Te Teko old boy to front Homai Te Pakipaki
Homai Te Pakipaki, New Zealand’s original talent show, has had a makeover.
The live karaoke competition premieres for its seventh season on Maori Television on Friday, at 8.30pm with a bigger grand prize, a new format and new hosts.
Former Mai FM breakfast host and Te Teko old boy Brent Mio teams up with Pikiteora Mura-Hita - the 2008 Homai Te Paki Paki Grand Final winner as they take over the reins from award-winning presenter Matai Smith to host the show.
"They are big shoes to fill", says Mio, "but I am looking forward to the challenge".
The new format, hour-long show will feature five Paki (contestants) who’ve made it through the audition process to take the stage and compete to win the $1000 prize and a 2Degrees Paki phone package.
Those who receive the most text-votes, making it through the heats and semi-finals to the Grand Final in October, will compete for a whopping $20,000 in prize money and a Mobile Phone Package from the show’s major sponsor 2Degrees.
Producer Piripi Menary hopes to see a lot of new talent come through to the Maori Television studio and lay down the challenge on the Homai stage for top honours.
"It is a show about the people for the people and we want to give them a platform…but we’re keeping it real and grassroots."
The live shows starts from Friday with registration for contestants over 16-years-old at 3pm at the Newmarket studios in Auckland.