Survivor UK (Back after over 20 years away!)

cwej

cwej

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Starts on Saturday.

The trailer is SHIT though. And Joel Dommett does not seem the outdoorsy right host for this to me at all. His voice doesn't suit the grit of Survivor.

But obviously will watch it after working my way through 40 seasons of the US version during lockdown... :D
 
Still never watched a single US season, but I LOVE the Australian version, enjoyed the South African one, and found the New Zealand one shit, but hysterically so.
 
I am in though I hope this won't have too many episodes per week. I see it is on Sunday as well and it will feel a bit of an effort mid-BB run to keep on top of it if there are weekday episodes as well.
 
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This had felt like a nailed-on flop to me (it looks shit and it bombed here before?) BUT it's got a Strictly lead-in which might be enough to prop it up and find an audience off the back of it.

Fetch - it looks to be Saturday-Sunday (i.e. only ever straight after Strictly :eyes:) so two episodes a week. That definitely feels like the right amount in the currently over-saturated reality market. And an easy amount to keep up with on iPlayer too.
 
I read it was 16 episodes total, so I assumed it would be Saturdays and Sundays for 8 weeks, which would see it end the week before Christmas.

I think the Australian one is three or four episodes a week, isn't it? No idea about any of the other versions. And all I've watched have been binged on Prime or similar.

I really do find the Aus one hugely compelling at times. More so than any drama, that's the show which has kept me up to 3 or 4am.
 
Finn said:
Fetch - it looks to be Saturday-Sunday (i.e. only ever straight after Strictly :eyes:) so two episodes a week. That definitely feels like the right amount in the currently over saturated reality market. And an easy amount to keep up with on iPlayer.
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I do find it interesting that the major channels do seem to be heavily relying on reality TV again, after it appeared a few years ago perhaps to be a dying format.

But I imagine although Survivor is presumably relatively expensive to make by reality TV standards, it's still much cheaper to make than drama.

And to add to all the weekend reality, surely it can only be a month or so until The Traitors returns.
 
I was sorely tempted to post this in the iconic 21st century moments thread, but assumed nobody else would get it.

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I remember the time of the U.K. one thinking it was the most complicated reality TV format ever.

I might give it a chance now I can keep with The Traitors these days.
 
Excellent! The Australian version is probably my favourite TV show, but I can’t stand the US one (or US versions of most shows). I am in!
 
lolly said:
I read it was 16 episodes total, so I assumed it would be Saturdays and Sundays for 8 weeks, which would see it end the week before Christmas.

I think the Australian one is three or four episodes a week, isn't it? No idea about any of the other versions. And all I've watched have been binged on Prime or similar.

I really do find the Aus one hugely compelling at times. More so than any drama, that's the show which has kept me up to 3 or 4am.
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2 a week last season. I think 3 a week for the seasons before that.
 
Just the thought of Jonathan LaPaglia (sorry, JLP), in shorts and a damp t-shirt leaning on something sets me to half mast.
 
I do like the Aussie one, but I adore the US one. Haven’t watched since Winners at War (this bitch can’t stream well and it’s not on any of the generic platforms?), but the production values and being 23 years into the game mean the gameplay can often be a bit stronger than the antipodean versions, though I enjoy them all.

The first UK one was dreadful though, but then so was the first Australian one before the reboot so hopefully they can replicate their success.
 
I remember the UK one, or at least its launch, being a massive deal at the time but the ratings were pretty awful.
 
Just realised I had the original UK version of survivor mixed up with Castaway, and thought the first series took part in the Outer Hebrides.

Which I think they should do again. It's HELL up there.
 
Has anyone else seen the New Zealand one? Not sure how many seasons there were, but it was hysterically bad. The challenges (and rewards) were so low budget. It was like watching a primary school sports day.
 
It was cute :D But utterly shite, and they only had a vote off like every second episode which made it far too long.

Apparently season two was a marked improvement? But I can only get season one on YouTube.
 
lolly said:
I was sorely tempted to post this in the iconic 21st century moments thread, but assumed nobody else would get it.

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@Lee and @Suomi, can we talk about this as you've both liked it?

I genuinely found Kristie's victory, and this challenge particularly, to be one of the most thrilling reality TV moments of all time. I've seen messageboards where her victory is really derided, but I think she's one of the best winners ever, in terms of how she had to consistently fight from the bottom almost every week.

I remember being really frustrated by her after merge and her path to final four, when she was often the swing vote and the choices she made, but she clearly had a plan and knew what she was doing. I don't think she was 'lucky' any more than the more naturally physically gifted players are lucky in that respect. And nobody can be lucky that consistently through an entire run of Survivor - but even if they were, then the other players are at fault for letting her get so deep into the game and underestimating the risk.

And then in that final challenge, how she played Lee - by any means necessary - and demolishing him at final tribal was an utter joy.
 
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Oh it’s just an incredible win and I was crying so much during the ordeal of the challenge. VERY satisfying outcome when that is so often not the case in this type of show.
 
I've never seen Survivor but it definitely seems like something I'd like. Plus I love Joel Dommett.

I always think Ben Fogle is from Survivor but he isn't. He's Castaways I believe.
 
Finn said:
This had felt like a nailed-on flop to me (it looks shit and it bombed here before?) BUT it's got a Strictly lead-in which might be enough to prop it up and find an audience off the back of it.
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Oh after what they did with The Traitors and how successful this is globally, I saw this as an almost definite success.
 
