71 Degrees North is a British adaptation of the Norwegian television series '''', which had been broadcast on
TVNorge since 1999, and adapted in Sweden, Denmark, Poland, The Netherlands, and Belgium. The format was distributed by
Banijay International.
Mazda formerly sponsored the show,
Continental tires were the final sponsors. In the UK, the show was made by London-based production company
Fever Media and finished broadcasting its first series on 2 November 2010. The show was aired at 9 pm on Tuesday nights. Series 1 hosts were
Gethin Jones and
Kate Thornton.
Marcus Patric was crowned champion after a closely fought final with
Gavin Henson in the first series. A second series was commissioned by ITV and started airing on 13 September 2011 hosted by
Paddy McGuinness and
Charlotte Jackson with 12 celebrities taking part. As with the first series, the second series aired on Tuesday evenings at 9 pm. In 2011, six countries acquired both series of the UK version. They were: TV Norge,
Network Ten in Australia,
TVNZ in New Zealand,
Sic in Portugal,
TV5 in Finland and
Évasion in Canada. On 19 June 2012, it was announced by
ITV that
71 Degrees North had been axed after two series. ==Format==