Expedición Róbinson is a Colombian version of the Survivor reality television game show based on the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1992 by Charlie Parsons.
The show is based on stranding a group of strangers as one or more tribes in a remote location, where they must fend for food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves, while competing in challenges to earn rewards and immunity from being voted off by the tribe in progressive eliminations; the last challenger remaining at the end of the competition wins two a reward that ranges from two hundred million to three hundred million pesos prize (100–150 thousandUS$) and title of "Colombian Robinson".
Expedición Robinson aired for two seasons on Caracol TV, produced by Teleset, in 2001 and 2002. Following this, Caracol TV made their own remake called Desafio. Telesat sold the rights of Expedición Robinson to RCN TV in 2004. Both seasons were a ratings hit in Colombia and followed the same general format as the Swedish series.
Overview Expedición Róbinson rights were bought by Caracol TV in 2001.Caracol TV History (in Spanish) This television network produced the first two seasons of Expedition Robinson. Both seasons were hosted by former beauty queen and actress Margarita Rosa de Francisco.Margarita Rosa talks about Expedición Robinson (in Spanish) Two years later, rights for Expedición Robinson were sold to RCN TV. The series changed its original name to La Isla de los FamoS.O.S. ("Famous People Island", in English), in which all contestants were celebrities of Colombia. RCN TV has produced three seasons of La Isla de los FamoS.O.S. and all three of them have been hosted by journalist Guillermo Prieto "Pirry". For its part, Caracol TV has developed a variation of the show whose name is El desafío 20-0_ (in which the last number represents the year the season has been aired. i.e. Desafío 20-08Desafío 20-08 Official website (in Spanish)). So far, nineteen seasons of El Desafío have been aired, ten of them hosted by Margarita Rosa de Francisco.
Season 1: Expedición Róbinson The show's first season was filmed during 2001 and was aired later that year. It was set on Bocas del Toro, off the Caribbean Coast of Panama. Expedición al corazón de los Robinson (in Spanish)
16 Colombians (8 women and 8 men) took part in the first season. The price was 200 million Colombian pesos. Contestants were divided into two initial tribes: Ukups and Atchas. These Guna words mean "ants" and "bees", respectively. Ukup team was represented by yellow color as Atcha team was represented by orange color.
Thirteen episodes aired weekly on Sundays. Each episode lasted an hour except the season finale which lasted two hours. Besides official episodes, "El Diario Robinson" was aired during every week the show lasted on air. It was a 15 minutes long program in which unseen scenes from each episode were shot.
The show was won by Rolando Patarroyo. He was part of the Atcha tribe, who were outnumbered by the Ukup tribe at tribal merger. He won the 200 million pesos price and was presented as "the first Colombian Robinson" He got some TV contracts but he refused to honored them. He came back to his old life. Marlon Restrepo, the runner-up of this season was rewarded with a van and work contract. He became a rapper due to his connection with the Comunas in Medellin. Marlon betrayed his tribe by lying to get his place in the competitions. Luisa Bejarano was the youngest contestant (18) and the last woman, she was the most controversial contestant for her authentic interviews and for standing up to the production team against unfair treatment and safety issues. She did not get any price but work contracts with Caracol TV and Advertising companies.
Participants ContestantOccupation Original Tribe Switched Tribe Merged Tribe Finish Total votesLedys Patricia García34, Barranquilla Unemployed Atcha1st Voted Out Day 36Jorge "Goyo" Lozano32, BogotáImporter of motorcycles Atcha2nd Voted Out Day 65Selene Varón41, BogotáHousewife Ukup3rd Voted Out Day 97Rosina Buitrago62, BogotáSociologist Atcha4th Voted Out Day 124Catalina Jaimes21, MedellínGraphic Design student Atcha5th Voted Out Day 158Mónica Londoño23, MedellínMedia Communications student Ukup Ukup6th Voted Out Day 184Luis Miguel Cote33, ManizalesMarine Corps Officer Atcha Ukup Korgi7th Voted Out Day 2110Ramón Trujillo28, Santa MartaModel Ukup Ukup8th Voted Out 1st Jury MemberDay 244Pedro Luis Falla25, NeivaMathematician Atcha Atcha9th Voted Out 2nd Jury MemberDay 277Mauricio Arango61, MedellínProfessor of Architecture Ukup Ukup10th Voted Out 3rd Jury MemberDay 304Lorena Zuleta19, TuluáVolleyball player Atcha Atcha11th Voted Out 4th Jury MemberDay 334Rafael Barrera27, BarranquillaMerchant and rancher Ukup Atcha12th Voted Out 5th Jury MemberDay 363Anny Cadena33, BucaramangaIndependent artist Ukup Ukup13th Voted Out6th Jury MemberDay 376Luisa Fernanda Bejarano18, BugaLaw student Ukup UkupEliminated7th Lost against MarlonDay 388Marlon Restrepo25, MedellínRap singer and dancer Ukup UkupRunner-UpDay 393Rolando Patarroyo25, BogotáBrassware assistant Atcha AtchaSole SurvivorDay 394
Voting history Original TribesSwapMerged TribeEpisode #:12345678910111213Eliminated:PatriciaGoyoSeleneRosinaCatalinaMónicaRamónPedroMauricioLorenaRafaelAnnyLuisaMarlonRolandoVoterVoteRolandoPatriciaCatalinaRosinaCatalinaRamónLuisaLuisaLuisaRafaelJury VoteMarlonSeleneAnnyRamónPedroMauricioLorenaRafaelAnnyLuisaSeleneMónicaRolandoPedroMauricioLorenaRafaelMarlonAnnySeleneMónicaRolandoPedroMauricioLorenaLuisaRolandoRafaelSelenePedroPedroMauricioLorenaAnnyMarlonLorenaPatriciaCatalinaRosinaCatalinaRamónLuisaLuisaLuisaRolandoMauricioSeleneMónicaMarlonMarlonMarlonRolandoPedroPatriciaGoyoRosinaCatalinaRamónLuisaRolandoRamónSeleneMónicaRolandoRolandoGoyoGoyoCatalinaCatalinaAnnyPedroMónicaSeleneAnnyCatalinaPatriciaGoyoRolandoPedroRosinaPatriciaGoyoSeleneAnnyGoyoPatriciaCatalinaPatriciaRosina
Marlon won the immunity challenge and the right to be part of the Final Two. He also had to choose one of the remaining contestants to be eliminated. He chose Anny to be voted out. Rolando and Luisa had to compete in another challenge in order to be part of the Final Two. Rolando won the challenge, so Luisa was eliminated.
