The new series, which will see celebrities go head-to-head in a cookery contest onboard Britannia, is to be aired in March 2016, with Blur’s Alex James, Boyzone’s Keith Duffy, Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford, and JLS’s JB Gill among the confirmed amateur chefs.
P&O’s marketing director Christopher Edgington described the series as a “great opportunity to showcase both dining and travel”.
“P&O owns the global rights to the Battlechefs concept and with 101 [Carnival Corporation] ships around the world, we believe we’ll sell it around the world as a sort of ‘global Masterchef on ships’,” he said.
The celebrities will spend a week onboard in teams of five, disembarking in the Mediterranean each day to buy fresh produce and taking it in turns to cook for the Captain’s Table, with judging to be done by one of the line’s ‘Food Heroes’ Marco Pierre White.
The show will be aired on UKTV’s Watch channel, which Edgington said was a perfect demographic for the cruise line, with primarily 45+ ABC1 viewers.
Other news from the brand includes the extension of celebrity patissier Eric Lanlard’s successful afternoon tea concept from Britannia to Azura and Ventura.
P&O is also tying up with TV doctor Hilary Jones, who will become a wellbeing ambassador, focusing on how to stay healthy and relaxed while on holiday.
West end actor Jonny Wilkes is to become the first of the line’s “Entertainment Heroes”, which Edgington said was the first step in ramping up P&O’s “stable of entertainment”.
P&O also revealed that its next TV advert, again featuring comedian Rob Brydon, is to air on Christmas Day, hopefully during the final episode of Downton Abbey. The advert will see Brydon enjoying shore excursions in the Mediterranean instead of simply exploring the ship.
“Rob Brydon is going to form a core role of what we do going forward,” Edgington confirmed.
He added that agents should look out for “exciting announcements in the sales area” in the coming months.
“We are absolutely about making sure the relationship with agents is better than it’s ever been. We want to make it easy for agents to decide that we are the one [for their customers].”
P&O Cruises’ new UK boss Paul Ludlow said the line was currently experiencing “unprecedented demand” across all its ships.
“The focus has been on Britannia this year but the rest of the fleet has also performed very well. The brand in its entirety has had a great year,” he added.
