Beauty contest entrants find a rough touchdown in Aussie reality

Vadim Dale aka Outback Jack is the host of the new show.

Ten young New Zealand women have been flown to the mid-north of South Australia - just outside the historic town of Burra - to film a new reality TV show, Miss Personality.

The women, chosen in auditions and tests in New Zealand were told they were participating in a show involving overseas travel and a beauty pageant, but were left in the middle of nowhere.

A Kiwi journalist working with the show was sent to scout locations across Australia, and decided on Burra, 156km northeast of Adelaide because of its heritage and rugged surroundings. It is a former copper mining town on the southern edge of Central Australia's desert country.

The show's executive producer is reality TV doyenne Julie Christie from Touchdown Films, the company behind shows such as Celebrity Treasure Island and Going Straight.

The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper today reported that after "an initial panic", 10 Aussie lads on horseback - led by the show's host, "Outback Jack" Vadim Dale - arrived and took them into town, where they were greeted by most of the 1000 residents.

Every morning, the women - students, models, firefighters and flight attendants - have to win the hearts of the townsfolk by working in various businesses such as the local mechanic's workshop, bakery, deli and the real estate company.

They also compete in Aussie-style challenges, but rather than the NZ audience voting them off the show, the entire population of Burra will decide who will be NZ's Miss Personality.

Ms Christie said the townsfolk had taken the girls into their hearts.

"It's just fantastic, we're thrilled and we have been treated really well, too," she told the newspaper.

The winner will take home $100,000 while one lucky Burra resident will win $50,000, just for turning out to vote.

One contestant, Vicki-Lee, spent time this week at Goyder Auto Service with the local mechanic: "They told me to wear smart casual, but now my feet are killing me," Vicki-Lee said.

It didn't really bother mechanic Tony Gisi that she arrived wearing stilettos, and later asked him innocently, "What's a wrench?"

"She rocked up in this pink top, stilettos and jeans, and I thought, 'How is she going to work in this?', and then she asked for some overalls and away we went," he said.

"It's the first time I have seen a mechanic wearing stilettos.

"But we had her changing oil filters, rotating wheels, changing tyres, lots of things; she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. I would hire her in a second."

The locals have turned out in droves to watch the various challenges and eliminations: in true Survivor style, the challenges whittle down the contestants.

So far the girls have driven and branded cattle, swum in what they were told were "crocodile infested waters", dealt with a 2m snake and removed a Holden ute bogged in a muddy dam.

Jack webster, manager of the local BP service station, said the show had taken over the town: "It is the talk of the town; lots of us head down to the challenges and watch them; it's good fun".

"They are all great girls and are always happy to have a chat."

The show is being filmed in Burra until the final challenge on December 11, the Advertiser reported.

- NZPA