AI agent reportedly deletes season of The Challenge Sverige

TechRadar reports that the edited season of Swedish reality show The Challenge Sverige was deleted shortly before its planned premiere, though the cause has not been confirmed.

Citing sources at Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, TechRadar says production company Mastiff was finishing the show, scheduled to premiere on November 22, when it allowed an AI agent onto its server. The agent apparently deleted the entire edited show, and the files could not be recovered, according to those sources.

Broadcaster TV4 confirmed a “technical breakdown” that led to the show's files being deleted, but has not said an AI agent was responsible. TechRadar says it requested comment from TV4 and Mastiff.

The incident has pushed the show’s release from its imminent premiere to sometime in 2027; no date has been announced. Aftonbladet reported that several hundred days of work and several hundred people’s efforts are involved in the recovery work.

Presenter Ahmed Berhan told Aftonbladet he was amused when he heard the files were gone, and joked that he knew AI would be “the death of me.” The available accounts leave open what caused the deletion and what happened to the show’s backups.