Ever since the reality TV genre caught fire, like a spark from a flint to a kindling, survival has been an essential part of its DNA. The concept itself was a crux of what initially had millions of people tuning into the first season of Survivor back in the summer of 2000. Since then, the outdoor reality show has become popularized by Bear Grylls in particular, spawning series that include Survivorman, Alone, and Naked and Afraid.
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Tonight, FOX debuts the newest survival series in Extracted, this time with a twist straight out of The Amazing Race. A dozen amateur survivalists are stranded on their own in the woods of British Columbia, fending for themselves in the wild in the hopes of winning $250,000. But they aren't quite as alone as they may seem. That's because, in nearby headquarters, a team of two of their loved ones are watching their every move. They can earn supplies for their survivalist, helping their chances of getting through the elements. And, if they ever feel like it's too much, they can choose to extract them from the game, eliminating them from the running.
"The Extracted concept had been sort of bouncing around for a couple of years in development," recounts Megan Hine. Hine has been a survival consultant for a number of these shows, most notably with Grylls. She served as the "Head of Extraction" on Extracted, helping facilitate the survivalists' entrance and exit from the game. Additionally, she's monitoring their vitals on her end off-camera, making sure nobody is in grave danger health-wise due to the elements.
'Extracted' Megan Hine Talks with Ryan W. and Family (3:52)"It was a very, very exciting concept," she continues, "because it's essentially a social experiment of taking what was really important. We would take people who had very little, if not any, survival experience and put them out there into the terrain to survive, and then had the families or close friends making decisions on whether they should stay out or whether they needed to be extracted. And seeing that dynamic play out from the psychological side of it was just, was absolutely fascinating."
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According to Hine, Extracted outfitted the BC forest with 176 cameras, more hardware than what was filming last night's Super Bowl. Not only does that allow production to track the survivalists' every move, as they forage through the woods in the hopes of finding food, water, and shelter. It also serves as a 24/7 feed for the teams back at HQ. While the loved one duos have their own lodging and accommodations, they can always drop in on the central hub building, where they can constantly monitor their person's status–and whether they're in need of being extracted.
If there's someone who's used to being filmed in the wild 24/7, it's Lauren-Ashley Beck. The influencer competed on Survivor's 39th season back in 2019, where she made it all the way to the penultimate day, eliminated in a firemaking showdown and becoming the final member of the jury. Over five years later, she tells me she was eager to tackle the Extracted experience for herself and get some redemption in the fire arena. And while she is happy to say she was able to do so, her time alone in the woods differed greatly from her experience out on the islands of Fiji.
"There are times where you can just lean on your fellow Survivors," she compares. "They don't have that. They really have to rely on themselves. I mean, they can talk out loud to their families back in HQ. But there's only so much their families back in HQ can do because they can't communicate with them directly. In thinking about the fact that these survivalists are out there by themselves, I don't know how they did it. The mental aspect of not being able to talk to someone else. It just really plays with your mind. I can't imagine how they did it."
Lauren-Ashley Beck (L) and Megan Hine (R)Courtesy of FOX
What makes Extracted unique in its concept is, as Hine describes it, the "two separate shows" happening in one. Because, not only are the duos trying to facilitate the survival of their loved one, they're also competing against the eleven other teams. And so, as seems to be as natural as the trees around them on reality TV, alliances will form, threats will be assessed, and deals will be made and broken.
"There are so many different alliances being formed, which is something that I was surprised to see," admits Beck. "But it's something that has to happen in order for the game to be successful, I think."
Not only does Extracted's formula provide the potential for interteam drama, but intrateam drama as well. The pair overseeing their survivalist are united in their dedication to facilitating their journey as much as possible. But that doesn't mean their opinions won't diverge about what needs to be done to do that and, most crucially, whether or not to extract.
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"It was that it was really important to have that extra element," Hine says about having two overseeers rather than one. "Because you've then not just got one person who's deciding whether to extract, you've got two people and their conflicting views. It's interesting to see, from the psychology of it, how each one of those people perceives the survivalist that's in the field and sees them through their lens. And then the fallout, makeup, and how they proceed was absolutely fascinating to watch."
That voyeuristic perspective is the main appeal of Extracted. It continues to reinvent not only testing the physical, mental, and emotional limits of the human condition, but also loving relationships as well. And, according to Beck, that element of observation also spills over to the people watching from home as well.
"Something that they say with Survivor is, 'You can't play from the couch.' This is a game that you can literally play from your home," she explains. "You can play it from your couch. Because you do have to deal with that moral dilemma of, 'Oh my gosh, would I pull my loved one out? They told me they could last a couple more days. Should I keep them in?' It's really a toss-up of what people are going to do."
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