Survive This is a Canadian reality television show in which eight teenagers with limited survival skills training are taken into a forest and confronted with a number of survival challenges to test their skills and perseverance. The series aired on YTV in Canada and Cartoon Network in the United States."Cartoon Network: 'Our Voice Is Changing'." The Hollywood Reporter. March 25, 2009.Shields, Mike. "Upfront '09: Cartoon Net Changes Its Voice." MediaWeek. March 25, 2009. The show is hosted by Les Stroud, who narrates each episode, provides the teens with survival challenges, and assesses their performance.Bentley, Rick. "Prize of 'Survive This' Is Survival." Fresno Bee. June 17, 2009.Lloyd, Robert. "Cartoon Network's New Reality Shows, Kid Style." Los Angeles Times. June 17, 2009. The show premiered on April 7, 2009, in Canada and on June 17, 2009, in the United States. TV Guide Canada. April 6, 2009."Survive This, Hosted By Real 'Survivorman' Les Stroud, Airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., Beginning April 7." Channel Canada. March 23, 2009.Gillin, Joshua. "On TV Wednesday, June 17." St. Petersburg Times. June 16, 2009.Hill, Claire. "Survive This: Good News Kids – There Are Snakes Out There!" National Post. April 6, 2009. Cartoon Network ceased to air Survive This after August 19, 2009, and screened the final three episodes only on the network's website.
The series' second season debuted on April 19, 2010 and ended on July 12, 2010.Strachan, Alex. "Dancing With Slightly Bigger Stars." Vancouver Sun. April 19, 2010; Myles, Ruth. "Staying In: Your Home Entertainment Guide." Calgary Herald. April 16, 2010.
Overview The series began in 2009 with a single season of 13 episodes. A second season of 13 episodes began airing in April 2010. Each season begins with a fictional accident of some sort (a school bus crash in season one; a floatplane crash in season two) as a narrative hook and to introduce the participants to their first survival challenges.
Les Stroud, star and host of the television program Survivorman, introduces each episode and provides narrative commentary for the events depicted during the episode. Stroud also appears on camera at the beginning of each episode to meet with the participants, discuss their health and emotional status, and present them with the day's survival challenge. Stroud then departs. Stroud sometimes appears at halfway points in each episode to check on their status. Each challenge concludes with Stroud visiting the participants again, re-assessing their physical and emotional state, and asking whether anyone wishes to leave the show and go home.
The second season differed from the first as in the final episode, Les Stroud named one of the final participants, Colin as the "Ultimate Survivor". The question Stroud asked to the participants if they wanted to leave was also changed from "Who wants out?" to "Who can survive?".
Production
Series production Series creator Les Stroud says that he initially pitched Survive This, as a children's series similar to Survivorman and that several networks turned him down. The success of Survivorman enabled Stroud to pitch his original idea again, and this time the series was greenlighted in 2007 by 9 Story Entertainment, a Canadian entertainment company. Survive This is produced by 9 Story Entertainment, and two 9 Story executives (Vince Commisso and Steven Jarosz) serve as executive producers for the series."Survive This Fact Sheet." Turner Broadcasting. No date. Accessed 2009-07-17. Les Stroud and his Survivorman production partner, David Brady, are also executive producers. Craig Baines is the producer.
The series was originally titled Survivorman: Kids Edition.Rusak, Gary. "9 Story Eases Into Live-Action Waters With Survival Reality Concept." KidScreen. October 2007. The original concept was to create two teams of teens (age 13 to 17) and pit them against one another, testing their survivalist skills. This concept soon changed, however. In April 2008, 9 Story announced that the show (now called Survivorman Kids) would feature a single team of six 14- to 16-year-olds surviving in the wilderness for three weeks."9 Story Secures Commission for Its Live-Action Production Survivorman Kids From Canada's YTV." Press release. 9 Story Entertainment. April 1, 2008. Accessed 2009-07-17. The number of participants expanded to eight by the time filming began in summer 2008."Let the Expedition..." Press release. 9 Story Entertainment. September 23, 2008. Accessed 2009-07-17. In its final form, unlike other reality television shows, Survive This intentionally did not have a cash prize or other reward at the end of the season. Instead, the producers decided that contestants would leave the series with the knowledge that they survived a number of physically and mentally daunting challenges. Stroud refused to allow participants to vote their peers off the show or to win "immunity", arguing that this would change the focus of the series toward "backstabbing social networking" and away from survival skills and the wilderness experience.
Cast members were recruited in a variety of ways: Online, via forms at summer camps, and by several other means. After each person's application was screened by the producers, participants had to pass a telephone interview and a video interview before they were chosen for the show. Stroud was not involved in the actual selection process, but did provide some guidelines for the production company before the process began. All I suggested within that process was get a good, wide selection of kids. Let’s get a wide selection of personalities and temperaments and certainly skill level. Don’t give me a whole bunch of boy scouts who are going to knock it dead out there and don’t give me a whole bunch of absolute beginners who are set up for failure. Give me a wide variety, let’s have regular, normal kids and don’t profile beyond that. Once selected for the show, a camera crew filmed each teenager at home to get footage of them acting naturally in their home surroundings. The eight teenagers were taught for a week how to survive in a wilderness with limited supplies.Quesnel, Shannon. "Blind River Girl Survives Reality Television." Elliot Lake Standard. April 15, 2009. They were also constantly filmed during this time, to acclimate them to the ever-present cameras and filmmakers.
