gogglebox will also be back.

However, it has dumped reality shows Bachelor in Paradise and Dancing With The Stars from next year’s line-up.

Ten’s sporting line-up looks light compared with Nine and Seven, with the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, MotoGP World Championship and the Melbourne Cup Carnival on the schedule next year.

Ms McGarvey said ViacomCBS spent $18bn on content annually but was tight-lipped on Ten’s budget. She said “north of 70 per cent” of Ten’s program schedule on its primary channel next year would be locally produced.