Survivor (UK TV Series) - Facts

Facts

There were several changes in the traditional format. The number of contestants was dropped to twelve, to allow viewers to get to know the cast better. Presenters Mark Austin and John Leslie were dropped in favour of Channel 4 cricket presenter Mark Nicholas. In the fifth episode, the remaining players were merged and then told there would be no immunity this episode. At the Tribal Council they were then told nobody was being voted off that episode and that a vote by the television audience would act as a seventh jury member in the final vote. Other additions included tree mail. Contestants were given a cryptic clue about what the day's challenge would hold for them by producers.

Viewers were also promised that any major action - such as the sex that was edited out of a first series episode - would definitely be shown this year. There was extra footage available to digital viewers. An extra show, Survivor: Raw was shown on ITV2 after the main show had aired. This was presented by last year's winner, Charlotte Hobrough, and Ed Hall. It included extra footage not shown on the main show, discussions, interviews with evictees, phone-ins and emails.

The show was more predictable the second time around, as the contestants decided to stay loyal to each other after tribal merger. The former South Island members successfully voted off all of the remaining North Island members after merger.

The Grand Prize winner, Jonny Gibb, won by a 7-0 vote against Susannah Moffatt. The audience vote was 89% in his favor.

Surprisingly both winners were from the police force. Charlotte being a Detective Constable and Jonny a Police Detective.

Despite the changes, Survivor still received low viewing figures for its second series, and ITV decided not to bring it back for a third series. This is in stark contrast to the US version which has enjoyed consistent success and popularity.

ITV finally found a successful reality TV show 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."

1st series contestant Zoe Lyons, has since become a successful comedienne and has appeared on several BBC radio shows including Clive Anderson's Chat Room (BBC Radio 2), PMQ with Andy Parsons (BBC Radio 4), 4 Stands Up (BBC Radio 4) and The Jon Richardson Show (BBC 6 Music). She has also appeared on the BBC panel show Mock The Week twice.