Spy: Goldrush of filming in Central Ōtagō

Nadia Lim is rumoured to be a judge on the new season of Masterchef.

Lights, camera, action. It's all go in and around Queenstown with five television shows filming or set to film this autumn.

The trappings of television productions are enthralling locals, who we hear have been clocking the action on their mobile phones.

Three's MasterChef NZ started filming last week, and a set insider tells Spy the chemistry between the judges is incredible.

"They are getting on like a house on fire with lots of laughs and genuine banter between takes - one in particular is very funny and often has the crew in stitches," says the source. "They've also genuinely been surprised at the high quality of cooking."

Lips are remaining firmly sealed on who those judges are, but it is a fair bet former MasterChef season 2 winner and celebrity cook Nadia Lim is one. We hear Lim has also been filming her other Three series, Nadia's Farm, at her Royalburn Station just out of Arrowtown. Last week, Lim posted "the perfect end of summer" picture of herself in her huge sunflower patch, which we understand may be a symbol of the show, which is said to film with seasonal produce throughout the seasons.

Is former My Kitchen Rules NZ judge Ben Bayly a judge on the new season of Masterchef?

Spy's money is on former My Kitchen Rules NZ judge Ben Bayly as another judge. The A-list chef now has two local eateries in Arrowtown - the place to be seen, Aosta, the Italian fine-dining restaurant he teamed up with Sir Michael Hill to open in 2019, and the more family-friendly and rustic Little Aosta next door.

Our source says filming for the MasterChef series has the stunning mountain scenery as a backdrop, which so far has looked spectacular with gorgeous clear sunny days.

Rebecca Gibney's feel-good romantic drama Under the Vines started filming its second series this week.

Rebecca Gibney's TVNZ 1 feel-good romantic drama series, Under the Vines, started filming its second series this week and many of the first season's actors are back and enjoying their reunion, including British actor Charles Edwards, Sara Wiseman, and Dean O'Gorman. In a few weeks, an onset TV reunion is in store for Gibney. We hear former Outrageous Fortune star Kirk Torrance will enter the vineyard. The last time he and Gibney were on screen was five years ago shooting her Aussie series, Wanted, around Central Ōtagō. Is romance in the air for the reunion? We hope so.

The third series of TVNZ 1's dark supernatural drama crime thriller, One Lane Bridge, will again be shot in the Queenstown area from April, with pre-production in and around the picture-perfect landscapes underway.

Outrageous Fortune star Kirk Torrance is said to be joining Under the Vines.

But wait, there's more. We hear the trackers and scouts are already out around Ōtagō for Three's brand-new reality series, Tracked. The new adventure format will see teams of two from around the world race through epic, beautiful yet harsh South Island landscapes to reach the evacuation zone and then helicopter out, before they are caught by a group of elite trackers. It sounds the perfect show for Three's parent company Discovery to show on their global platforms.