Kratz said:
I remember the UK one, or at least its launch, being a massive deal at the time but the ratings were pretty awful.
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I have quite a strong theory behind this - we had the opposite order of showing Big Brother and Survivor to the US and I think our nation was OBSESSED with the immediacy of Big Brother and the 'you decide' element - when Survivor started they tried to make it a 'tabloid smash' like Big Brother, but it didn't work, because it was all filmed months before.

The opposite was true in America - they hated the fact that there were no alliances allowed which is the thing they loved so much in Survivor. So straight away, they switched the rules to become like Survivor in a house, by Season 2.

So America were smart in adapting to suit what their public liked, whereas we killed the format dead with a dreadful season 2 (the 12 person format was absolutely bizarre) and said goodbye to Survivor.
 
Mark Austin (Sky newsreader) for the first series, and Mark Nicholas (cricket commentator) the second, apparently.

No idea of either on name alone.
 
lolly said:
Mark Austin (Sky newsreader) for the first series, and Mark Nicholas (cricket commentator) the second, apparently.

No idea of either on name alone.
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Oh for some reason I had it in my head it was the same presenter for both.
 
Actually I do recognise Mark Austin after googling him. Not Mark Nicholas, though.
 
lolly said:
@Lee and @Suomi, can we talk about this as you've both liked it?

I genuinely found Kristie's victory, and this challenge particularly, to be one of the most thrilling reality TV moments of all time. I've seen messageboards where her victory is really derided, but I think she's one of the best winners ever, in terms of how she had to consistently fight from the bottom almost every week.
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I read a few Survivor Reddit pages and she’s often put in the worst winners/least deserving lists. At the time I loved it. I remember clips of people talking strategy while she hopped around in bushes as nobody wanted to talk to her. I loved a good comeback/turnaround/dark horse. But I wonder if it stems from disliking all the muscly confident athletes that often make it onto shows like this.
Either way I don’t you can ever deny that a winner is a winner. She outplayed, outlasted and outwit. And that’s the aim of the game.
 
I think she was a deserving winner but she was up against a pretty poor final 3. Lee should have won that with ease, even with her win in the final challenge, but he failed to explain his game at all.
 
cwej said:
I think she was a deserving winner but she was up against a pretty poor final 3. Lee should have won that with ease, even with her win in the final challenge, but he failed to explain his game at all.
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I think the others just plain didn't like Lee that much by the end, due largely to his sanctimony. El would have beaten Kristie (or Lee) with ease if she'd made final two.
 
Lee said:
I read a few Survivor Reddit pages and she’s often put in the worst winners/least deserving lists. At the time I loved it. I remember clips of people talking strategy while she hopped around in bushes as nobody wanted to talk to her. I loved a good comeback/turnaround/dark horse. But I wonder if it stems from disliking all the muscly confident athletes that often make it onto shows like this.
Either way I don’t you can ever deny that a winner is a winner. She outplayed, outlasted and outwit. And that’s the aim of the game.
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I guess if there is a criticism, it's that she had to react to other people's games, rather than fully playing one of her own. But for me, that just made her win all the more remarkable.
 
Sometimes it’s nice when someone seen as ‘less deserving’ takes it out. There are quite a few from the US series have divisive winners, but people tend to forget that winning the jury over is just as important as ‘playing a strong game’.

If 90% of the jury think you’re a cunt then you haven’t actually played a good game, despite your illusions that you have.
 
I tuned in to this briefly (Rugby tonight), might give it a try and proper watch later. Seems promising enough.

Was anyone else aware/discovering late 90s pop star Leilani Sen (of Madness Thing and Flying Elvis fame) is on the program though? :D:disco:
 
If I, a man who had no intention of watching this unappealing tat, am anything to go by then the straight-after-Strictly-without-so-much-as-an-ad-break tactic could pay dividends. I kept watching out of laziness and then after 20 minutes of thinking it was meh I was suddenly HOOKED

Jess is my early favourite. And whoever could have foreseen that the plus-sized ginger would be voted out first :eyes:
 
Haiku Rewrites said:
Was anyone else aware/discovering late 90s pop star Leilani Sen (of Madness Thing and Flying Elvis fame) is on the program though? :D:disco:
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OH MY WORD

I even thought "oh she's called Leilani, like the flop pop star", but because I couldn't remember what she looks like I still didn't make the full connection.
 
Haiku Rewrites said:
I tuned in to this briefly (Rugby tonight), might give it a try and proper watch later. Seems promising enough.

Was anyone else aware/discovering late 90s pop star Leilani Sen (of Madness Thing and Flying Elvis fame) is on the program though? :D:disco:
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Finn said:
OH MY WORD

I even thought "oh she's called Leilani, like the flop pop star", but because I couldn't remember what she looks like I still didn't make the full connection.
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She's also a Moopy member! :disco: the first on reality TV? :disco:
 
Oh whoops. I MEANT FLOP IN A LOVING WAY, LEILANI
 
Haiku Rewrites said:
I tuned in to this briefly (Rugby tonight), might give it a try and proper watch later. Seems promising enough.

Was anyone else aware/discovering late 90s pop star Leilani Sen (of Madness Thing and Flying Elvis fame) is on the program though? :D:disco:
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I looked at her throughout and thought it was her but couldn't be certain, then had an image of her VT showing random Top of the Pops performances. :o
 
Just starting watching now. There seem to be two episodes on Sky+ - is tomorrow's show already available?

Not sure whether I love or hate then referring to Joel Dommett as JD yet.
 
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