Taping will begin June 13 for “The Wild Rules,” an adventure race that will debut Sept. 8 as part of ESPN’s prime-time outdoors block.
“The Wild Rules” will pit two six-member teams against each other and the forces of nature in a trek across British Columbia in which speed and outdoor survival skills will determine which of the 12 contestants takes home the $100,000 prize.
“This is a show for real outdoorsmen and -women,” said coordinating producer Dan Bowen. “Everything about this competition is raw; there are no sets, no Hollywood-designed obstacle courses, just men and women against nature. We think it’s going to appeal to the people who think there isn’t enough reality in reality television.”
Each of the 10 men and two women has a specific area of expertise, and will be given five critical wilderness survival items to share with his or her teammates. The teams will consist of a strongman, a hunter, an angler, a military man, an outdoor guide, and a weekend warrior. Each contestant category will have specific survival tools that will stay with them throughout the game. The two groups will be provided with no food or water, minimal supplies, and left to live together off the land.
As a team, they will navigate a route from station to station, overcoming natural obstacles and hazards and heavily relying on one another’s skills to move forward. The show will also pose daily clashes between the teams. The winning team must either expel a member of the opposite team, swap any one of its own players with a member of the opposite team, or saddle the other team with the least valuable member of the winning team. In the end, however, it will break down to one-on-one competition as contestants race one another as individuals in a final 24-hour trek back to civilization.
The show will debut Monday, Sept. 8 on ESPN as part of ESPN Original Entertainment’s prime-time outdoors block, anchored by “The New American Sportsman.”
By: ESPN Outdoors
