Review: Survivor
The first instalment of what is expected to be ITV’s summer hit, Survivor, hit the screens yesterday in its prime time slot of 9pm. With the greed factor of Big Brother, the exotic location factor of Shipwrecked and the “at the mercy of the elements” factor of Castaway, the opening episode wasted no time in reminding us what a myriad of annoying personality traits the human race can produce.
Predictably most of the first episode was taken up with introducing the teams and the rules. Last minute sponsors of the series, Macleans Complete Care, must have been gratified (or perhaps persuaded) when they learned the most popular item chosen by the contestants as their “single, non-practical luxury item” was a toothbrush. Tabloid editors must have been equally gratified to discover that the extreme heat and humidity appeared to necessitate the contestants doing most things in the skimpiest of swimwear, while plenty of rats, insects, snakes and people who smuggled food in their rectums provided lots of good “uurgh!” moments.
Unlike Big Brother and Shipwrecked, ITV does seem to be aiming at its broader audience, with a reduction in youth and glamour (only two models and a former Miss Wales finalist) in favour of a mixture of ages and abilities, including a middle-aged massage therapist, a retired policeman, an ex-army bomb disposal officer and assorted other ditzy fools and control freaks.
By the second half hour the audience was nicely settled into the usual round of power games and histrionics as the teams failed to build the right sort of shelter, got lost looking for water, got ill from hunger and spent half the night lighting a fire. What saves Survivor from the tedium of other reality shows is the frequency of evictions (once every three days) and the “Immunity Race” which comes before it.
Instead of watching contestants sit around biting their nails during nominations, then stew for a day while the public decides, the programme builds up to the race, which decides the team who have to evict someone. Evictions take place in a straw hut which, despite the fact that its in a jungle, still seems like something from the Crystal Maze. The unfortunate evictee is chosen and kicked out quickly- great fun!
The success of the US Survivor was based to a large degree on the amount of backstabbing and conniving that went on, especially by the winner, now competing on the celebrity circuit. Most of the UK contestants showed ample willing last night to provide a decent level of moral laxity to keep things interesting. The problem may turn out to be whether we want any of them to win.
Overnight audience estimates for Survivor will appear on Newsline later this morning…
Reviewer: Anna Wise