While the series, One Night Only, is not due to screen on TV One until February, the Wanaka-based team of singers flew to Wellington on Wednesday for filming at Avalon Studios this afternoon.
Bendigo Station farmer John Perriam picked the singers after being approached by the programme's producers to enter a "Bendigo Musterers" team.
Paul Tamati, the trade marshall for the Upper Clutha A&P Show, is a member of the team and a well-known singer in the Upper Clutha.
He told the Otago Daily Times he could not reveal too much about the contest because he did not want to spoil the programme.
Other members of the Bendigo Musterers are Becky Murray, Tom Macdonald and Nicky Blanchard, who are all from the high country, and Will Austen and Andrea Beryl, who Mr Tamati said were recent converts to the farming way of life.
Sources had revealed a little about the Paekakariki team's singing abilities, but Mr Tamati was not prepared to speculate on how the musterers might perform.
He refused to say what they would be singing today, "but it will be three items in front of a live audience".
The contest requires the group to perform a mandatory solo and group item with the third item to be of the group's own choice.
"We are all nervous. It's all our first time in front of TV. And because we are in the promo video for the whole series, we've had a lot more film work than others," he said.
Much of that promotional video was filmed in tussocks on Bendigo Station.
They have been working for four months with a choreographer and singing coach supplied by TV One.
If they win, they intend to donate their prize to a community cause, but the recipient remains confidential as the group wants it to be a surprise.
Mr Perriam said the team was "very talented" and had been practising day and night.
He was invited to put up a team after Bendigo Station featured on Country Calendar recently, he said.
A Wanaka Volunteer Fire Brigade singing ensemble was also filmed for the same television series this week.
Senior firefighter Garth Campbell said yesterday six brigade members, comprising himself, Rob Caig, Ken McKenzie, Nick Stace, Tyrone Smith and Hamish Hunt enjoyed their sing-off against a group of nurses and felt their Wellington mission had been successful.
The results could not be officially announced until the series screened and the brigade members had promised not to tell anyone how they went, he said.
