For four weeks in February thousands of 94.5 Kfm listeners searched for the illusive Fugitive in the second installment of this popular reality game, which this year had a record bounty.

‘The Fugitive’ on 94.5 Kfm with Vodafone Live from Vodacom saw R573 000 in cash handed over to 22 winners.

Bounty hunters were tasked with following the clues on air to track The Fugitive down and could share in the cash if they got the right answer to the question “Are you The Fugitive?”

The mischievous Fugi also turned the game on its head. He asked listeners on his trail to dress up in outfits depicting the Mother City, The Fugitive, Vodafone Live and/or 94.5 Kfm and awarded R75 000 to the fashion parade winner at the V&A Waterfront.

Adding a second twist to the game, he then put the game on hold to declare Thursday, 28 February “I love Fugi Day.” Hundreds of Fugi’s adoring fans gathered at Canal Walk Shopping Centre with creative banners and posters declaring their love for him. The Fugitive chose his favourite and the winner became R100 000 richer.

This year the station added its listener loyalty programme, KlubVIP, into the mix and participants had the opportunity to win one of four Fugi laptops.

They had to listen out for the keywords given out daily by the 94.5 Kfm presenters. These were then either sent to the station via sms or entered on the KlubVIP website. All correct entries received were entered into the draw for the laptops.

In addition KlubVIP offered listeners the chance to track The Fugitive in style with the station’s Ground Patrol team. One lucky listener joined them in their 94.5 Kfm branded Chrysler Jeeps in search of The Fugitive.

During the promotion the 94.5 Kfm website received 140 576 hits on the homepage. The public’s interest prompted The Fugitive’s nemesis, Inspector Hector, to set up his own page on the social networking website Facebook. He made no less than 286 friends, who all offered to help him bring The Fugitive to book.

“This game is about our listeners interacting with the station, so we used as much available technology as possible to enhance their ‘Fugi’ experience. The added off-air elements like KlubVIP, Ground Patrol and Facebook made the hunt more interesting and gave more listeners the chance to win, “said 94.5 Kfm programming manager, Ian Bredenkamp.

“Of course winning the vast sums of cash is the ultimate reward, but it’s also about the thrill of the chase and we certainly gave ‘Fugi’ players a run for their money!” he said.