The reality television luminary has struck a major deal with Netflix as he enters his third act. Darnell has signed an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with the streamer. He will also provide “strategic creative guidance” across its entire unscripted slate.

The surprising move comes three years after Darnell left Warner Bros., where he spent ten years as President of Unscripted Television.

Darnell spent ten years on the studio side, working on shows such as The Voice and The Bachelor, and nearly 20 years on the network side at Fox, where he was behind countless hits such as American Idol, MasterChef and So You Think You Can Dance as well as headline-making titles such as Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, When Animals Attack! andWho Wants To Marry A Multimillionaire.

At Netflix, he will develop and produce a range of projects from competition series to dating shows and reality ensemble projects.

Darnell, who is known for “loud” ideas and shows that “push the boundaries”, has had particular success with shiny floor entertainment shows, which has been a focus for Netflix in recent years. The streamer has been keen to crack its version of these types of formats.

Deadline understands that he will also help guide its unscripted slate, which includes big-ticket competition series such as Willy Wonka-themed The Golden Ticket and an adaptation of iconic board game Monopoly as well as its plethora of reality shows and lifestyle series.

The company said that he will “collaborate with the team on creative development and shape new ideas across the portfolio.”

The deal comes as Netflix is entering a new phase with unscripted television following the departure of Jeff Gaspin, who ran the division as VP, Unscripted Series.

Darnell started at Fox in 1994 as director of specials and rising to President of Alternative Entertainment.

American Idol was arguably his biggest hit at the network with the U.S. adaptation of the British music competition becoming a massive hit and running for 15 seasons on Fox from 2002. Other credits at the network include Temptation Island, which is now on Netflix and heading into its third season, Joe Millionaire, So You Think You Can Dance, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, The X Factor, The Simple Life and a trio of Gordon Ramsay shows: Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares and MasterChef, all three of which are still on the air.

When he left Fox in 2013, Rupert Murdoch called him a “pioneering force in shaping the reality programming genre”.

Later that year, he joined Warner Bros as President of Unscripted Television, where he oversaw hundreds of shows. In addition to overseeing The Voice and The Bachelor franchise, he was behind a raft of cable projects as well as series such as NBC’s Ellen’s Game of Games, Fox’s Mental Samurai, CBS’ The World’s Best and The Ellen DeGeneres Show as well as Friends: The Reunion.

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