Survivor (UK TV series)
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Survivor (UK) was the British version of the American reality show Survivor. The show was broadcast by the ITV1 network. It hit screens in the United Kingdom in 2001, with huge promotion and hype from tabloid newspapers. The Grand Prize was £1,000,000.
The series was a failure in the ratings and only ran for two series.
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[edit] Format
A group of contestants (sixteen in the first series; twelve in the second series) were marooned on a desert island and split into two tribes. For the first 20 days, the two tribes competed against each other in reward challenges and immunity challenges. The tribe that won the reward challenge received a special treat that made their life on the island more comfortable. The tribe that won the immunity challenge was completely safe from any eliminations for three days.
Meanwhile, the tribe that lost the immunity challenge were forced to vote one of their own number off the island. Contestants were free to discuss and scheme about who they wish to vote off, and many alliances were made and broken as the series went on.
After 20 days, the remaining members of the two tribes merged, and the game would change completely. Reward and immunity challenges were competed for on an individual basis, with the remaining contestants battling to prevent themselves from being voted off. After tribal merger, every contestant who was voted off joined a jury that decided who won the £1 million prize. They were given the choice from the final two contestants.
[edit] Series One (2001)
The first series was filmed on the island of Pulau Tiga in the South China Sea, which was also the site of the first American Survivor series. It was broadcast weekly from May 21, 2001 to July 25, 2001. The initial tribes were Helang (Eagle) and Ular (Snake).
The players were (in the order they left the show)
- Nick Carter, 38, Manager at a drugs company (Ular)
- Jennifer "JJ" Adams, 37, Personal Assistant (Helang)
- Uzma Bashir, 30, Owner of children's nursery (Helang)
- Sarah Odell, 33, Model (Ular)
- Jayne Meyler, 47, Massage Therapist (Helang)
- Adrian Bauckham, 22, Barrister's clerk (Helang)
- Simon Dunkley, 35, Financial Sales Manager (Helang)
- Andy Fairfield, 41, Long-haul airline pilot (Helang)
- James Stroud, 40, Property Developer (Helang)
- Pete Farrar, 30, Model and actor (Ular)
- Zoe Lyons, 29, Bartender and actress (Ular)
- Eve Holding, 30, Project manager (Ular)
- Mick Easton, 55, Retired policeman (Ular)
- Richard Owen, 33, Fellow in Clinical Psychology (Ular)
- Jackie Carey, 31, Purchaser in airline industry (Ular)
- Charlotte Hobrough, 24, Detective Constable (Helang)
The series was perceived as being not very popular with UK viewers, despite gaining more viewers for the main one hour show than Big Brother, a reality tv 'hit'. Tabloid newspapers were quick to criticise the show, despite trying their best to promote it before the series had began. Despite this, the final show received 7.92 million viewers, which discounting the Big Brother final was the biggest non-soap audience on television that week.
The show aired four times a week on ITV1. On Monday and Wednesday, highlights from the camp were shown, presented by Mark Austin who also spent 40 days on the island with the contestants. On Tuesday and Thursday, an interview was conducted with the latest contestant to be voted off the island, presented by John Leslie.
After tribal merger, ITV1 decided to reduce the show's output. Only one highlights show was shown each week, and one interview show, due to fears that viewers were becoming overwhelmed with the amount of coverage that the show received.
The show faced criticism from some fans, when contestants Charlotte Hobrough and Adrian Bauckham slept together and ITV1 did not broadcast this. Those who accused the show of being boring wondered why the biggest event of the show so far had not been shown. Other major events - such as Richard Owen and Jackie Carey's secret alliance, which lasted for the entire series, were left out by producers.
The biggest surprise of the show was that it was Charlotte who was the winner. She was a member of Helang tribe, who were outnumbered by Ular tribe members at tribal merger. However, after successfully voting out everybody but her, the Ular tribe members began to vote against each other, allowing Charlotte to make it through to the final two, along with Jackie.
The Grand Prize winner, Charlotte Hobrough , won by a 7-0 vote.
[edit] Series Two (2002)
Despite the lack of success of the first series, ITV1 decided to bring back Survivor with some major changes. The second series, known as Survivor: Panama, was filmed on two islands in the Bocas del Toro archipelago of Panama. It was broadcast from March 13, 2002 to May 29, 2002. The initial tribes were North Island and South Island.
The players were (in the order they left the show)
- Sarah McCombie, 22, financial trader (South Island)
- Lee Capon, 25, car sales manager (South Island)
- Tayfun Kadioglu, 27, professional Latin-American dancer (North Island)
- Meeta Bose, 34, financial manager (North Island)
- Helen Carney, 22, hotel worker (North Island)
- Alastair Brogan, 34, oil company director (North Island)
- Drew Agger, 27, firefighter (North Island)
- Dave Porter, 55, retired fireman (North Island)
- Bridget Griffiths, 43, shepherdess (South Island)
- John Dalzell, 32, ex-Marine now working in law (South Island)
- Susannah Moffatt, 27, teacher (South Island)
- Jonny Gibb, 30, police detective (South Island)
There were several changes in the traditional format. The number of contestants was dropped to twelve, to allow viewers to get to know the cast better. Presenters Mark Austin and John Leslie were dropped in favour of Channel 4 cricket presenter Mark Nicholas. In the fifth episode, the remaining players were merged and then told there would be no immunity this episode. At the Tribal Council they were then told nobody was being voted off that episode and that a vote by the television audience would act as a seventh jury member in the final vote. Other additions included tree mail. Contestants were given a cryptic clue about what the day's challenge would hold for them by producers.
Viewers were also promised that any major action - such as the sex that was edited out of a first season episode - would definitely be shown this year.
There was extra footage available to digital viewers. An extra show, Survivor: Raw was shown on ITV2 after the main show had aired. This was presented by last year's winner, Charlotte Hobrough, and Ed Hall. It included extra footage not shown on the main show, discussions, interviews with evictees, phone-ins and emails.
The show was more predictable the second time around, as the contestants decided to stay loyal to each other after tribal merger. The former South Island members successfully voted off all of the remaining North Island members after merger.
It should be noted that contestant John Dalzell made one of the more considerable gaffes in Survivor or indeed any reality show's history when he lost an endurance immunity challenge that involved hanging from a bar with two hands. Part way through he decided he was strong enough to beat a previous time set by an opponent and inexplicably began to perform pull-ups. The resulting effort caught up with him and the showboating cost his team a seemingly easy victory. It was a testament to the alliances he formed especially with the eventual winner that he was to finish as high as third after such a conspicuous blunder.
The Grand Prize winner, Jonny Gibb, won by a 7-0 vote. The audience vote was 89% in his favor.
Despite the changes, Survivor still received low viewing figures for its second series, and ITV decided not to bring it back for a third season. This is in stark contrast to the US version which has enjoyed consistent success and popularity.
ITV finally found a successful reality tv show with I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, with many similarities to Survivor, and which received massive ratings in August 2002. Indeed, it was so similar in many ways that the creators of Survivor tried to sue. They lost the case.
