Original Nickelodeon Press Release:
NICKELODEON CELEBRATES THE HOLIDAYS
WITH SERIES PREMIERE OF TOP ELF,
FRIDAY, NOV. 29, AT 8:00 P.M. (ET/PT)
Original Competition Series Features Guest Judges Frankie Grande, Amirah Kassem, Peyton List, Alex Wassabi and Pete Wentz Joining Santa in Search of Who Will Be Top Elf
Share it: @Nickelodeon #TopElfBURBANK, Calif.,–Nov. 18, 2019–Nickelodeon is celebrating the holidays with a new competition series,
Top Elf, premiering Friday, Nov. 29, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Across five one-hour episodes, seven kid “Elf-testants” with extraordinary building and design skills compete in festive challenges to become Santa’s ‘Top Elf’ and have their wish lists granted—not for themselves, but for good causes in their hometowns.
Top Elf airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon, with the season finale airing Saturday, Dec. 21, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
In
Top Elf, Santa (Tommy Snider) and Ms. Jingles (Samantha Turret) invite seven civilian “Elf-testants” to the North Pole to test their skills in a series of holiday-themed challenges, from designing their own life-sized gingerbread clubhouses, to reimagining Santa’s sleigh, to creating giant 3-D holiday cards. And of course, building new toys!
Each “Elf-testant" is paired with one of Santa’s elves who help bring their visions to life. Meet the elves: Chip Snuggles (Rudy Martinez), Nog Shimmerhorn (David Magidoff), Ginger O’Tingleton (Jenna Wright), Merry Sparkleberry (Nataliz Jimenez), Tinsel Turtledove (Ashley August), Zippy Twinkles (Davied Morales) and Stretch McDancerpants (Eric Stretch).
The seven skillful “Elf-testants” competing this season are: Aiko from New York; Allison from Walnut, Calif.; Briana from Los Angeles; Cameron from Georgetown, Ky.; Hopper from Highland Park, Texas; Hud from Oxford, Miss.; and Justice from Jamaica, N.Y.
At the end of each episode, “Elf-testants” are judged by Santa, Ms. Jingles and a celebrity guest to decide who is on the “nice” or “naughty" list and one step closer to being named
Top Elf. Celebrity guest judges helping Santa and Ms. Jingles find the Top Elf are: Frankie Grande, Amirah Kassem, Peyton List, Alex Wassabi and Pete Wentz.
Top Elf’s original concept was created by Mike Duffy and Tim Duffy of Ugly Brother Studios, who executive produce the series along with Jimmy Fox of Main Event Media, an All3Media America company. Bob Schermerhorn (
Project Runway All Stars,
America’s Next Top Model) and Lisa Fletcher (
The Titan Games) are executive producers, with Fletcher also serving as the showrunner. Nickelodeon’s Vice Presidents of Unscripted Content Paul J Medford and Mandel Ilagan also serve as executive producers. The series is directed by Michael Pearlman (
Chopped,
Project Runway All Stars). Production of
Top Elf for Nickelodeon is overseen by Rob Bagshaw, Executive Vice President, Unscripted Content.
About Ugly Brother StudiosUgly Brother Studios is the Emmy-winning production company founded by twin brothers Mike Duffy and Tim Duffy. Ugly Brother creates and produces premium content themed around comedy, music, food and family including
Ron Funches: Giggle Fit,
The Funny Dance Show and the multi-Emmy-winning and James Beard Award-nominated
Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse, among others.
About All3Media AmericaAll3Media America is the U.S. arm of global independent television, film and digital production group All3Media. With teams in Los Angeles and New York, All3Media America’s portfolio companies are responsible for hits that include the Emmy Award-winning
Undercover Boss for CBS, the Emmy Award-winning
United Shades of America for CNN,
Chrisley Knows Best for USA,
24 Hours to Hell and Back with Gordon Ramsay for FOX, the Emmy Award-winning
Cash Cab for Discovery,
Worst Cooks in America for Food Network and
Betrayed for Investigation Discovery. All3Media’s unique federal structure, a model followed in both the U.S. and U.K., encourages the creative and strategic independence of its growing roster of production companies. Today comprised of 30 global production companies and counting, All3Media is one of the largest production houses in the world. All3Media is owned jointly between Discovery Communications and Liberty Global.