Elimination notes Ledys Patricia - Ledys Patricia found difficulties adapting to the island. She constantly said she missed her children and isolated herself from the rest of the tribe. She didn't get along with Rosina and didn't do well during the Immunity Challenge in which she got a panic attack because the challenge was set in the sea. All those things targeted Ledys Patricia as the weakest player so she was eliminated. (voted out 6–1–1) Jorge "Goyo" - Reading the hints of the Immunity Challenge message (IC), tribes realized it was a physical challenge so strength was required. Rosina wanted to do this challenge but Goyo disagreed pointing out it wasn't a challenge for her. Rosina did not take Goyo's point well so they had an argument. At the end, Luis Miguel, appearing as the leader of the Atcha tribe decided Rosina had the right to be part of the Challenge. However, it turned out to be a bad idea as Rosina fell down during the challenge and had to be evacuated by the medical team. Atcha lost the IC again. Back at the camp, Rosina was welcomed by everybody but Goyo, Goyo's attitude was taken by his partners as a discourtesy and he was viewed as a troublemaker by some tribe members. On the other hand, Catalina was viewed as the person that did the less for the tribe so some people considered it was time to her to go. At the end, Goyo was narrowly eliminated (voted out 4–3) Selene - After losing three challenges in a row, Atcha tribe began to do well. Conflicts arose in the Ukup camp as Selene clashed with Ramón and other tribemates. Selene stated she got enough of the game and she wanted to go so she was the first Ukup eliminated. After votes were cast, she was allowed to say goodbye to their partners. The farewell speech was kept in the rest of the season. (voted out 7–1) Rosina - During the IC, Atchas took the advantage at first. However, Lorena got stuck trying to climb a rope ladder giving Monica a chance to take advantage to the Ukup tribe winning immunity for the third time. Back at the camp, opinions about who should go home were divided. At the end, Rosina was eliminated because she hadn't recovered from her falling during the second IC and she had still some injuries. (voted out 3-1-1-1) Catalina - Atchas were demoralized due to continuous challenge losing. Pedro and Rolando questioned Luis Miguel's leadership since he had become too bossy and they felt he was causing friction within the tribe. At the RC, Luis Miguel and Monica were given the chance to have a dinner outside the camps and Luis Miguel described his tribemates as lazy people to Monica. During the IC, Atcha internal tension was evident as the tribe did it terrible during the challenge and was defeated by the powerful Ukup tribe with a huge advantage. Back at the camp, Ukups were informed they had to send one of their members to the other camp, that person would be given the immunity during next TC, Rafael was sent to the Atcha camp while the Atchas were in Tribal Council (TC). At TC, Catalina was still viewed as the weakest person in the tribe so she was eliminated unanimously. Before she left, Catalina was asked to choose a person to be sent to the Ukup camp, this person would have immunity until the merge, she chose Luis Miguel. (voted out 4–1) Mónica - Tension around the Atcha camp disappeared as Luis Miguel was sent to the Ukup tribe. Atchas won both RC and IC. Days before, Anny had been complaining and saying she wanted to go home. However, knowing they were facing a TC soon, she cried and regretted all comments she made before and stated she wanted to stay. Everybody took her point but Marlon and Monica. Ukups considered eliminating Luisa because she had been ill but she also stated it wasn't her time to go. At the end, Monica, who was the strongest woman in the game, was surprisingly eliminated in a tight voting. (voted out 4–3) Luis Miguel - Tribes were merged into the new Korgi ("gannet") tribe. After the merge, former Ukup members Ramón, Luisa, Rafael, Anny and Marlon formed an alliance and they agreed to vote out the Atcha members in the next four Tribal Councils. The Ukup alliance targeted Luis Miguel, seeing him as a strong rival. Atcha members were informed that Luis Miguel had been speaking badly about them during the days he was in the Ukup tribe. Luis Miguel was considered manipulative and deceitful so he was eliminated unanimously by new Korgi tribe. (voted out 9–1) Ramón - Atchas realized they were going to be eliminated one by one and there was nothing they could do about it. Rolando didn't get along with Luisa so he was targeted by women of the Ukup alliance as the next person to go. However, Ramón made a huge mistake by stealing some cookies from the production team. Later on, he confessed his mistake and apologized. Questions during the TC were whether Ramón deserved to stay or should be eliminated. Atchas took this opportunity to get rid of Ramon. Marlon also voted against Ramón pointing out he (Marlon) didn't like cheating and that, if he were given the chance to write his name down his vote he would do it without hesitation. Rafael voted out against Pedro because he viewed Pedro as a bigger threat than Rolando; Mauricio voted against Marlon because he felt Marlon didn't deserve to win the Robinson. At the end, Ramon was eliminated in the most polemic and dramatic TC so far. (voted out 4-3-1-1)