The first year of the American TV series Survivor was a ratings blockbuster. The subsequent seasons have all had respectable ratings.
But I’ve been reading about the British version of the show and it’s clear it didn’t do well. In fact, I’ve seen the show refered to as a “national joke”.
The thing is is that I’ve read recaps of the episodes and from what I’ve read, there was no inherent reason for the show to bomb so badly. The show appeared to have had interesting players, alliances, conflicts, a resourceful winner, and all of the things that worked well in the US.
So why did the UK version of Survivor fail so badly? Were the recaps incorrect and the show really did suck? Was there some horrible scheduling or poor promotion that killed it? Or was the show just a mediocre failure and the reports of it being so bad grew in the retelling?