Living on the Edge: Sabse Himmat Wala Kon?
| Living on the Edge (TV Series) | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Waqar Zaka |
| Country of origin | Pakistan |
| Original language(s) | Urdu-English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Pakistan |
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ARY Musik |
| Original run | December 14, 2002 – September 29, 2014 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Living on the Edge – Ordinary doing extraordinary |
| Followed by | Living on the Edge: Risk taker |
| External links | |
| Website | |
It was Pakistan’s first dare reality show. Among the Pakistani TV shows it will be remembered for its revolutionary eye catching content that led it to be the highest rated show among house wives and the youth. It is also the most viewed reality show of Pakistan on social media, having number of viral videos.
Waqar Zaka Creator
Waqar Zaka the creator of the show rubber stamped the cult following by creating his own hand sign. This hand sign went on to become the official Logo which he asked the contestants to make while taking the OATH prior to competition.
The oath is:
“I am responsible for all my actions & all the reactions caused by those actions”
Early Episodes
The show started with the tag line “Ordinary doing the extraordinary”.
In 2002 during its first episodes, it started off as a street dare show where Waqar Zaka used to give dares to random people walking on the streets of Pakistan.
The show was an instant hit as it was the first of its kind in Indian and Pakistan. It was also the first reality show where the host himself, Waqar Zaka actually did the dares. Unlike similar themed shows, such as Fear Factor, Waqar was an active participant in all of the dares, even going as far as kissing a deadly cobra and having 40 poisonous scorpions placed in his mouth.
The show started the concept of performing dares with unknown people walking on the street, e.g. Host asked the contestant to get phone number of unknown girl, convince an unknown guy to dance on street, etc... In 2002, this was a new trend for TV not just in Pakistan, but around the world.
Concept of Dare
As Waqar Zaka host / creator of show explained that Dare is word which is not limited just to climb mountains or eat cockroaches; it’s a word that ultimately means “to do something with courage” and that something varies from person to person. The same trend has been followed by many international TV shows later on “I DARE YA”.
It was 2003, the format of the show changed to a completely, to something along the lines of the Survivor series & Big Brother. But the unique twist that propelled its rating was the addition of the audition process by Waqar Zaka.
The audition phase was never seen before anywhere in the world at the time. The show has a title in every season, SUB HIMMAT WALA KON,(most bravest of all), SPEED DEMON, RISK TAKER, The PLAYER and so on. Later on the same Audition format was followed by MTV Roadies which is all together a different reality show, as MTV ROADIES is a travel based reality show, while Living on the edge is more of a social experiment where the contestants are tested by making them stay together at a confined place.
Many confuse both shows because of their hosts acting in the same way or having the same audition phase but its like comparing American Idol with the Voice. MTV ROADIES is an Indian version of Road Rules, MTV America’s show which started in 1995 while Living on the Edge is all together a fresh concept where the host himself is the judge which never happened in previous shows of similar format.
Controversy
The show reached height great fame, but the audition phase was controversial. Waqar Zaka was criticized for being too rude during the auditions by media, viewers and pundits. Waqar Zaka became the most controversial TV Host of Pakistan by 2005 and his show Living on the Edge the most famous TV show especially in youth audience.
Living on the Edge last aired in 2013 and until now 7 seasons went on air from ARY MUSIK.
Show Format
1. Register through Video profile. (send in your one minute video giving just your introduction). 2. Face Waqar Zaka in personal interview , Auditions. 3. City Dares, competing against each other from the same city. 4. WAQAR’S DEN, 10 days stay at a place having no internet, TV. Facing each other’s politics 5. Winner gets the titled of that specific season, cash up to 10 Lacs Pakistani rupees
Each year millions try to enter in this show, as contestants to get instant fame from it, this is the first Pakistani show which made reality star.
Lots of ordinary Pakistani's appeared in the show who were not working in media as models, actors, etc...
This show added a new flavor to the TV Pakistani industry, which Waqar Zaka explained as:
“TV is for entertainment, not for preaching. If it is messages on morals that you want, we have schools. So don’t judge a reality show like Living on the Edge from Oprah's eyes or from an ethical angle; judge a reality show for the entertainment that it provides.”
AUDITION FORMAT:
The audition is based on three factors:
1. Your confidence. 2. Your entertainment factor. 3. Your level of daring.
Pressure test
During auditions, Waqar put pressure on the contestants to check whether their nervous system was strong enough to take the stress because they would face deadly dares during the show which could lead to heart failure if their nervous system was weak.
Personal questions
The show works on the theory, ‘Are you willing to show what you are to the entire world?’ The essence of any reality show depends on people who are willing to share their life style with the world, as if they get selected camera will be following them 24/7, so personal questions are asked in order to make the contestants feel that if you have no issues in sharing your personal life in Auditions you will not have problems later on when people question why you said this or that in Waqar’s den.
Selection
Contestants are selected based on their having a strong nervous system, camera confidence and daring ability. Some people aiming to break records in the Guinness Book of World Records often bring in their own dares, which just adds to the excitement in the show.
CITY DARES
This initial selection is followed by city dares, where the selected battle it out for their position in Waqar’s Den.
WAQAR’S DEN
The real dare begins, as 16 completely strangers to each other and for the world , have to face Waqar Zaka’s mind games , each others politics , the main dare of the show is to judge who is your friend and who is not.
Each day , Waqar Zaka brings different twists and turns to check the stability of friendship of these contestants, followed by a Dare which can be on individual basis or team basis. Winner of that dare, nominated x amount of contestants to be eliminated from the show , who later in the day face a Survival dare, which will give power to the winner of that dare, that power is carefully nominating two contestants who cannot take part in the vote out in such a way that he should not get eliminated. Finally vote out take place. One gets eliminated. The eliminated contestants become the jury of the show, they can take part in the decision making with the host too.
FINALE:
Before finale, SMS voting takes place, where eliminated contestants have a chance to be in the finale after public voting.
Two major criticisms:
Waqar explaining one criticism about Animals being used in the show as :
Animal rights
Now, coming to the animal rights issue raised in the post, firstly let me just point out that globally Fear Factor is a much loved and followed show. Why doesn't the media go crazy about abusing animals trained for such events? I’ll tell you why: it’s like saying that the circus lion or monkey is getting abused when its master hits it while teaching it tricks. If you don’t believe me, pay a visit to the Lucky Irani Circus or animal trainers at Empress Market Saddar, which is full of animals being trained to be scary and dangerous for events like ours. How come there is no media hullabaloo on that?
Do you think Greenpeace is unaware about the happenings on Fear Factor or the achievements recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records such as eating a live scorpion or a live snake? Is that not abuse?
Unoriginal Content
Roadies is a travel adventure show, where the contestants travel in different countries; while in Living on the Edge contestants stay in Waqar's Den for 10 days with strangers and try to judge who their enemies and friends are. Moreover, in Roadies a panel of judges casts contestants based on their personality traits and not on dares.
External links
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