Following
his sudden heart attack two weeks ago, it was uncertain whether
Mark Pilgrim would be able to continue hosting M-Net's new multi-million-rand game show,
Power of 10.
The production team had only recorded one of the show's 19 commissioned episodes by the time Mark had the heart attack (Monday 14 July), with the series due to start on M-Net on Sunday 3 August 2008.
Production was halted for two weeks while M-Net and production company Rapid Blue waited to hear from Mark and his cardiologist whether his health would permit the recording of more episodes. If not, a new host for the show had to be appointed.
M-Net has now confirmed that Mark will return to the set and that recordings of the remaining episodes of Power of 10 will commence today (Monday 28 July).
The hectic Power of 10 production schedule has been tweaked to accommodate Mark and give him ample time to rest and recuperate after recordings.
Carl Fischer, M-Net's Head of Original Productions, was understandably happy to see Mark on the road to recovery and back on set.
"Power of 10 is one of M-Net's biggest attractions of the year and even though the broadcasting of the show would have eventually continued despite Mark's illness, it would have put extra pressure on the production team, should a new presenter have had to take over from him," said Fischer in a media release.
"The wellbeing of our individual M-Net presenters is paramount to us and we are thrilled that Mark is healthy enough again to continue with the show."
Duncan Irvine, Power of 10's Executive Producer, says production company Rapid Blue will be carefully monitoring Mark to make sure he remains fit.
"We have received guidelines from Mark's cardiologist and will do whatever is needed to manage his health during the recordings," he said.
Power of 10 premieres on M-Net on Sunday 3 August, at 18h00, and on M-Net Series on Friday 8 August, at 21h00.
Power of 10 Mini-Site