A popular beach spot in southern New Brunswick is the backdrop of a new competition series that will get a televised debut later this summer.
The series, Race Against The Tide, was shot at New River Beach is hosted by comedian Shaun Majumder. It features ten teams of two world-class sand sculptors competing to craft art out of sand while avoiding elimination by the rising tide of the Bay of Fundy.
“The idea was really to find world-class sand sculpture artists,” says marblemedia producer, Mark Bishop.
“As somebody who grew up in Rothesay,” recalls Bishop, “I remember there being a sand sculpture competition at New River Beach every year and I remember going and seeing these amazing creations.”
The next step was finding the perfect location to showcase the natural wonder of the Bay of Fundy. The team looked at multiple locations throughout New Brunswick and Western Canada.
Race Against The Tide host Shaun Majumder (Credit: Denis Duquette)
“In one of our meetings, I pulled out photos of my daughter playing in the beach, [Carrying Cove] in this area and I said, ‘There’s this great little beach, it would be a great spot!’” he said. “Our location scout went, took pictures and sent them in, and we looked at it and then everyone fell in love with the location.”
There were many factors the production had to consider, such as the type of sand the contestants need to work with to create their art and how and when the crew would film.
“The way we shot had to be on certain days when we were going to have enough low tide during the daytime because we have to shoot in daylight,” Bishop explained.
In addition to competing against each other, the sculpting teams would have to work against the Bay of Fundy’s tides.
“It creates a beautiful natural ticking clock, “said Bishop. “You’ll see in every episode the moment where the water comes in and just takes the sculpture away.”
Race Against The Tide was filmed in August 2020 and was one of the first shows CBC shot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Race Against The Tide sand sculpture (Credit: Denis Duquette)
Bishop and marblemedia collaborated with the local municipality, the province, WorkSafeNB, Parks NB, and Tourism New Brunswick to establish the protocols to mount a safe production. They also worked with Hemmings House Pictures to shoot the production.
“There was a lot of transparency, so there wasn’t ambiguity of the rules — they were very clear,” he said. “That’s what enabled a lot of safe jurisdictions across the province — because of the clarity of the rules and the way the province has communicated so well with everyone that it was a great place to come and work.”
Another unexpected advantage was how the series had access to its two judges, both well-known in the sand-sculpting arena, and competitors who wouldn’t have been able to participate in a regular year.
“We actually got access to a caliber of talent that we probably wouldn’t have in another year, but because of COVID and everybody was on lockdown, everybody was available,” he said.
Race Against The Tide team at work (Credit: Denis Duquette)
The production hired around 75 local staff to work directly on the show which helped create some positive local economic spin-offs during a difficult time.
“I know I’ve been a loud voice and I know there are a number of other stakeholders in the province that are echoing that as well because people would love to see more film and television production happening in New Brunswick,” Bishop added.
Race Against The Tide will be sold internationally and Bishop looks forward to seeing people around the world discovering and learning about New Brunswick through the show.
“That’s the power of the media, that’s what we can do by telling great stories and sharing them with ourselves and celebrating, using the great resources we have in Canada but then sharing it with everyone around the world,” he said.
Race Against The Tide premieres on September 9 at 8:00 PM on CBC.