Season 1 production Eight teenagers, all between the ages of 14 and 17,Laken, Elayne. "Teens Test Their Wilderness Mettle in 'Survive This'." Sudbury Star. April 23, 2009. were taken into a forest in Ontario, Canada, and initially asked to "survive" a school bus crash and spend two nights in the woods with limited food and other supplies.
The series was filmed on location in the forest north of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. Filming occurred in the summer of 2008. Three days were spent on a small island northwest of Sandy Island on Georgian Bay in Lake Huron."Survive This." Parry Sound Beacon Star. September 26, 2008. Jeff Beitz, owner of the Georgian Bay Marina, acted as a location scout for the show, transported the participants to and from the island, and appeared on screen in Episode 11, "Island Castaways." Many of the challenges presented to the participants were based on situations Stroud himself faced on Survivorman.Szklarski, Cassandra. "'Survivorman' Les Stroud Puts Teens Through Wilderness Trials." The Canadian Press. April 6, 2009.
A camera crew remained behind to film the participants as they carried out their survival challenges, some of which lasted several days. However, the camera crew was instructed not to interact with the participants. Several participants were also given hand-held video cameras and permitted to film their actions. A paramedic also was always on-site to provide emergency health care. Participants were forbidden to have any electronic devices with them, and could only speak to the producer or Stroud (who were both on-site). Stroud says that the participants constantly played to the camera, positioned themselves at the right camera angle to achieve the best pose, and—even though they were forbidden to do so—talked to the cinematographers to try to put themselves in a good light. Several of the participants were upset at the way their videotaped comments appeared on television. Some also expressed shock and surprise at the things others said about them in privately videotaped moments which later aired during the series. For his part, Stroud purposefully adopted a serious demeanor that involved never smiling in front of the participants. He later told TV Guide Canada that not providing suggestions, encouragement, or other assistance was difficult for him.
The participants were given little in the way of supplies. They had no camp stoves or sleeping bags, and at times water was so scarce that they squeezed liquid from moss.
The one-hour season 1 finale featured a search and rescue (SAR) operation to locate and extract the remaining participants.Bachard, Stephane. "The OPP and GBVSAR Join the Cast of Survive This!." SARScene. 17:3 (December 2008). The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Georgian Bay Volunteer Search and Rescue (GBVSAR) participated in the filming of the final episode, which involved a GBVSAR search team and the OPP's K9, marine, and air units. Filming of the finale took a single day.
The final scenes were shot at the end of the summer of 2008. Some footage and a trailer for the show were shown at MIPCOM, a market and trade event in the entertainment industry held in Cannes, France. The first two completed episodes screened to buyers and markets at the MIPTV Media Market in March 2009."9 Story Entertainment Debuts Two New Series at MIPTV." Press release. 9 Story Entertainment. March 16, 2009. Accessed 2009-07-17. Corus Entertainment's YTV picked up the show for broadcast in Canada in April 2008. Time Warner's Cartoon Network agreed to air the show in the U.S. in March 2009."9 Story Entertainment's Survive This Finds U.S. Home at Cartoon Network." Press release. 9 Story Entertainment. March 30, 2009. Accessed 2009-07-17. The first season ended with a one-hour finale. 9 Story Entertainment sold distribution rights to Cartoon Network's Boomerang Channel Latin America, YLE in Finland, and Teleview International in the Middle East in April 2009."9 Story's Teen Outdoor Survival Series Survive This Secures New Broadcast Deals in Latin America, Europe and Middle East." Press release. 9 Story Entertainment. April 21, 2009. Accessed 2009-07-17; "Survive This Secures Three Air Deals." License! Global Magazine. April 22, 2009. Accessed 2009-07-17.
Producer 9 Story Entertainment began to license the show in May 2009, seeking to put the Survive This logo and images from the show on board games, books, video games, role-playing games, and clothing.
Season 2 production Second season casting opened on June 5, 2009, and closed on July 10, 2009."Casting Call." SurviveThis.com. No date. Accessed 2009-07-16. Applicants were invited to a television production studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where they met with the producers and had a screen test to determine how they came across on television. Participants were selected for the show, in part, based on their strong personalities. The final eight participants were told in early September 2009 that they were selected for the show. The eight teens who appear in the second season were required to sign a confidentiality agreement prior to the commencement of filming. All the participants were required to take a three-day survival program with David Arama, a wilderness survival expert and close friend of Les Stroud's. Training including how to build a shelter, fire-starting, edible plants, and using a compass.