About Main Event MediaMain Event Media, an All3Media America company, is an Emmy-winning production company based in Los Angeles. Founded by producer Jimmy Fox, the company creates content across multiple genres including scripted, documentary, reality and original podcast production. Main Event is known for the multi-time Emmy-winning CNN series
United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell and Investigation Discovery’s
Breaking Homicide. Additional works include the E! drama series
The Arrangement, Snapchat’s original series
While Black, multiple specials for Discovery Channel’s
Shark Week, Amazon Prime’s docuseries
Inside Jokes, the comedy series
Hollywood Darlings for POP Network,
Is OJ Innocent: The Missing Evidence for Investigation Discovery,
It Was Him: The Many Murders of Ed Edwards for Paramount Network and
Make Me a Millionaire Inventor for CNBC. Main Event has been recognized for its work garnering TCA, NAACP and International Documentary Association (IDA) nominations.
About NickelodeonNickelodeon, now in its 40
th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit
http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).
# # #
The Real Elves of the North Pole | Trailer | NickelodeonFor more information, visit
https://www.nick.com/shows/top-elfFilming for
Top Elf begun in September 2019.
From
QNS:
Jamaica boy to star on Nickelodeon’s upcoming holiday game show ‘Top Elf’![]()
Elftestant, Justice Levenson, on Nickelodeon's "Top Elf." Photo: Robert Voets / Nickelodeon. ©2019 Viacom, International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.Justice Levenson was trying on some shoes at a Foot Locker when his mom, Davina, received a call that he’d been cast as one of the contestants on Nickelodeon’s new game show, “Top Elf.”
“My mom started screaming ‘you got the job, you got the job!’” Levenson, who resides in Jamaica and attends Stephen A. Halsey JHS 157 middle school, told QNS. “And we were all like, ‘we’re going to LA, we’re going to LA!’”
Levenson will be one of seven “Elf-testants” on “Top Elf,” which premieres on Nickelodeon on Friday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. The Christmas-themed game show will test the building and design skills of the kid contestants who will compete in festive challenges to become Santa’s “Top Elf,” and have their wish lists granted.
Their wish lists, though, aren’t for themselves — rather they are for good causes in their hometowns.
Levenson chose
March of Dimes, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of mothers and their babies, as the organization he’s competing for. The 12-year-old said the reason he’s choosing to compete for them is because his mother benefitted from their services when he was born.
“I was born at 32 weeks,” Levenson said. “When my mom was in the NICU, it was a really tense experience for her and those nurses really helped her, so we wanted to give back.”
Levenson said he auditioned twice for a spot on the show. The first time, he made a drawing that was inspired by Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” and then the second time, which took place in Los Angeles, he created a small, toy-like robot with detachable parts.
The experience will mark Levenson’s first time on TV, which he said he is “ecstatic” about. But his excitement is matched only by his two younger siblings, 11-year-old Tyler and 5-year-old Callie.
“Every time the commercial comes on they go crazy,” Davina, Levenson’s mom, said. “They lose their minds.”
Levenson said that while his mom encourages them all to act and go on auditions, he’s the most artsy of the bunch. After all, his biggest goal is to become a filmmaker and has already submitted a stop-motion movie to a film festival.
He’s now working on creating his own YouTube channel with his brother and a friend.
And although Levenson loves watching Nickelodeon — “The Loud House,” “Henry Danger,” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” are some of his favorite shows — there’s another show he wishes he can someday be on, too.
“I really want to be on the ‘Ellen Show,’” Levenson enthusiastically said. “It’s just really funny and I enjoy watching it!”
