Gowns and Geysers is contracted to have at least 30 per cent te reo Māori but the show's producer Ngahuia Wade said she's all for using as much reo Māori as possible.
"I've never really done English programmes.
"Kāre e kore, ka piki ake te reo (So there is no doubt, we will use more Māori language)."
Wade said the series will feature last year's Miss Rotorua winner Atutahi Potaka-Dewes and Te Arawa FM producer and announcer Mercia-Dawn Yates, who are both fluent reo speakers.
The show will be directed by award winning reo Māori producer and broadcaster, Tina Wickliffe. And she will be joined by reo Māori consultant and Māori language champion Hemi Kelly - who will also feature in the series.
Gowns and Geysers will follow 25 women from the Te Arawa region as they compete for the crown but the driving personality of the series will be Miss Rotorua pageant director Kharl Wirepa.
"Kharl is the main character," Wade said.
"He's very colourful, he's controversial, he's just very publicly denounced P and alcohol. And so he's come on his own journey as well. And that's one of the reasons I agreed to do it because I find his story fascinating."
The Miss Rotorua pageant started in 1947 and ran until 1999. It was then relaunched in 2017 when Wirepa took over running it.
"It's a great opportunity to showcase the mana of all of our wāhine," Wirepa said.
"We break away from the very Americanised traditions of how a pageant is run, so we can empower our people."
Miss Rotorua 2021 is set to launch in June.
