Hacker Releases Episodes of Mark Burnett, Steve Harvey Show
Executive producer Mark Burnett and host Steve Harvey are the latest victims of hackers who are calling themselves The Dark Overlord.
A new reality television competition hosted by Emmy Award-winning Harvey was leaked on Sunday night by the hacker. The show, called "Steve Harvey Funderdome," was scheduled to air on ABC on June 11, according to Variety.
However, the unknown person or people being referred to as The Dark Overlord decided to release eight episodes ahead of schedule on the torrent website called Pirate Bay. The show follows inventors who have to convince a live studio audience to support their efforts in order to win seed-money that will support their budding businesses.
The hacker wrote a message along with the release of ABC's footage.
"Time to play another round. We're following through on our threats as we always do," The Dark Overlord wrote Friday before releasing the footage Sunday, Variety reports. "If you prefer your meat bloody, we're serving it bloody as can be. We're bringing another piece from the world of unaired mainstream media content."
In April, the same hackers released the fifth season of the Netflix show "Orange Is the New Black." During that release, they publicly warned a number of networks, including ABC, that they were targets.
The hacking group tweeted that more is to come. "We're calling you out: ABC, National Geographic, Fox, IFC, and of course Netflix, still. There's more Netflix on the feasting menu soon (in addition to the other studios, of course), but we'll get to that later. Enjoy the fruits of _our_ labour."
In a statement released to the media, Netflix explained how the hackers were able to obtain the information from such high-profile companies.
"We are aware of the situation," the statement released last year reads, according to The New York Times. "A production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved."