Beijing - A Chinese television reality show hosted by former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn missed its scheduled launch last week because censors unexpectedly demanded to review the recordings, sources said on Monday.

"Just a few days before June 18, we received a notice from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) saying they wanted to check the approval," said an employee in the programming department of Heilongjiang Satellite TV, which had planned to air the first programme last Thursday.

Copies of all 10 episodes were sent to Beijing for viewing by SARFT officials, who act as the state's broadcasting censors, the employee told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone from the north-eastern city of Harbin, where the TV station is based.

"We don't know why," the Heilongjiang Satellite employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said of the official review of the show.

"If everything goes well, the programme could be aired in two weeks," the employee said.

Kahn's 10-week show, "I never give up", gives aspiring young Chinese goalkeepers the chance to win a place at the German Football Federation's (DFB) top training academy Berger Feld Schule.

"In this show Oliver Kahn is not just looking for China's new football talent, but sharing his advice for success in sports and life," German airline Lufthansa, a sponsor of the TV series, said in a statement last Thursday, apparently unaware that the launch was delayed.

After a rash of imitators followed the enormous success of Supergirl, a Chinese Pop Idol-style competition for singers, SARFT in 2007 said it would crack down on "vulgar reality shows."

It said many of the shows were "low-quality, low-brow programmes, only catering to the bottom end of the market."

Kahn, 40, who retired from playing with Bayern Munich last year, reportedly said he would be gentle with the competitors and avoid the blunt criticisms and public humiliation that have featured in shows such as The Apprentice and Pop Idol.

Kahn's show features 10 goalkeepers aged 17 to 24, including two women.

"The experience is great, the boys want to know so much, they soak everything in and want to improve," Kahn told dpa in Shanghai last month.

The show aims to reflect the "importance of individuality and personality but most of all, how the contestants handle defeat," the official China Daily newspaper last week quoted Kahn as saying.

"We don't want to do an empty and meaningless, mindless casting show," he said.

"And I don't want to be the one who 'talks big' and disses or offends the young candidates when they don't succeed," Kahn said.

Kahn made 557 Bundesliga appearances, winning more than a dozen domestic and European trophies, and was voted the world's best goalkeeper of the year three times.

Nicknamed "The Titan" or "King Kahn", he was named player of the tournament at the 2002 World Cup finals despite a blunder in the final that helped Brazil to a 2-0 win over Germany. (dpa)