Like Shipwrecked but with evictions (Survivor)

Member Name: mikeb

Product:	Survivor
Date:	07/06/01 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: People you don't like are voted off, £1 million to winner, can be addictive to watch

Disadvantages: Familiar format, animals killed, over the top presenter

Yet another public participation/voyeur type programme has hit our screens in the form of Survivor.

Following on from similar shows like The Mole and Big Brother, which has also recently returned to our screens, Survivor has received a slightly muted start to its run. The show is set on a tropical island and in many ways is like the programme Shipwrecked on Channel Four, but with a gameshow twist. It follows the predictable format of sixteen contestants being whittled down by a process of regular votes to one winner – the ultimate survivor.

At the start of the game the sixteen competitors were split into two tribes of eight named Helang and Ular. Each tribe then had to construct their own base camp where they would sleep at night. This gave the groups a chance to see who was likely to emerge as a leader and innevitably led to the odd argument between contestants.In each episode the two tribes compete in the reward and immunity challenges.

The reward challenge is, as the name suggests, a game which rewards the winning tribe with extra provisions such as chickens and even luxury things like chocolate. The immunity challenge is the more important one as the losing team must face “Tribal Council”. This is where each member of the tribe has one vote each and must cast that vote, in a secret ballot, for the tribe member they wish to vote off the island. It is not against the rules to discuss potential votes in advance and this has resulted in both tribes forming fragile alliances within them.

After six contestants have been voted off the island the two tribes will merge into one. Further reward and immunity challenges will follow and every member of the merged tribe must visit the Tribal Council on a regular basis, with only that days immunity challenge winner exempt from being voted off. When only two contestants remain, the previous seven people voted off the island will act as the judges as to who is considered
the ultimate survivor of the two and winner of the £1 million pound prize.

The presenter who oversees all the challenges and the voting at the Tribal Council is Mark Austin who is better known as a news correspondent and carries out his role in an extremely serious manner. This was probably intended to build the tension but comes across as a bit laughable and over the top. In addition to the action from the island there is also a weekly update programme back at home with John Leslie who interviews the latest person voted off and tries to find out what the losing survivor really thought about the people they have left behind. This part of the series was given added publicity when it was revealed in the press that two of the Helang tribe, Charlotte and Adrian, had an affair on the island leading Leslie to try to get other members of the tribe to dish the dirt when they were voted off.

This island is perhaps not the nicest place to be cast adrift with frequent storms and many rats but all the survivors would have been aware of this beforehand so it's difficult to pity them. Although the contestants have not been totally left to fend for themselves, each tribe is given 40 days supply of rice and a small quantity of meat and fruit, they are expected to supplement their diet by catching fish or by winning a reward challenge. One of the rewards won by Helang were three Chickens and I’m sure many viewers were uncomfortable with the pictures of the tribe members preparing to kill them but, as was said on the programme, Chickens are killed everyday to be bought frozen at supermarkets and this brought home the reality of this fact. They have also killed rats by drowning them which was horrifying to watch but was again to provide food for the group.

As with Big Brother it appears that the contestants have been chosen to reflect a wide variety of temperaments and attitudes and it was obvious from the start that several personality clashes w
ere bound to happen. So far (6th June) five people have been voted off, three from Helang and two from Ular, meaning only one more person must go before the tribes are merged and I would think it is at this stage that the real game wil begin and there will be much more tactical voting to try to win the big prize. According to the programmes makers the reletively poor viewing figures were a feature of the American version of the show but the ratings improved considerably when the tribes were merged and the number of survivors was reduced. It remains to be seen if this pattern is repeated in the UK version.

Although I accept that there is a danger of overkill with this sort of programme, I still enjoy watching it and can’t resist feeling pleased when somebody I find particularly annoying, such as JJ from the Helang tribe, is voted off. I do wonder, however, whether the nicely condensed one hour shows actually reflect the reality of life on the island or if round-the-clock Big Brother style footage would reveal a different story. Who do I think will win?. Either Andy or Simon, both from the Helang tribe.

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