From a media release:
Award-winning global media company, marblemedia along with broadcast partners BYUtv (US) and TVOkids (Canada) announce their premiere dates for season 5 of the high-octane series All-Round Champion. Season 5 is set to air first on BYUtv on Sunday, January 15 at 5pm PT, followed by TVOkids on Wednesday, February 8 at 5pm ET. This latest season comes at the heels of the series winning Best Children’s or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards.
For the first time in All-Round Champion history, Season 5 will feature a cast fully comprised of para-athletes—competitors with physical disabilities. However, true to the format, they won’t be competing in their own sports; they’ll be competing in each other’s to see how proficient they can become in a new sport in a short period of time. To reach this goal, they must excel beyond their own expectations. They must learn new skills, persevere, overcome their own physical and mental limits, and most importantly, adapt their abilities to the sport and the sports’ equipment. The athlete with the most points at the end of the season will be crowned the All-Round Champion!
The talented athletes and their sports this season are Brayden Butler (Climbing), Bradley Pedrick (Sailing), Dominic Demaio (Rowing), Gurnoor Chouhan (Goalball), Jackson Atwood (Wheelchair Basketball), Lily Brook (Adaptive Boxing), Maggie Manning (Sledge Hockey), Momo Sutton (Swimming), and Samantha Fraser (Track).
The 10-episode, 60-minute series is hosted by Olympian and World Champion Perdita Felicien, who brings mentorship to the young athletes, along with weekly sports stars that coach and encourage the participants through their respective sports. For this fifth season, some of the sports stars include Britain’s most successful Paralympic sailor, Helena Lucas; four-time Paralympic swimming gold medalist, McKenzie Coan; 31-time Canadian track champion, Josh Cassidy; and Matt Scott, a two-time Paralympic champion in wheelchair basketball and the first disabled athlete featured in a Nike commercial.
All-Round Champion is adapted from the wildly successful Norwegian Best i mest (NRK), which won an International Emmy Kids Award for Non-Scripted Entertainment, as well as a Prix Jeunesse. marblemedia was granted North American format rights from Beta Film.
Executive Producers of the series include Matthew Hornburg, Mark J.W. Bishop, Steve Sloan, and co-Executive Producer Donna Luke for marblemedia, Jeff Simpson and Andra Johnson Duke for BYUtv, and Kirsten Hurd for TVO. Perdita Felicien also serves as Producer.
Image courtesy of Mark Owens.
