Lost is a reality television show screened in the United States and United Kingdom in late 2001. It is a race format where teams are placed around the world with few or no resources and have to travel their way back to a "finish line" location.
The premise was similar to The Amazing Race, except the three two-member teams knew only the final destination (thousands of miles away) and were given only a backpack full of clothes and other essentials. In addition, team members were not acquainted with one another prior to the show, and were assigned to teams. Contestants were blindfolded and dropped off with a single camera person in a remote location of an unknown country to find their way back to their home country.
| Runtime: | 60 min. |
| Narrated: | Al Trautwig |
| Executive Producer: | David Dugan Nancy Stern |
| Starring: | Carla Antonino Dan Wells Laurie Zink Joe Gulla |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Company: | Conaco NBC Studios |
| Network: | NBC |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
The U.S. version of the show was produced by Conaco, a production company owned by Conan O'Brien. Sports broadcaster Al Trautwig was the narrator.
Teams were given no money until they managed to figure out what country they were in. During the first set, the teams were abandoned in Mongolia. In the second set, the teams were abandoned in Bolivia. It was revealed in the second set that there was more to the show than just getting to the destination. The contestants had to go back via a particular island, making the quest more arbitrary. The first team to reach the U.S. finish line at the Statue of Liberty in New York City would split U.S. $200,000.[1]
First drop-off:
Second drop-off:
With the show premiering to dismal ratings, only two of the three sets of three episodes were produced; NBC blamed the lackluster numbers on the show debuting just before the September 11, 2001, attacks. The first set debuted on September 4, 2001. The winners from the first set were announced on the final episode, airing a week later than scheduled (due to the 9/11 attacks pre-empting the airing of the second episode). While the second set was set to debut the next week, NBC put the show on hiatus. On December 23, 2001, the second set of episodes began airing on NBC in a new 7:00 p.m. ET Sunday timeslot. Although the final two episodes of the second set were initially scheduled to air in a two-hour block the following week, NBC decided to skip the second episode of the set, and only aired the final episode in a one-hour timeslot, due to the previous episode having one of the lowest ratings in the network's history.
The series debuted the night before The Amazing Race on rival CBS.
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Company: | Windfall Films |
| Narrated: | Mat Fraser |
| Theme Music Composer: | Daniel Pemberton |
| Executive Producer: | David Dugan |
| Producer: | Robert Davis |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | Channel 4 |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 15 |
The UK version of the show was produced for Channel 4 by Windfall Films, and shown in October 2001. In the UK the show was narrated by Mat Fraser.[2]
Five sets of three episodes were broadcast in which teams were abandoned in the Solovetsky Islands in Northwest Russia, Mali in West Africa near Timbuktu, near Mount Roraima in Venezuela, the province of Quebec in Canada, and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. The UK teams had to race back to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, except in the final race from Azerbaijan, where the destination was the Angel of the North statue in Gateshead. The first team to arrive at the destination in each race won a prize of £5,000. The winning team from each race was brought back to compete again the following week as returning champions. They compete against two new teams. A 320-paged book detailing the series, written by Nikki Arend (wife of producer Robert Davis), accompanied the series.[3]
Each team member and camera person was provided at the start with three days' food and water and a small amount of money. In the first two races the participants were given U.S. $200 cash each. For the third race from Venezuela the funds were in the form of an amount of gold and uncut diamonds roughly equivalent to £150. In the fourth race the cash was reduced to U.S. $150. For the final race from Azerbaijan the funds were reduced again, to only $80.
DROP 1: Anzer, one of the Solovetsky islands in Russia, making up the Solovki archipelago in the White Sea, 150 km from the Arctic Circle. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London. This, the series pilot, was filmed between 26 August and 2 September 2000.
DROP 2: Sahara desert, north of Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Dakar, Senegal, where they would be given onward flights to an undisclosed destination (Casablanca, Morocco). Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
DROP 3: La Gran Sabana (The Grand Savannah), Venezuela. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to the Caribbean island of Martinique, West Indies, where they would be given partial funds for flights back to the United Kingdom. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
DROP 4: Near St Augustin, Cote-Nord, Eastern Quebec, Canada. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, USA, to collect partial funds for tickets to return to the United Kingdom. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
DROP 5: Near Siazan in northern Azerbaijan. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan). On reaching Baku, they were then instructed to travel via Iran into Turkey (because, of the countries bordering Azerbaijan, they were only provided with visas for Iran whilst in Baku). From Turkey the teams could choose their own route back to the United Kingdom. Use of international flights was not permitted, and neither was obtaining assistance from family and friends (the latter condition being applied after teams obtained help, including financial help, from family and friends during Drop 4). In a change from all previous drops, their final destination in Drop 5 was The Angel of the North, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England.
Scheduling of the program in a late night slot meant it reached only a limited audience. The UK version was repeated on a cable channel a few months after the first showing.