Survivor UK (BBC)

[Ja'moke]

Did anyone watch the first two episodes over the weekend? Survivor returned to UK screens for the first time since 2002, this time on BBC1 on Saturdays and Sundays (and iPlayer).

I've watched the US version for years (and run a website about it), so I went into this with excited apprehension. A lot of the production team are those that work on Australian Survivor, which was revived a few years ago after similarly failing in its first attempt and has gone onto great success.

I'm not sure if Survivor UK will have the same success, sadly. The first episode was little too slow-going, which I get, to a point, as it's introducing the format to a whole new audience. But there was nothing there to really hook in new viewers, in my opinion. A lot of the cast seemed apprehensive and didn't exactly pop on screen.

The second episode was much stronger, thankfully, and gives me some hope it'll find its feet as it goes along, but whether newer viewers will stick it out, I'm not so sure.

[Minami Minegishi]

I had the same issue with the first episode and gave up - and then when searching for the Traitors thread I find this lonely and ignored missive!

OK, how has it developed? I'm redownloading episode 2 to see how I get on.

[Ja'moke]

I had the same issue with the first episode and gave up - and then when searching for the Traitors thread I find this lonely and ignored missive!

OK, how has it developed? I'm redownloading episode 2 to see how I get on.

It's still been very slow but is improving. The sixth episode (that airs tonight on BBC) was the first one that actually felt like Survivor.

[Deano]

I've seen the first four and am a big Survivor fan, but yeah, I think it fell down on those first few episodes.
It's sort of stuck in the middle, where the cast enough to know that creating strong alliances and sticking with them just won't work, so they're in sort of modern Survivor "voting blocks". While the show is aware it's a new audience and so can't throw too many trinkets or twists out early on.

Those first few episodes just needed the traditional Survivor 4 v 4 with a swing vote in the middle and then edited to have that swing vote go in an unexpected direction. It's Survivor 101, pretty boring for those of us that have watched 50+ seasons, but fundamentally compelling TV. It lets you root for the underdogs then celebrate when they turn it around.

It might not be much, but that's what would have given it a hook. The Traitors works better for TV (even though it's a far worse game format) because it instantly sets up two teams, which creates tension, the ability to root for one side or the other, and a basic framework to hang a story on. Survivor UK has been missing this so far.