BBC AMERICA Unveils Its Royally Mad Final Five

NEW YORK, March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After its nationwide search to find the country's most devoted royal fans, BBC AMERICA today unveils the five finalists who will join Cat Deeley on a whistle-stop tour of royal London, as part of its original program, Royally Mad.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110303/NY58866 )

From an air steward to a wedding planner, the finalists come from all over the U.S. and include two life-long friends who live on opposite sides of the country and haven't seen one another in 10 years. The one thing they ALL have in common – they ADORE the Royal Family. BBC AMERICA's Royally Mad will give them the chance of a lifetime: to visit places associated with the Royal Family and the Royal Wedding and meet some of the people who know Kate and William and who are involved in the upcoming nuptials.

Perry Simon, GM Channels, BBC Worldwide America says: "When we set out to cast Royally Mad we were looking for Americans from all over the States, whose enthusiasm and delight in all things royal set them apart from everyone else. And that's just what we've found in our final five. They're passionate about the Royals and this lies at the very heart of our show. I've no doubt they will have a fantastic time with Cat in London and that this will shine through when Royally Mad premieres on BBC AMERICA on April 12."

Revealed for the very first time, the Royally Mad Final Five are:

Holly Passalaqua and Karen Bishop

29-year olds Holly and Karen grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, where they met and became life-long friends thanks to their mutual admiration of all things Royal. On the day Princess Diana died both girls stayed talking on the phone for hours to mourn the loss of their beloved icon. Although they went their separate ways after High School they made sure to stay in touch on the anniversary of Diana's death via phone, email - and more recently via Facebook.

Holly currently resides in LA with her two cats – Prince William and Prince Harry - and writes a pop culture blog called Sweet Girl Sometime where she frequently posts about Will and Kate. She claims that some of her fondest memories growing up were around the Royal Family, and to have inherited her love for all things royal from her mother, who used to write to Prince Charles as a girl.

Karen is newly married after pursuing a career in Washington DC and is back living in her hometown of Jackson Mississippi. She has forever dreamed of becoming a princess. Karen loves that Kate has grown up in a regular family and therefore has an understanding of the people.

Allison Lackey

24-year old Allison hails from Chicago, Illinois. Her interest in the Royal Family first began while watching her mother mourn the death of Princess Diana and she has been fascinated with them ever since. Since the Royal Engagement Allison has become a full-on fanatic. Every morning she wakes up to her Google alerts for the latest information about Kate and William and, as a Christmas present, her boyfriend bought her a replica of Diana's blue sapphire engagement ring. Allison has already requested April 29 off work so she is able to celebrate the nuptials and she is hosting a bachelorette party for Kate in Chicago. Allison is working hard to learn the history and traditions of the Royal Family while trying to better understand them.

Lori Butler

A self-proclaimed walking encyclopaedia of royal trivia, Lori Butler lives in La Vergne, Tennessee. She is completely fixated with not only royalty, but also weddings. She's a certified wedding planner and can't think of anything better than a combination of the two. Lori has had a serious obsession with the Royal Family for as long as she can remember, amassing a vast collection of memorabilia. She remembers staying up all night to watch the wedding of Charles and Diana (even though she was 9 months pregnant with her daughter at the time) and even convinced her daughter to get married on the 25th anniversary of the wedding.

Rich Lorich

Despite working as a flight attendant and travelling all over the world, 41-year old Rich from L.A. has never been to London! Rich recalls right where his addiction to royalty began: July 29, 1981 – the wedding of Charles and Diana. While the other boys were outside, Rich was watching the royal nuptials on a six inch black and white television. Rich is not only fascinated with William and Kate, but everything royal and claims to know way too much about the entire Royal Family. He can't wait for April 29.

Part one of Royally Mad premieres Tuesday, April 12, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT and part two of Royally Mad premieres Tuesday, April 19, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. For more information on each of the five finalists, and to see their audition tapes, an embeddable clip is available at: http://www.bbcamerica.com/video/royal-wedding-hq.jsp.

Royally Mad is the latest addition to BBC AMERICA's robust Royal Wedding programming. The channel has already aired two original BBC World News America specials, William & Kate: Modern Monarchy and Modern Monarchy: Here & There with an additional BBC World News America special Modern Monarch: Do's and Don'ts premiering later this month. Follow BBC AMERICA'S continued coverage on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheRoyalWedding,

Royally Mad is a Lion TV production for BBC AMERICA. Executive Producers are Antony Tackaberry and Allison Corn for Lion Television, Cat Deeley for Deels, Inc, Jeff Golenberg, and Christina Guelazzi at The Collective, and Rachel Smith is Executive in Charge of Production for BBC AMERICA.

About BBC AMERICA:

BBC AMERICA delivers U.S. audiences high-quality, innovative and intelligent programming. Established in 1998, it has been the launch pad for talent embraced by American mainstream pop culture, including Ricky Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Norton, and successful programming formats including ground-breaking non-scripted television like Top Gear and top-rated science-fiction like Doctor Who. Owned by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBC AMERICA has attracted both critical acclaim and major awards including an Emmy, four Golden Globes and ten Peabody Awards. The channel attracts one of cable's most affluent and educated audiences and is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 68 million homes.  It broadcasts in both standard and high-definition, with content available On Demand across all major digital platforms. Online, www.bbcamerica.com is the place to go to dig deeper into pop culture with a British twist.

Find out more by visiting  www.press.bbcamerica.com or follow us on www.twitter.com/bbcamerica.

About Lion Television:

With offices in London, New York and Glasgow, Lion Television is one of the most successful independent production companies in the U.S. and UK. They have produced programming for PBS, MTV, Fox, History, E!, Bravo/NBC, TLC, Discovery Channel, Discovery Health, Animal Planet, Style, History Channel, Planet Green, MSNBC, CBS, A&E, HBO, VH1, Court TV and National Geographic, among others.

Formed in 1997, Lion Television specializes in bringing their unique brand of documentary, investigative, entertainment and historical programming to broadcasters around the world. Past productions include the breakthrough factual series "Castaway," the HD experiential series "Atlas" for the Discovery Channel U.S. and, most recently, "Britain From Above," a landmark series that aired on BBC One, Two and Four. Past U.S. productions include "It Takes a Thief" for Discovery Channel, "S.W.A.T. USA" for Court TV and "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" for Style.

In 2010, Lion Television USA celebrated its third consecutive Emmy win in the Outstanding Game Show category for "Cash Cab" on Discovery Channel. "Cash Cab" is made locally in more than 40 countries and has aired more than 250 episodes in the U.S. and 2,500 episodes worldwide.

Lion Television (www.liontv.com) is an All3Media Company.

SOURCE BBC AMERICA