Virgin Millionaire
Why would billionaires want to do reality television? Why would Sir Richard Branson, one of Britain’s richest people want to produce shows on mainstream American TV? You can find the answers in “The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best”, a full-on, non-stop mixture of thrills, adventure and business. The series started last night with a 2-hour premiere on America’s Fox TV.
Branson is an enigmatic character. He is the 54-year-old founder of the Virgin Group, which has under its umbrella everything from cola, rail companies and airlines to condoms, CDs and space travel. He is also somewhat of an adventurer, attempting and succeeding in numerous daredevil challenges. In 1986 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest ever recorded time. He also crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in a hot-air balloon. He’s going to send his elderly father into space for his 90th birthday!
Branson combines his two passions of risk-loving adventurer and entrepreneur extraordinaire in his first TV show, in which sixteen young hopefuls embark on a physically and mentally challenging, globe-trotting competition. The carrot is $1,000,000 plus the presidency of the Virgin Group for six months, just the kind of prize any gung-ho twenty something would risk their high teeth for.
It is all nail-biting entertainment of the highest order. The challenges on the first show include a heart-stopping walk between two balloons 3,000 metres up, with a picnic on top of one balloon. Another challenge entails going over Africa’s Victoria Falls in a barrel. Branson eliminates two contestants each week. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted, for TV viewers and participants alike.
It seems like a tortuous way to pick a corporate boss. Branson’s rationale is that “having the courage to know when to say no and when to say yes, to calculate the downside, to decide when adventures are just too risky” is necessary to make it to the top. However, make no mistake – the show is a marketing tool for Richard Branson and his latest venture: launching Virgin Airways in the United States.
About the Article : Agree or disagree with these statements about Richard
Branson and justify your choices:
Richard Branson sounds…
- like my kind of guy.
- like he has a death wish.
- a bit of a weirdo.
- as though he has a screw loose.
- a perfect role model for would-be entrepreneurs.
- he has more money than sense.
QUESTIONS:
- What do you think of Richard Branson?
- Would you stop / retire if you were a billionaire?
- What does it take to become a top executive? Do you have what it takes?
Source: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0411/12.richardBranson.html
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