The format is the first title to emerge from the previously announced creative partnership between Talpa Studios and Kinetic Content. The series is scheduled to launch on NPO Start in early 2026.
Watch Your Back, a psychological reality format and thrilling game of strategy and deception, is currently in production for NPO Start, the Dutch public broadcaster’s streaming platform.
The format is co-created by Talpa Studios and U.S. reality powerhouse Kinetic Content (Love is Blind, Married at First Sight), in collaboration with Signal.Stream. It is the first title to emerge from the previously announced creative partnership between Talpa Studios and Kinetic Content, with each partner contributing its own creative expertise.
The series is scheduled to launch on NPO Start in early 2026.
Chris Coelen, CEO of Kinetic Content: “Seeing Watch Your Back come to life as a full production in the Netherlands is a fantastic milestone – and just the beginning of what we believe will be a powerful international format.”
Maarten Meijs, CEO at Talpa Studios explains: “Watch Your Back shows what happens when you combine the format development DNA of Talpa Studios with Kinetic’s worldbuilding and Signal.Stream’s platform-native storytelling. It’s creator-led, streaming-first, and designed to travel — a true result of global collaboration.”
Wouter van der Pauw, founder Signal.Stream, adds: “From day one, we knew this was a concept that would push the boundaries of reality television. With deception, trust, and instinct at the core, Watch Your Back demands as much from the players as it does from the viewer. We can’t wait to share it with audiences on NPO Start.”
Watch Your Back is a format co-developed by Kinetic Content and Talpa Studios in collaboration with Signal.Stream and distributed by Talpa Studios. The Dutch version – the first commission of the format – is produced by Signal.Stream.
About Watch Your Back:
In Watch Your Back, twelve celebrities enter a mansion where they lose their name and fame and become just a number. That number is on their back, visible to everyone, except themselves. No mirrors. No certainties. To stay in the game, the celebrities must uncover their own number – which changes in every episode. They can guess or form alliances and ask other contestants. But who can they trust? There’s only one place where the truth is undeniable: the Mirror Garden. Winning a challenge grants the ability to enter it and see your own back in the reflection. That knowledge shifts everything, because now one player knows not only their own number, but also who told them the truth, and who didn’t. Whatever happens… you must always Watch Your Back!
