'The Nevada Passage' Made-for-TV Adventure Reality Show Hits Airwaves Nationwide

'The Nevada Passage' Made-for-TV Adventure Reality Show Hits Airwaves Nationwide

CARSON CITY, Nev., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- At least 2 million television viewers across the United States will see Nevada from a different angle when "The Nevada Passage," a lively one-hour adventure reality program, begins to air in syndication this month, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt announced today.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030710/NEVADAhttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050725/SLNVCOMTUR )

The upbeat program follows 20 amateur athletes from 11 states, paired into 10 two-person male-female teams by profession, as they compete in a series of adventure sports in six diverse sites across Nevada.

"The program is exciting to watch, and it is going to shatter a lot of stereotyped images about Nevada," Hunt, chair of the Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT), said. "TV viewers from Las Vegas to Little Rock and Reno to Rochester will see these men and women rock-climbing, whizzing around on Jet Skis, four-wheeling, mountain biking, snow-shoeing, sandboarding and kayaking. Seeing real people with ordinary day jobs doing extraordinary adventures on beautiful Nevada landscape will surprise many viewers."

The full national TV schedule can be accessed online at www.nevadapassage.com under the "TV" button.

"We put a group of strangers together and sent them out on a course for adventure that challenged their physical abilities and their perceptions of Nevada," NCOT Director Bruce Bommarito said. "We anticipate that viewers will have the same eye-opening experience. They will discover something new about Nevada while watching an entertaining, inspiring cast accomplish these feats. The program will expand our state's long-held legacy of gaming and 24-hour entertainment and elevate its growing reputation as an adventure travel destination."

The program was taped in May and will go on the air this week. It is confirmed to be seen in at least 95 cities including top metropolitan markets such as New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as well as key Nevada travel markets such as Sacramento, Calif., Salt Lake City and Phoenix. Nevada viewers can watch the program in Reno on KOLO-TV Channel 8 on Aug. 8 from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Aug. 14 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and in Las Vegas on KLAS-TV Channel 8 on Aug. 27 from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Video crews from the Honolulu production company TEAM Unlimited documented the athletes' six-day experience.

"Nevada's rugged beauty surprised the athletes as they biked past waterfalls, snowshoed in 80-degree weather, kayaked through a downtown casino- resort area and visited one amazing mountainous landscape after another," Hunt said. "When you watch the program you sense their excitement. We believe visitors who experience those adventures will feel the same way."

The athletes varied widely in age and occupation, ranging from a 58-year-old male lawyer from Reno, Nev., to a 25-year-old female swimwear company owner from Atlanta. Viewers will see their distinct and lively personalities come through during pre- and post-event interviews and also the six days of competition May 19-24.

Their adventure began 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip with a rock climbing competition in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The following day the teams Jet Skied on Lake Mead, the largest manmade lake in the West and then traveled north to Ely for a 200-mile four-wheel drive treasure hunt. In Lamoille Canyon, near Elko in northeastern Nevada, the athletes ascended 2,000 feet during a seven-mile mountain bike ride and then changed into snowshoes to complete a four-mile 1,600-foot ascent up one of the canyon's many mountains. Making a quick transition from snow to sand, the athletes attempted the relatively new sport of sandboarding at Sand Mountain near Fallon in northwestern Nevada. The adventures concluded May 24 with a two-person kayak competition at downtown Reno's new whitewater kayak park on the Truckee River.

"We'll do it again next year and expose more Nevada adventures and landscapes to a national television audience," Bommarito said.

Viewers interested in replicating "The Nevada Passage" themselves can find detailed maps and information on NCOT's Web site at www.travelnevada.com under the "Nevada Passage" button. DVD copies of "The Nevada Passage" will be available for purchase online at www.nevadapassage.com under the "shop" button beginning in September.

NCOT sponsored "The Nevada Passage" along with Nissan, Paul Mitchell, XTERRA Gear, XTERRA Wetsuits, K2 Sports, Kawasaki, Stearns, Atlas Snow-Shoe Company and Zorrel clothing. TEAM Unlimited and R&R Partners, a marketing and communications firm based in Las Vegas, created the six-day competition to showcase Nevada's dramatic landscape and adventure opportunities.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030710/NEVADA http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050725/SLNVCOMTUR AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Nevada Commission on Tourism

CONTACT: Chris Chrystal of Nevada Commission on Tourism, +1-775-687-4322, cchrystal@travelnevada.com

Web site: http://www.travelnevada.com/

Web site: http://www.nevadapassage.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Editors: To receive the full syndication schedule, high-resolution digital photographs and B-roll in Beta SP and DVD formats, contact Mary Paoli at R&R Partners at 775-323-1611 or mpaoli@rrpartners.com.

------- Profile: Ent