| Image Alt: | A man looks up imaginatively at a Sims "plumbob" (green octahedron) which has lots of Sims imagery drawn around it |
| Genre: | Reality competition |
| Presenter: | Rayvon Owen |
| Country: | United States |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 4 |
| Camera: | Multi-camera |
| Network: | TBS |
The Sims Spark'd is a reality competition television series that premiered on the TBS network on July 17, 2020.[1] The first season of the series, filmed from December 9 to 14, 2019, features 12 contestants, selected from those known to feature The Sims in their online gaming channels, tasked with challenges within The Sims 4 to create characters and stories following the challenge's themes and limitations. Each competitor's creation is judged by a panel consisting of EA Maxis developer and The Sims 4 producer Dave Miotke ("SimGuruNinja" within the Sims Community), YouTube personality Kelsey Impicciche (known for her "100 Baby Challenge"), and singer-songwriter Tayla Parx,[1] who is also a voice actress in The Sims 4. The series is hosted by American Idol season 14 finalist Rayvon Owen.[2]
Each episode of the first season premiered on TBS on Friday nights at 11pm ET/PT in the United States, and was later uploaded on YouTube channel BuzzFeed Multiplayer the following Monday for international audiences at 8am Eastern.[3] Challenges were posted to The Sims 4 website following the series premiere to seek potential contestants for a second season.
At the beginning of the competition, all 12 contestants were assigned to teams via random draw. Each team is composed of a Stylist (handling the designs), Builder (in charge of buildings), and the Storyteller (invents the stories related to Sims). For every episode, they have to fulfill specific challenges as a team based around several scenarios.[4] [5] [6]
| Contestant | Team | Skill | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| xMiraMira | Team Llama | Stylist | rowspan="3" [7] |
| SimLicy | Builder | ||
| DrGluon | Storyteller | ||
| LittleSiha | Team Cowplant | Stylist | rowspan="3" |
| Doctor Ashley | Builder | ||
| The English Simmer | Team Gnome Ep1-2 Team Cowplant Ep3-4 | Storyteller | |
| Steph0Sims | Team Cowplant | ||
| Plumbella | Team Gnome | Stylist | rowspan="2" |
| Simproved | Builder | ||
| xUrbanSimsx | Team Freezer Bunny | Stylist | rowspan="3" |
| SpringSims | Builder | ||
| DeeSims | Storyteller |
| Team | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skill | Elimination | Skill | Elimination | Skill | Final | |
| Llama | ||||||
| Cowplant | ||||||
| Gnome | ||||||
| Freezer Bunny | ||||||
Each episode premiered on TBS on Friday nights at 11pm ET/PT and on YouTube channel BuzzFeed Multiplayer the following Monday at 8am Eastern.
As a project in planning, Spark'd had a long lead time as Electronic Arts wanted to combine the players' personal stories with a TV reality format filled with challenges. The company decided to make the show in-house instead of outsourcing it to anyone else. EA was worried about the specifics of translating a video game into another medium, and thus tried not to diverge from the main aspects of The Sims while putting an effort to represent diversity.[8] The initial idea was to develop Spark'd as a short-length show for the millennials. However, after the initial filming in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted EA to retool their marketing plans from scratch. The Sims Spark'd was found to be a fit for a TBS's ELeague Friday programming block change to include shows that are not just aimed at dedicated gamers.[9]
During and following the broadcast of the first season, EA posted Spark'd challenges on The Sims 4 website for players to complete in-game and upload to the website for the opportunity to be selected for a potential second season of The Sims Spark'd.