A second season of reality show
Survivor South Africa - this time set in exotic Malaysia - has been announced by M-Net.
This time round 16 South African contestants will be chosen to contest the R1-million prize and the title of Sole Survivor, one of them by public vote.
M-Net and series producer Endemol South Africa will select 15 of the 16 contestants. In a worldwide Survivor first, the remaining contestant will be chosen by the viewing public.
According to Carl Fischer, M-Net's Head of Original Productions, lessons have been learned from the first season of the show and the second one will be vastly improved.
"The excellent viewer ratings of our first local Survivor, Survivor South Africa: Panama, made it clear to us that we simply had to do another series," he said in a press statement.
"We do feel that we can do a lot better, though. We've learnt many valuable lessons from the first series and we hope to bring viewers a much more exciting television experience with Survivor South Africa: Malaysia."
In the first season there were 14 contestants, which many viewers felt was too few. That number has been bumped up to 16 for the second season.
"Two additional contestants broaden the scope of the show, and the challenges will be more complex and more appealing," said Fisher. "We are striving to ensure that virtually every aspect of the show will top that of its predecessor."
Of the extra two contestants, one of them will be chosen by the public. The idea is to get viewers more involved in the show, according to Fisher.
"We'd like everyone to participate in the human dramas played out on our screens every week. The first interactive step is to give viewers a chance to choose one of the contestants," he said.
A variety of media partners will invite their readers to apply for a place among the 16 contestants and viewers will be voting for their favourite among these entries.
Contestants have to be strong swimmers older than 21, possess a valid passport, and be in good mental and physical shape.
Application forms for Survivor South Africa: Malaysia will be available online at
www.mnet.co.za from Friday morning (2 March).
Entries close on April 2, 2007.
Mark Bayly will again host the show and filming will start in May.