You may have noticed several announcements on social media in recent days regarding casting calls for a new television show that is promising to transform the lives of dozens of people living in the Corbin area. Senior Casting Producer Ajay Rochester has confirmed that those efforts are indeed underway, and she is inviting local residents to continue sending in their submissions through the end of this week.
Rochester, a native Australian who has worked on popular reality TV shows such as Dance Moms, 24 Hours to Hell and Back with Gordon Ramsay and Naked and Afraid, said that the new show, which has not yet been named, is being produced by Biggest Loser creator Mark Koops. She said that, while this new project will share some parallels with Biggest Loser, it will be something unique that viewers have not seen before.
“Biggest Loser’s main intention was always to transform people’s lives,” Rochester explained. “Now, with breakthroughs in technology and medicine, there are so many other ways that people can be helped. I think that Mark is wanting to explore what that would look like in a small town, and in a way that is uplifting and communal.”
Rochester said that the basic premise of the show will be 100 people going on a journey together with the main goal of enriching their lives. She said that the show will be centered in Corbin, but individuals living outside of the immediate area could be eligible to also participate. She said that casting personnel are looking to recruit a diverse group in terms of background and age, and there will be chances to win various prizes, although exactly what those prizes will be is still yet to be determined.
Rochester and her partner, Moriah Polido, have been in town over the past several days on behalf of INE Entertainment in order to begin the process of finding potential candidates for the show, which she said will hopefully begin filming this fall. “This is really where a show starts to come together,” she said of the ongoing casting efforts.
When asked about the process that ultimately led to Corbin being chosen as the focal point for this new show, Rochester said that producers tasked researchers with finding communities that fit a particular mold. After looking at certain elements, such as population numbers and several health-related statistics, Corbin ended up checking all of the boxes that creators were looking for.
Rochester has enjoyed her time in town so far, saying, “After the last few days of being here in Corbin, I have absolutely fallen in love with this place.”
Rochester and Polido were present at this past weekend’s July 4th celebration at the Corbin Arena, and they are looking forward to meeting more potential candidates this Thursday, July 10, at open casting call events that have been scheduled for noon-3 p.m. at Corbin City Hall and at the Wrigley Taproom and Eatery in downtown beginning at about 5 p.m.
Once filming gets underway, Rochester said that there will be opportunities for the entire community to get involved with the project. “The whole town will be involved,” she said. “You don’t have to be on camera to be involved. There are going to be events that will include the whole town.”
Rochester could not say right now what network the show will air on, but she did say that it would be a major network, and added that the project will involve a trainer who is a well-known name. She said the filming process would take a minimum of three months, and then an additional 6-12 months would be required after that for final production to be complete.
If all goes well, the new show should be ready for television sometime between mid-2026 and early-2027.
For more information on how to possibly be considered for inclusion in the show, go online to www.corbincasting.com. Those interested can also attend one of the two previously mentioned open casting call events on Thursday, or they can look for Rochester and Polido to be set up with a booth at this Saturday’s Cumberland Valley Cruise-In event in downtown Corbin between 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
The News Journal will provide future updates on this project as details become available.
