CBC is returning to the beach as it renews marblemedia’s competition series Race Against the Tide for a third season.

The 10 x 30-minute new season is currently in production in New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy with an update to the format that will see 12 two-person sand-sculpting teams form two groups that will face off in four qualifying rounds, with the top two teams going head-to-head in a semi-final. The final team standing will win the $10,000 grand prize.

The series, which first debuted in 2021, challenges expert sand sculptors to create works of art along the Bay of Fundy before the tide comes in.

Rapper Maestro Fresh Wes (pictured) will return as host along with judges Karen Fralich and Rusty Croft, with season three set to premiere on CBC in 2023.

Race Against the Tide is produced by marblemedia with Saint John, N.B.-based co-producer Hemmings House Pictures. Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop, founders and co-CEOs of marblemedia, are executive producers; Hemmings House founder Greg Hemmings is co-executive producer and CEO Stephen Foster serves as producer; marblemedia’s Donna Luke is also a co-executive producer, while Carly Spencer is series producer and writer.

“Audiences’ viewing habits are constantly changing, and as producers we must pivot and change with them,” said Hornburg in a statement on the refreshed format, adding that the change will “reinvigorate our audiences’ adoration for this original series.”

The Race Against the Tide format had already proven itself internationally with production companies and studios in Europe, Australia and New Zealand optioning the rights for local adaptations.

Photo by Riley Smith