YNN.com

Syracuse / Oswego / Auburn

Change region

  68º

09/27/2011 07:15 PM

Reality show taped at castle

By: Brian Dwyer

When you think of castles on the 1000 Islands, Boldt Castle is sure to come to mind. But there's another, lesser known one. It's farther out and only recently opened up to the public. As Our Brian Dwyer reports, Singer Castle on Dark Island could get its chance to shine after a major cable network shot a pilot there for its newest reality show.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY, N.Y. -- From the minds of the man who helped create "The Amazing Race" and super producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer comes a brand new reality show, "The Great Escape."

Teams of two, put in very strange situations, trying to get out as fast as they can. The first episode, shot earlier this month, will be focused on the very creatively built Singer Castle on Dark Island just north of Alexandria Bay.

"They looked at our passageway systems and underground tunnels and turret dungeon, our south boathouse and our north boathouse. They devised how the whole great escape would come together," said Tom Weldon, Singer Castle General Manager.

The 109 year old castle features very unique ways to get in and out of those passageways and tunnels.

"They were used by servants to have short cut routes. They could get out, but people couldn't get in unless they knew the trick," Singer Castle Historian Judy Keeler said.

Tricks the contestants needed to figure out to escape. Something Keeler says the original owner and architect would have loved to have seen.

"I think Bourne and Flagg had fun designing it and I think they would appreciate that people are having fun more than 100 years later seeing what they did," Keeler said.

The show also made several repairs to the castle, helping restore all the tricks to their original working order, including these jail cell doors.

"The latch system underneath each latch now works properly so you can close the gate. Until the guest or somebody else decides to look around a little bit, they won't discover how it actually works."

In all, about $100,000 of repairs and upgrades were made for the show. And that doesn't include the local businesses that were brought on to help get people to the Island.

"The Cedar Grove hauled out most of the crew and most of the crew members and passengers. It also hauled out the contestants out to the castle. They blacked out the boat to haul the contestants," said Larry Foster, owner of Schermerhorn Harbor.

If the TNT Network picks up the show, Weldon says another eight episodes would be shot at different locations, including a sinking ship and an insane asylum.

There's no word on when the pilot episode would air, but we'll let you know as soon as we hear more.