By NOEL MURPHY
AVALON Airport will feature contestants from The Block and House Rules in the Nine Network’s upcoming Reno Rumble series.
The new reality-style building show, which Nine hopes will draw a massive TV audience, has been filming in a specially-fitted hangar space at Avalon.
Eight teams from The Block and House Rules will face off against each other in the widely-anticipated new program, which Nine has drummed up as Australia’s “biggest head-to-head knockout competition”.
Host of The Block, Scott Cam, will oversee the clashes, featuring the champions of his show and ex-contestants from House Rules.
The show will pit two teams transforming a pair of houses each week, promising big clashes for fans of Australian reality TV.
Ann McGuinness, the producer of Reno Rumble, said the Avalon shooting was tough but enjoyable.
“It was a lot of fun, yeah,” she told the Independent.
“It was full-on but it was great.”
Avalon’s role, providing hangar space vacated with the loss of major Qantas aircraft maintenance operations, underscores a growing film and TV industry in the region.
Hollywood greats such as Heath Ledger and Mel Gibson swaggered across the plains of Lara and Little River in Ned Kelly and Mad Max, Nicholas Cage lit up the dark in Geelong with Night Rider, Baz Luhrman filmed part of his Australia locally, while McLeod’s Daughters and Blue Heelers were also shot in the district.
Local television productions have included Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys, long-time sentimental favourite Sea Change, while music vidoes have feature Jimmy Barnes at Avalon Beach as well as INXS and dozens more utilising local beaches, houses, hills, plains, rivers and urban filmscapes.
The productions continued in recent weeks with Mayor Darryn Lyons and Hollywood veteran Danny Glover shooting scenes for Geelong director/actor Rob Baard’s latest Ninja series installment.
Nine has yet to announce when Reno Rumble will go to air.
