By Ed Waller
C21 Media

Ladette to Lady, another of RDF Media’s transformational Pygmalion-style reality formats from the UK, has finally found its US home, with The Apprentice host Donald Trump attached to coproduce.

MTV is the network, and it has greenlit eight hours to air this summer, coproduced by RDF USA and Trump Productions. The US version has yet to be titled, but is unlikely to use the original title since ‘Ladette’ is something of an English colloquialism.

RDF and Trump first teamed to take the format stateside last July under the title Lady or a Tramp, having then won a development commitment from Fox. That commitment has evidently passed and the format was taken to the Viacom-owned cable channel.

The series was perhaps commissioned on the back of all the drunk-driving, rehab-dodging, drug-fuelled female celebrities in the media these days. The format takes 15 such party girls and puts them in a strict boarding school where they are coached in self-improvement.

“The media often glamorises young, out-of-control women – our show is about getting to the roots of their behaviour. This show has already pulled in huge numbers overseas," said Chris Coelen, CEO of RDF USA, adding that the show “promises to appeal to a broad-based youth demographic.”

Originally broadcast in 2005 on the UK’s ITV1, the first season of RDF’s Ladette to Lady averaged a 21.9 share. The second run reached a peak of a 24 share in its Thursday 21.00 slot. The US version’s showrunner is Liz Bronstein (Joe Millionaire, Project Greenlight).