THE SERIES THAT NEARLY NEVER WAS
Complaints from landowners in Aitutaki that they were being paid peanuts for the use of their land nearly stopped the filming before it started. The Cook Islands government had to step in and top up the compensation payments from the TV production company, amid fears that the programme would be made somewhere else. In the end, the landowners shared in NZ$150,000 (US$95,600 approx).