Survivor (UK TV series)

Survivor is the British reality game show based on the popular international reality franchise of the same name. The series aired for 2 seasons on ITV network from 2001 to 2002. When first launched in May 2001 with huge promotion and hype from the network and tabloid newspapers.

As in all versions of the show, it features group of strangers who are marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants will compete in challenges to earn either a reward, or immunity from elimination. The contestants will be progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted-off by their fellow contestants until only one remains and is given the title "Ultimate Survivor" and is awarded the grand prize of £1 million.

It was considered a failure in the ratings by the network, even though it was watched by more viewers than other reality shows at the time, including Big Brother.^[1]

Format

The show follows the same general format as the other editions of the show. The players are split between two "tribes", are taken to a remote island and are forced to live off the land with meager supplies for an extended period of time. Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the teams against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for "immunity", forcing the other tribe to attend "Tribal Council", where they must vote off one of their players.

Once about half the players are remaining, the remaining players are merged into a single tribe, and competitions are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players that are voted out at this stage form the "Tribal Council Jury". Once down to two people, a final Tribal Council is held where the remaining players plead their case to the Jury as to why they should win the game. The jury then votes for which player should be considered the "Ultimate Survivor" and be awarded the grand prize of £1,000,000.

Seasons

Controversy

Finale Televoting Controversy

There was a minor controversy when viewers were invited to phone in to cast their preference on who should win the first season. This was done via a premium rate phone call. Despite being told many times by the host that the phone vote would not be counted in the final tally, several viewers felt cheated. This was rectified for the second series, where the phone vote did count for the final results and was used as one jury vote.

I'm a Celebrity ... Lawsuit

While Survivor did not succeed for ITV, the network did find success with I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, with many similarities to Survivor, and which received massive ratings in August 2002. The show's similarity in content to Survivor led many viewers (both in the UK and US) to believe that the shows had some licensing agreement, however this was not the case. Legal action was sought by CBS to prevent broadcast in the US however the court ruled against, stating that "Celebrity is different enough from Survivor that CBS would have difficulty prevailing in its underlying copyright infringement suit."^[2]

See also

• American Survivor
• Australian Survivor
• Survivor NZ
• Survivor South Africa
• I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
• Shipwrecked
• The Island with Bear Grylls

References

External links

• Survivor at UKGameshows.com