Finding J Smith on TV2

By REBECCA BARRY

If your name is J Smith, there's a chance you will get a phone call from the contestants of a new television gameshow.

Finding J Smith with Vodafone Live (tonight, TV2) puts three teams on the hunt for one of New Zealand's 3000 J Smiths.

The mystery person TVNZ is calling the "real J Smith" is minding $250,000 in prize money the largest prize ever offered by a New Zealand television programme.

TVNZ said the show would be structured so that J Smiths would not be "randomly" contacted.

But the show's sponsors, Vodafone said there was a "distinct possibility" contestants would be contacting members of the public.

"They will need to but there is no chance that anybody who does not want to be involved will be," said Vodafone General Manager of Consumer Marketing Hamish Wilkie. "You would only get contacted a maximum of once."

Auckland comedian Justine Smith said she would probably mind if the contestants contacted her. "If I was busy I'd probably go, '[expletive] off!' It's making us sound a bit common. I mean, I think I am the real J Smith."

J Smith of Howick said, "I wouldn't mind them contacting me if they were polite."

The show's creators, Touchdown Productions - whose television programmes also include New Zealand Treasure Island, Game of Two Halves and Hot Property said the new show's format was similar to The Amazing Race, an American gameshow which sends teams on a scavenger hunt-style race around the globe to win US$1 million.

Contestants will have a limit of 15 minutes to talk to each other each day and will communicate the rest of the time using the sponsor's latest product, capable of emailing, taking photographs, and text and pxt messaging. They will also be able to interact with a team member who has access to a computer in the studio.

The prize money will be shared by the winning team and viewers who participate successfully in the show's live component, via text messaging.

Vodafone and Telecom users are eligible and text messages will cost 50c.

* When: 7.30 tonight