Survivor, the Disabled Version Comes to U.K. TV
By Catherine Mayer © TIME, LONDON — To television executives depressed over the dwindling audiences for reality TV shows and looking for ways to reinvigorate the once hugely profitable genre, the following pitch might be compelling. “We’ve got this great show for you. We’re going to take six strangers and strand them somewhere really remote; we’ll film them as they struggle to survive. You say it’s already been done — there’s I’m a Celebrity–Get Me Out of Here! and Survivor and, here in Britain, Castaway. But here’s the twist: our participants will be … disabled! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cast Offs, a uniquely challenging reality TV show.” As the scale of that unique challenge dawns on the contestants in the hours after they are deposited on a lonely island, one of the castoffs coins a more succinct description of the show. “This is going to be Lord of the Flies on crack,” says Tom. The blind, pathologically lazy 38-year-old is half right…. READ ARTICLE