TORONTO — Blue Ant Media’s Cottage Life is bringing its Canadian adaptation of BBC Studios’ Life Below Zero reality series to Canadian viewers during the channel’s upcoming eight-week free preview. Life Below Zero: Canada (8×60) will premiere Tuesday, March 17 at 9 p.m. on Cottage Life.
“Life Below Zero has quickly become a worldwide success and a must-watch series amongst our Canadian viewers on Cottage Life TV,” says Jamie Schouela, president, Canadian media, Blue Ant Media, in the news release. “Life Below Zero: Canada marks our first-ever format deal with BBC Studios and we’ve married their hit concept with truly Canadian survival stories, told by larger-than-life characters who our Cottage Life viewers will love.”
Life Below Zero: Canada follows a diverse group of individuals from different cultural backgrounds, including Canadians, First Nations and Swiss trappers, giving viewers an unfiltered glimpse into how they survive “off the grid” in the coldest and most remote regions of Northern Canada. The docuseries was filmed across the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Northern Ontario, with a crew of six people travelling 120 days and shooting more than 500 hours of footage.
From long, dark, frozen winters to sweltering, bug-infested summers, Life Below Zero: Canada captures the daily trials of people living in unforgiving environments. The stars of the series include: Becky Broderick (pictured), who left Sudbury to start a family in the remote northern wilderness; Bentley Kakekayash, who was born in a remote North Caribou Lake First Nations community only knowing life in the bush; “Pike” Mike Harrison, a self-professed “lone wolf”, who has spent the last two decades living in isolation in a cabin he built himself; and best friends Kim Pasche and Pierre-Yves Duc, who moved from Switzerland 10 years ago to life off the land in the Yukon.
Based on the original Life Below Zero format licensed and distributed by BBC Studios, the Canadian series is produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company. Paul Kilback and Tara Elwood are the series producers. Paul Kilback, Victor Kushmaniuk and Mark Stevenson serve as directors. Michael Kot, Betty Orr and Paul Kilback serve as executive producers. Overseeing the series for Cottage Life TV is Sam Linton, head of original content for Blue Ant Media.
Cottage Life TV’s nationwide free preview runs from March 2 to May 3.
