A
New Zealand television show in the same
vein of the
American show
Survivor. Just as in the
States there was enormous
public interest in the outcome of the show. Unlike its counterpart, the
winner of Treasure Island only won NZ$15000 (approx. US$7500). Treasure Island was produced a couple of months before
Survivor.
IMHO Treasure Island was better than Survivor for the following reasons:
- Each week, one contestant from each of the two teams was eliminated by a computer quiz, which was based on the knowledge of the contestants of their peers and their surroundings - not through voting others off. This meant no one could gang up on someone at elimination, and teams would have to put up with members that got on their nerves.
- Contestants belongings were searched before arriving on the island, and "luxuries" were confiscated. They were not given any extra items after landing on the island, and checks were made for smuggled items, and penalties were enforced for the discovery of smuggled items.
- Teams had to solve difficult series of clues top find parts of a treasure map that marked the spot where the treasure was buried, rather than competeting in silly immunity contests that were tests of physical skills against each other.
- Throughout the whole series, we saw no one but the contestants, unlike Survivor who had a presenter at the elimintations.
- Elimination was simply called elimination, and not the silly name of "Tribal Council".
Given these reasons, the winning contestant of Treasure Island is really much more deserving of the US$1 Million than the winner of Survivor.