Winter Olympics, new MAFS and celebrities swimming with sharks: Nine reveals 2026 programs

14 hours ago 2

Heavy coverage of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, a new Married At First Sight spin-off and a reality show sending celebrities to swim in shark-infested waters were among the new programs announced at Nine’s upfronts presentation on Wednesday.

Notably, no new scripted drama or comedy was announced, with the free-to-air broadcaster instead leaning heavily on its ratings-winning combination of sport, game shows, reality and crime for the next 12 months.

Leila McKinnon, Todd Woodbridge, Ally Langdon, James Bracey, Dylan Alcott, Sylvia Jeffreys and Ellie Cole.

It is a stark change from the days when Nine was renowned for its high-profile Australian dramas, such as the Underbelly series, Water Rats and Halifax f.p. Instead, the network is betting on viewers sticking with tried and tested entertainment formats and personalities.

Hamish Turner, director of Nine’s programming and 9Now, said the future for the free-to-air network was “the blend of entertainment, drama, sport and news”.

He said Nine’s streaming service Stan would be the main commissioner of drama, “but I would expect to see some of those coming through into the free-to-air environment”.

Turner said after the success of the network’s coverage of the Paris Olympics in 2024, they wanted to beef up the coverage of February’s Winter Olympics and then the Paralympics in March.

Ally Langdon and James Bracey will lead the broadcast from a studio in Livigno, in the Italian Alps, with assistance from Leila McKinnon and Todd Woodbridge. In Sydney, Sylvia Jeffreys and Dylan Alcott will cover the morning shift.

“Paris was this amazing moment of a beautiful city coming together with the biggest sporting event in the world and there was, there was a lot of momentum,” said Turner. “Australians did very well [on the medal table] and we saw with the numbers, even with the time zone, amazing engagement.

“And from what I understand, we’ve actually got a pretty good shot in quite a few events. We know Australians love winners and I think we’re set to see possibly a record haul in the Winter Games.”

Nine is also hoping to lure Married at First Sight fans to Stan with the new debrief show, MAFS After the Dinner Party. Airing after each dinner party episode, the show promises an “unfiltered” and a “fan-first” experience. No host has been announced.

Shark!, meanwhile, takes six celebrities, including Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ariarne Titmus and The Block host Scott Cam (“The insurance is in place,” confirmed Turner) to the Bahamas to participate in “escalating” challenges, including an open-water swim.

Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus has signed up to swim with sharks in Nine’s new reality show Sharks!

“It’s very much about facing one’s primal fear,” said Turner. “Fear is a survival instinct; it’s the thing that’s got us to being the apex predator on land. So I think being put into an environment, especially, with celebrities, where they lose all control, is really interesting to us.”

Next year will also see the launch of two new true-crime series, Naked City: Hit Men, hosted by The Age’s veteran crime reporter John Silvester, and Outback Murder Highway, which focuses on Queensland’s 800-kilometre Flinders Highway, where 11 people have vanished between 1970 and 2017.

Naked City: Hit Men promises an investigation into the real-life petty criminals who turned into some of the most feared killers in Melbourne’s underworld (and breakout characters in the original Underbelly series), such as Carl Williams and Andrew Veniamin.

Other new programs include renovation shows 1 Euro House, which features The Block’s judges Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer tackling a rundown property in the Italian village of Castronovo, and Chateau DIY Australia, which is a local version of the popular British show. Jamie Durie also returns to Nine, where he started his career 25 years ago on Backyard Blitz, to host Jamie Durie’s Future House, in which he promises to “tackle the housing crisis”.

Of the returning programs, Married at First Sight is first out of the gate, premiering after the network’s coverage of the Australian Open. The Block is back too, heading to Mount Eliza, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, for its 22nd season. Game shows Tipping Point Australia and The Floor return, as does The Hundred with Andy Lee, Lego Masters Australia and Travel Guides.

MAFS and The Block continue to be big ratings winners for Nine, but Turner said with MAFS in particular, and the controversy that can surround it, they were mindful of not allowing it to “jump the shark”.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he said. “Things can burn very brightly, and you want to manage those brands as well. We’re acutely aware of how successful the show is, and you don’t just want to unleash the whole thing, and it just turns into an absolute spectacle. It is about maintaining that brand and continuing to make it feel fresh, but not completely jump the shark.”

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