United States (Edmunds, 2001). The reason for this adoption process is that there is an apparently universal appeal embedded in nonfiction television programming, much of which places attractive and/or controversial ôreal peopleö in game-like situations that test their character, competencies, skills, or ability to maneuver and manipulate others. The program has proved, at least in Sweden and in the United states, if not in Great Britain, to have generated a following among audiences of many different ages and demographic groups (Edmunds, 2001).
In Sweden, Survivor is produced by Strix Television, a 15 year-old reality television production company. Edmunds (2001) described the prototype or the initial version of Survivor as the Strix-produced program Expedition Robinson which aired in 1997 in Sweden. Even before Strix began to produce the program, company founder Robert Aschberg stated that ôthe show stirred up a huge commotion in the government and the press. It was the first of its kind and the people were outraged" (in Edmunds, 2001, p. 26).
However, the program is now in its seventh season on SwedenÆs SVT network, where it has enjoyed over and above a 78 percent market share (Edmunds, 2001). Strix established the format for the program by selecting exotic islands in remote locations such as Johor, Malaysia (Swedish TV picksà, 2003). This island setting, located in a cluster of islands off of Mersing, Malaysia, has served Strix well because it provides a variety of settings in which contestants can literally ôgo nativeö while overcoming various challenges (Johor picked asà, 2003).
Some 500 million viewers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Greece watch the Swedish version of Survivor which is still known as Expedition Robinson. Due to its immense popularity, Strix TV also films different versions of the program for showings in other European countries while simultaneously...