'I tried the Survivor challenges that make BBC show toughest reality series ever
They are the thing that sets Survivor apart from the other reality series - the immunity challenges which sometimes go on for hours as the teams battle it out to avoid Tribal Council where they have to lose someone.
And having seen some of the brilliant games on screen, it will come as no surprise to viewers that gaming experts from The Cube and I'm A Celebrity were signed up for the production team to ensure the contestants have some of the toughest tests on TV. But before you see the challenges all the games have to be thoroughly tested and tweaked over several days, and I briefly joined in this process as a (not very good) guinea pig for a water based game, When It Rains, which aired on Sunday.
Whilst we trialed the game, a team monitored our progress, and a stopwatch is used to time how we all get on and then logged. A health and safety team also checks if it is safe to play. For this challenge you were balancing on a wooden beam with a bucket of water above your head.
Mark tried the tough challenges for himself
The BBC show puts contestants through their pacesFor the first two minutes you hold a guide rope, after that you are balancing on your own. Lose balance and the barrel of water will dump onto the contestant’s head signalling that they are out. The last tribe with at least one person standing with a full barrel above them will win immunity.
Before the tribes played, the game was tested multiple times with different sized beams to find the right level of difficulty. Too small a beam and the game could last seconds, but also too easy and it could go on for many, many hours. The longer it went on you would also get pain in your arm holding up the bucket.
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Unfortunately for me, whatever size the beam, I would not be winning, but then I am probably not an ideal Survivor candidate, as they can play these games for long periods despite the 35 degree midday heat. After getting drenched, Challenges Executive Producer Steven Lovelock told me he began working on the initial plans for a UK Survivor two YEARS ago.
"It was all about timing, budget, location, trying to make it work," he explains. "Survivor is such an influential show, in the games industry, in our industry, like, It is a massive reference point for a lot of people. We obviously have access to a huge back catalogue from Survivor [versions in the US and Australia ], I mean, there's hundreds of games.
'These Survivor challenges are very much sort of punishing, physically exhausting'"And what we, what we try to do is we try to look at what were the best games along with legendary games, and then try to make or choose a sort of eclectic mix of challenges, which basically means that everyone has a chance to shine."
Steven has worked on both The Cube and I'm A Celebrity in the past, but with the Survivor tasks going on much longer, he is in no doubt which is the toughest TV challenge. He added: "As someone who's done I'm A Celebrity as well, these Survivor challenges are very much sort of punishing, physically exhausting.
"if I'm going to be brutally honest, they're built to really push people, to push the limits a lot more than I would say bush tucker trials are. We are 16 episodes, and we normally have two challenges per episode. So what we tried to do in each show is basically find the ones that give us the most epic moments, but also feed into the social game, the best we can."
Asked for the most difficult game of the series, Steven added: "I would say one of the hardest challenges that we have this year is a challenge called Last Gasp where essentially we have a rig with 10 people underneath the water, and we slowly lower the cage. And basically, when you feel like you can't breathe anymore, come out from the cage. It's the stuff of nightmares."
We can reveal Last Gasp is actually the challenge taking place in Sunday's show. The players must fight against their survival instincts to win safety. The contestant who can stay the longest as the tide swells and a cage pushes them underwater will win individual immunity.
This weekend you can also see the contestants take on the immunity challenge Leg Up, which sees the players perform a delicate balancing act with a vase. The last contestant standing with their vase still intact wins immunity. Whilst many of the challenges so far in the series have relied more on strength in the tribes to get them through, skill is also required and Leg Up tests them in different ways.
As with any of the challenges, let me tell you from experience, they are all harder than they look!
*Survivor continues this weekend on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer
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