Execs Explain Why Reboot Will Succeed Like CBS Version – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: “Anyone expecting a polite, apologetic version of Survivor will be completely surprised,” the EP behind the BBC‘s rebooted actuality sequence has proclaimed.

Speaking to Deadline just a few days previous to launch, actuality TV vet Paul Osborne mentioned Survivor’s producers have leaned into high-production values and high-stakes gameplay in an analogous vein to the U.S. staff behind the Emmy-winning CBS smash, which has run for 45 seasons and 650 episodes over twenty years.

“It feels a long time coming,” Osborne mentioned of the UK model, which is hosted by Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett and launches on Saturday. “I’m hugely excited to see how the audience responds to British gameplay which they might not necessarily expect. Anyone expecting a polite, apologetic version of Survivor will be completely surprised.”

Having Banijay format consultants primarily based around the globe has helped form the sequence, Osborne added of the present that has been produced in additional than 50 territories. He mentioned there have been “lots and lots of things we learned from other territories while we were also able to put our own stamp on this,” citing the best way through which the Australian model approaches challenges as one instance.

Survivor UK aired on ITV twenty years in the past however ran for simply two sequence, though rankings on the time weren’t far off Big Brother, which has aired nearly uninterrupted since on three completely different networks.

While Survivor is taken into account “the big bang of reality in the States,” Osborne mentioned British commissioners have tended to go for much less adventure-driven exhibits reminiscent of Big Brother, which “made reality TV over here.” “When Survivor didn’t do very well back in the day it was very social experiment driven and was hosted by a newsreader,” he mentioned. “There is a little more strategic gameplay [with the new version] that is palpable for a modern audience.”

“BBC spin”

Kalpna Patel-Knight, the pubcaster’s Head of Entertainment who commissioned the reboot, added: “I don’t know why [Survivor] didn’t catch on two decades ago but our version feels fresh, relevant and contemporary.”

Pondering whether or not the staff has given Survivor a “BBC spin,” she mentioned the precedence was firstly to entertain. “Sometimes the perception of the BBC means producers self edit their pitches to what they think the BBC is about, but we are here to entertain people and we need to get the biggest audiences for our licence fee payers,” she added. “There was no strict ‘this is the BBC’ policy but this was about making the best show.”

Patel-Knight rejected the notion that the plethora of latest reboots, which incorporates Big Brother, Gladiators and Deal or No Deal and has been a hot-button TV confab subject of late, is negatively impacting British creativity, discovering that “reboots are 1% of the 3,000 hours on our unscripted slate.”

“We are not preventing new IP,” added Patel-Knight. “For our licence fee payers we need to back the best ideas and if we have new IP coming up then we back that too.”

According to Patel-Knight, the staff behind Survivor sees it as a “renaissance rather than a reboot.”

Mammoth job

Staging a British Survivor is, unsurprisingly, proving to be a mammoth job. Filmed within the Dominican Republic, the manufacturing is using 100 UK behind-the-camera crew, 80 Latin Americans and 370 locals, with 16 episodes filmed throughout 34 days.

“The challenges for us are the same challenges for every territory,” added Osborne. “It’s boiling hot, you are living on remote beaches and there are no paved roads. And you are working very very long hours.”

Thousands utilized, with a mixture of those that had been followers of the U.S. Survivor and a few who had been unfamiliar with the present, Osborne mentioned, including that those that actually didn’t understand what they had been getting themselves in for fell away lengthy earlier than the audition stage. Contestants embody a singer-songwriter from Wales, an expert boxer from Ireland and Pegleg, a 54-year-old surfschool proprietor who was born with no ankle in his left leg.

“What we were looking for from our cast was that drive and determination because this is not an easy experience,” added Osborne.

Patel-Knight mentioned Survivor showcases “representation from all over the UK, people from different ages and from all walks of life.”

The staff was influenced by BBC hit The Traitors, which has been warmly praised for its numerous casting since launching final Christmas and was greenlit a number of months earlier than Survivor – previous a wave of guessing recreation codecs.

The Traitors additionally influenced Survivor by way of scheduling. Two episodes of Survivor can be launched per week on Saturday and Sunday nights, with Sunday episodes made out there on iPlayer from the night time earlier than, giving audiences the chance to catch up at will whereas additionally creating watercooler moments. “And the exciting thing about launching shows at the BBC is that suppliers get the whole of our might promoting their show,” added Patel-Knight. “The Traitors trail went out at half time in the World Cup and was all over the radio. You couldn’t get away from that.”

ITV has already unveiled a second season of Big Brother and is engaged on a celeb spin-off however Patel-Knight was coy over whether or not the BBC will do the identical with Survivor. “We need to wait for the show to go out and see what the audience thinks first,” she added.

Survivor launches on Saturday. It is produced by Banijay-backed Remarkable. Osborne is EP with Natalka Znak, who runs Survivor producer Remarkable, Big Brother maker Initial and Znak TV.