ACTRESS, COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR JENNY MCCARTHY NAMED AS THE NEW HOST OF NBC'S ADVENTURE-DATING SERIES "LOVE IN THE WILD"

Produced by Endemol USA, the Series Begins Filming This Month in the Dominican Republic

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - February 16, 2012 - The ever-engaging funny woman Jenny McCarthy returns to her hosting roots as she joins NBC's adventure-dating series "Love in the Wild" as the host for the show's second season that will feature even wilder adventures.

McCarthy will head to the tropical paradise of the Dominican Republic to guide contestants through rigorous adventures as well as the choppy waters of relationships in their quest to find love. This will be McCarthy's first return as host of a dating show since her hit show "Singled Out." The series begins filming later this month.

The announcement was made by Paul Telegdy President, Alternative and Late Night Programming, NBC Entertainment.

"It's a huge advantage to have the versatile Jenny McCarthy return to host an alternative series on our network in a genre that she first helped to make popular on television," said Telegdy. "She brings a measure of unpredictability to the show's unique format and we are thrilled to feature her charisma, enthusiasm and magnetism in this adventure series."

"Everyone knows I've looked just about everywhere except the jungle for love -- I wanted to apply as a contestant and ended up with a job," said McCarthy.

"Jenny McCarthy is a multi-faceted performer who will bring real life insight to the world of dating," said David Goldberg, Chairman of Endemol North America. "McCarthy knows a thing or two about being wild and we couldn't think of a better person as our new host. Her infectious and comedic personality will bring a new dimension to season two."

An actress, host, best-selling author and activist, McCarthy also is developing a talk show for VH1 that she will serve as star and executive producer. She recently reprised her recurring role on "Two and a Half Men" and re-joined hosts Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest in reporting live from Times Square on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest" this past New Year's. McCarthy's additional recurring guest roles on major network television shows include "Just Shoot Me" and "The Drew Carey Show." In December 2009, she reprised her starring role in "Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe," a sequel to ABC Family's wildly successful holiday movie. McCarthy is represented by WME, Untitled Entertainment and Leigh Brecheen.

In addition to her on-screen success, McCarthy is also a highly regarded New York Times best-selling author. Her latest book, "Love, Lust and Faking It: The Naked Truth About Sex, Lies, and True Romance" hit stores in 2010 and also landed on The New York Times Bestseller List. Her next book, "Sinner: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic," will be published in Fall 2012.

"Love in the Wild" puts relationships to the ultimate test with exhilarating and wild adventures that push participants to the limit, both physically and emotionally. Single men and single women, all looking for love, will experience a romantic quest unlike anything they could have ever imagined. These singles have tried it all -- speed-dating, blind-dating, Internet dating -- and now, they will journey to a tropical paradise to see if they can find that special someone for whom they've been looking.

During elimination, all of the couples will come together to reveal whether a connection has been formed with their current partner -- or if they would like to switch and get to know someone else. At the end of every episode, heartbroken singles are sent home. The series culminates with just one couple left standing. That couple will have completed the adventure of a lifetime and found the one thing they've been searching for -- "Love in the Wild."

"Love in the Wild" is produced by Endemol USA. Tom Shelly serves as executive producer.

For "Love in the Wild" embeddable clips and information on season two, please visit NBC.com's official show site: http://www.nbc.com/love-in-the-wild.

Please follow us on http://www.facebook.com/loveinthewild and on Twitter @LoveInTheWild.

About NBC Entertainment:

NBC Entertainment develops and schedules programming for the network's primetime, late-night, and daytime schedules. NBC's quality programs and balanced lineup have earned the network critical acclaim, numerous awards, and ratings success. NBC has earned more Emmy Awards than any network in television history. NBC's roster of popular scripted series includes such critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning comedies as "The Office" and "30 Rock," the latter starring Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey. NBC's drama slate includes the veteran, award-winning series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and the popular first-year musical "Smash." Unscripted series for NBC include the vocal competition hit "The Voice" as well as "The Biggest Loser," "The Celebrity Apprentice" and "America's Got Talent." NBC's late-night story is highlighted by "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," "Last Call with Carson Daly" and "Saturday Night Live." NBC Daytime's "Days of our Lives" consistently ranks among daytime's top programs in the valuable women 18-34 category. The five-time, Emmy Award-winning NBC.com streams full episodes and provides original content for NBC entertainment shows online and through apps for mobile and tablet devices. On Saturday mornings, the network broadcasts Qubo on NBC, a three-hour block that features fun, entertaining, and educational programming for kids, including the award-winning, 3-D animated series "Veggie Tales."

For more information, visit www.nbc.com.

About Endemol USA:

Endemol USA is a leading producer of television and multi-platform programming for network and cable television. The company produces the mega hits "Big Brother," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Wipeout," "Jerseylicious" and "Fear Factor." Endemol USA is a division of the Endemol Group, a prominent international content developer, producer and distributor of television and online programming. The company, headquartered in the Netherlands, has subsidiaries and joint ventures in 26countries, including the major European markets, the U.S., South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. Endemol is owned by a consortium consisting of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Mediaset Group and Cyrte Group.