Just when we thought things couldn’t get any wackier and wild when ordinary folk are collectively dumped in the wilderness for big cash prizes, a new Hunger Games-style reality TV show is about to hit our screens.
Never fear – there are no gruesome bow-and-arrow killing moments, but there’s tears, drama and even stunts as random flares shoot skywards to manipulate and lure contestants towards the final goal.
It’s called The Bridge.
The premise is simple. Set in a remote part of Tasmania, 12 contestants have 17 days to build a bridge out to an island in the middle of a lake somewhere using 300 six-metre logs.
The players all come from various backgrounds, and while a few have building credentials, some have skillsets not necessarily aligned with building a bridge.
There’s a paramedic, a spiritual coach, a snowboarder, a former Miss World, a bush poet (always helpful at night around the campfire), a really attractive female lawyer (might come in handy when there’s arguments), a motivational speaker and a mother of three, to name a few.
They will have access to sawn-off timber poles – good start. Basic tools like axes and ropes. That makes it sound doable. And there’s a cabin and workshop to flesh out structural ideas.
How about an on-site engineer, builder or a bunch of professional carpenters like the trumped-up, super-styled contestants have on The Block?
No way.
And here’s the catch: There’s a $250,000 prize at the end of the rainbow for one winner.
What could go wrong?
Tweet from @TheBridgeAU
Is it different to Survivor, Alone or Million Dollar Island?
This show is about teamwork, right to the end.
Whereas Survivor is all about individual strength to master various ultimate challenges on foot and in the water, The Bridge just has one assignment.
To get that damn bridge built in time.
Seven’s Million Dollar Island (airing 2023) pits 100 people against each other on a South Asia island, and they all start with a $10,000 wristband and work towards a $1 million bounty.
SAS Australia’s elite UK soldier Ant Middleton is taking on the job of supervising when the series starts shooting.
“Think The Hunger Games meets Lost … but not quite as brutal,” he told Seven in June.
“This is a high-stakes challenge for regular, everyday Aussies. You don’t have to be the fittest or the strongest person to win big. Emotional intelligence and self-belief are key here,” he says.
Earlier this year, SBS secured the exclusive rights to commission an Australian version of factual survival franchise, Alone.
While other countries’ versions have maxed out the prize money to $1 million, it’s yet to be confirmed what the life-changing prize is here.
All we know is 10 Australians are dropped in a remote wilderness, ‘‘where they’ll be challenged by the merciless forces of nature and hunger’’.
It will feature ‘‘the most diverse cast of self-reliance experts yet, as they brave the elements and fight to stay alive on their own terms, with nothing but what they carry in on their backs’’.
Their mission is to live alone in the wild, for as long as they can, documenting their journey every step of the way.
They definitely don’t have to build anything complex, just a shelter to return to each night after hunting and gathering.
Narrated by Australian actor Hugo Weaving (Love Me, V for Vendetta), the official explainer for The Bridge Australia (we’re told it’s a ‘‘global reality phenomenon’’) is that the contestants need to build the bridge from the lake’s edge to an island ‘‘where a mysterious beacon guards a chest containing $250,000’’.
‘‘If they succeed, only one will claim the cash prize [and then be] faced with the ultimate dilemma: Keep the entire money haul for themselves or share with their fellow bridge-builders.
‘‘During the 17 days, as the bridge is built, the players will see flares catapulted from their island destination at various intervals, alerting them to twists in the game and changes that can help or hinder their fellow teammates.
‘‘The first to race to the flare’s landing point controls the outcome of the twist,’’ says a Paramount+ statement.
So the question is, can a group of strangers live together in the wild and work together to build a bridge to reach the life-changing prize?
Like the other shows, it’s a physical and mental game, a social experiment with power struggles and moral dilemmas.
Unlike the others, they have to build a bridge. And the clock is ticking.
The Bridge Australia is the first local production for Paramount+ and is streaming first three episodes exclusively from August 19