For now, Levenson is happy that everyone will get to see the show, where he said he made long-lasting friendships and got to celebrate his favorite holiday.
“My favorite holiday is Christmas since it’s a big deal in our family because my mom is from England,” Levenson said. “We have a lot of amazing traditions from her country, which include Mince pies and Father Christmas.”
Watch the trailer for “Top Elf” [above].
###
From
The Oxford Eagle:
Oxford native trying to become Nickelodeon’s “Top Elf”An Oxford youngster could earn the highest distinction a child can get this time of year.
Hud Clark is one of seven children who will be vying for the title of “Top Elf,” during a new Christmas competition show by the same name airing on Nickelodeon starting this Friday.
Clark was selected to compete on the show after submitting information to a casting agency through an email his mother received from a co-worker. After an interview process, Clark made the cut.
The show is set up in five hour-long episodes where the seven “elf-testants” are paired with one of Santa’s elves as they compete in a series of holiday-themed challenges, from designing their own life-size gingerbread clubhouses to reimagining Santa’s sleigh. The children will also be tasked with building new toys.
“(Santa) asked for a whole bunch of crazy things that we all had to build,” Clark said. “So, it’s a creative, fun challenge show. It was just an amazing experience in general, because I got to create and show off my talent.”
Creating things is nothing new to Clark. On a normal day, he is known to be drawing things or even working on Hot Wheels tracks for his friends.
“I create all sorts of stuff,” Clark said. “I’ve done a lot of really cool stuff.”
At the end of each episode, the “elf-testants” are judged by Santa, played by Tommy Snider, Mrs. Jingles (Samantha Turret) and a celebrity guest judge to decide who is on the “nice” or “naughty” list and one step closer to being named “Top Elf.”
The celebrity judges include Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, Frankie Grande, Peyton List, Alex Wassabi and Amirah Kassem.
Whoever wins the competition will have their wish list granted by Santa. The list does not contain items Clark or the other contestants would like for Christmas. Instead, the list goes toward a good cause in their hometown.
Clark chose the Thisbe & Noah Scott Foundation for his wish list. The foundation, which is named in honor of Thisbe and Noah Scott, who passed away at a young age, promotes research and raises awareness and support for children with neurological diseases. The Scotts died from a rare type of motor neuron disease, BVVL.
“Two of my best friends lost two children to a very rare disease and it just made me really sad, so that’s why I thought it should be my charity,” Clark said.
The first episode of “Top Elf” premieres on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. CT, and the finale will air on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. CT on Nickelodeon.
###
From
News-Graphic.com:
Local student competes to be ‘Top Elf’ on national TV showThis holiday season, Cameron Fulton, 12, a Royal Spring Middle School student will be among the featured participants in Nickelodeon Channel’s “Top Elf,” which premieres Friday, Nov. 29, at 8 p.m.
Cameron was chosen from thousands of candidates across the country who auditioned for the show which features seven contestants with exceptional building and design skills. The show will air every Friday until the series finale on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 8 p.m. The winner of the show will have their wish granted. Cameron’s wish is to donate to the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society.
The filming for the show has already taken place but Cameron’s dad, Ronnie, is not giving away the final winner’s identity. He traveled with his son to Los Angeles and stayed for three weeks to film the series earlier this year.
“It was not what I was expecting,” Fulton said. “It was a lot of work for everyone. “By California law, Cameron could only film five hours a day and he had to keep up with his school work for another three hours each day. It got a little stressful.”
The filming environment was busy and he counted at least 180 people on the set each day, he said.
Even so, Cameron handled the stress well, he said.
“Cameron may have been tired at some points but when the cameras started rolling he just lit-up,” Fulton said.
The effort required to create the series was surprising, Cameron said.
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More Nick:'The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage!' to Debut on Nickelodeon in December 2019!Originally published: Monday, November 18, 2019 at 19:33 GMT.
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