Survive This

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. Les Stroud and his Survivorman production partner, David Brady, are also executive producers. The original concept was to create two teams of teens (age 13 to 17) and pit them against one another, testing their survivalist skills. The number of participants expanded to eight by the time filming began in summer 2008. 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. They were also constantly filmed during this time, to acclimate them to the ever-present cameras and filmmakers. 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." A camera crew remained behind to film the participants as they carried out their survival challenges, some of which lasted several days. 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. Corus Entertainment's YTV picked up the show for broadcast in Canada in April 2008. The first season ended with a one-hour finale. 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. 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. None of the teens knew the location of the series, but were aware that they were not close to any cities or towns. The second season debuted on the YTV cable TV channel on Monday, April 19, 2010. ==Participants==

Season 1 In the first season, eight teenagers were given a week's survival training before being taken into the wilderness. The season 1 cast included: • Adam—Adam Deganis is a 15-year-old native of Mississauga, Ontario, who attends Loyola Catholic Secondary School. Tran, who is admittedly "addicted" to her hair iron, was frightened of dirt, germs, and insects. • Jen—Jennifer Daub is a 16-year-old resident of Blind River, Ontario. She attends W. C. Eaket Secondary School. McBain, who admits to being an unadventurous "wimp", says that he learned to trust other people and believe in himself during the show. He auditioned for the second season because he still wanted to see how far he could push himself. Manaal was born in Kenya, but her family emigrated to the United States when she was seven years old and to Canada four years later. earning him the label "The Entertainer". He had no survival skills prior to appearing on the show. She applied to be on the show without having seen the first season. She believed that only actors were admitted to the show, and felt that this would be a boost to her acting career. After seeing the first season, she resolved to turn down the show if offered a chance to compete and then later changes her mind. Labeled as "The Rebel" on the show, she says she is more of a diva. ==Critical reception==

Season 1 critical reception At least one psychologist warned that Survive This risked being exploitative and might damage the mental health of the participants. "You're putting kids into real emotional situations for other people's enjoyment," said Jennifer Kolari, a child and family therapist and author. "It's okay to have some competition, it's okay to try out for things," she says. "Those are okay lessons for kids. But doing it on national television, to be watched and judged, that's where I feel it's a little bit exploitive, and I think we need to consider the mental health of the kids that are on that show." But other mental health experts declared the show safe, concluding that the participants merely displayed strong competitiveness and that social ostracization was largely avoided. Variety was equally critical of the show's lack of originality, observing that the show "play[ed] like junior editions of somebody else's reality franchise. The publication was also critical of the way the show pigeonholed and labeled each of the teenagers, eliminating the diversity of the racially and ethnically diverse cast. Season 2 critical reception In March 2010, Toronto resident Richard Code, a fan of Stroud's show Survivorman, was found dead from hypothermia near his campsite at the north end of Horn Lake (near McMurrich/Monteith, Ontario). Code was on a winter camping trip with few supplies, similar to summer trips he'd taken before in admiration of the adventures he had seen on Survivorman. Learning of Code's death, Stroud said, "It's a terrible tragedy and I feel absolutely terrible for the families involved"—but did not know Code or the situation he was in, and refused to comment further on his death. At least one reviewer has criticized Survive This for not mentioning Code's death or warning kids not to imitate what they see on the show. The Globe and Mail reviewer Catherine Dawson March wrote, "You'd think, just seven weeks after Code's headline-making death, that Survive This would make a passing nod to the tragedy. ... Some kind of 'don't try this on your own' advice. But no." Dawson praised the show as "captivating" with "lots of emotional drama", but concluded: "It's great stuff, but YTV should acknowledge Code's death with a warning of their own." YTV replied, "As Survive This does not follow the same premise as Survivorman, there will not be a disclaimer before each episode." ==See also==