‘Survivor’ U.Ok. Opens Casting for BBC Present

“Survivor” has formally opened its functions within the U.Ok.

The Banijay-produced and distributed format will land on the BBC subsequent yr — marking the primary time the fact journey format has returned to U.Ok. shores in additional than 20 years.

The casting course of has begun, with functions now open till Feb. 24 for anybody over the age of 18 at survivoruk.com. The present is produced by Outstanding Leisure.

The well-known competitors collection, which is now on its forty third season within the U.S., maroons members of the general public — divided into two teams primarily based round a sure theme — in a far-flung location to play a sport of social, psychological and bodily talent. Folks should kind their very own tribal societies and compete in challenges for reward or immunity.

The BBC present, which might be taking pictures for eight weeks within the Dominican Republic, has a money prize of £100,000 ($121,000).

The success of the BBC adaptation of “Survivor” might be intently watched given the format flopped within the U.Ok. within the early 2000s. Broadcast on ITV in 2001 and 2002, “Survivor” didn’t seize the general public creativeness and by no means introduced within the rankings the broadcaster had hoped for in contrast with the U.S. viewing figures. There have been complaints on the time that ITV hadn’t completed sufficient to help the launch of the present — a mistake the BBC gained’t seemingly make. In actual fact, “Survivor” might be one of many public broadcaster’s most essential actuality launches of the yr alongside different resurrected unscripted exhibits similar to “Gladiators” and “The Osbournes: House to Roost.”

To date, all we all know is that the brand new season will encompass 16 episodes and have 20 contestants. Selection understands that discussions are presently underway to safe the present’s all-important host, which performs an important guiding function within the format.

Created by Charlie Parsons, “Survivor” first aired in Sweden in 1997 as “Expedition Robinson,” and travelled to the U.S. on CBS in Might 2000, the place the Jeff Probst-hosted present rapidly grew to become a sensation. Earlier this yr, Season 43 was the highest unscripted present in primetime on CBS and the primary unscripted present on Wednesday nights with 7.3 million viewers on common.

Round 50 variations and 350 collection in complete have been commissioned globally up to now.