Escape from Scorpion Island is a BBC children's TV adventure game show in which contestants try to 'escape from an exotic island with a mind of its own' by doing various challenges to improve their chances of escaping. Series 1 was made by RDF Television for CBBC and was filmed in Brazil, while series 2 onwards were produced by Foundation/Freehand for CBBC and ABC Television and were filmed in Australia. The show has been presented by 3 different sets of presenters; Caroline Flack and Reggie Yates, JK and Joel and Myleen Klass and Johny Pitts. The show ran for five series across four years before being cancelled in 2011 following the end of BBC's and ABC's partnership.
Format
A number of adventurers, aged 11–14 and from either the UK or Australia, are brought to a mythical island called 'Scorpion Island', a tropical and exotic island that appears to have a mind of its own. Once on the island the adventurers are divided into two teams, usually either 'Team Sting' or 'Team Claw', though series 3 featured a third team called 'Team Venom', and for the first half of series 5 the teams were boys vs girls. The number of adventures on each team are usually fixed, though a team may lose, gain and swap members as the show goes on, depending on the series. The ultimate goal of each series for each team is to escape the island, so along the way the teams compete in various challenges to better their chances of escaping the island. Whoever wins the final challenge escapes the island while the losing team are left behind. The show has been filmed in a variety of different locations and each series introduces different challenges and storylines. The challenges were usually a mix of both metal challenges and main physical challenges, and the challenges are done in either small teams or individually. Sometimes a team who is successful in the first challenge gets an advantage in the following challenge, such as a time bonus. Examples of the challenges faced throughout are:
Transporting certain objects from one area to another while suspended in the air on wires
Swimming down a river or area of water while collecting objects
Filling a funnel with water so the object floats to the top
Assembling a raft and then paddling
Throwing an object at a target to score the most
Pulling objects up a hill with ropes
Various mental and arithmetic puzzles
The final escape consisted of bigger, more tougher challenges done in multiple stages where everyone on each team is involved, and whoever wins each stage would get an advantage in the following stage and so on until the final round where the winning team escape the island.
Series overview
Series 1
The first series ran on BBC One from 3 September 2007 to 21 September 2007 and was presented by Caroline Flack and Reggie Yates and filmed in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil.
Series Three premiered on 5 April 2009 on CBBC and on 9 March 2009 on ABC1. It was hosted by JK and Joel and was filmed in Mission Beach, Queensland, Australia in 2008.
Series Five premiered on 11 March 2011 on ABC3. It was hosted by Myleene Klass and Johny Pitts and was filmed in Tallebudgera Valley, Queensland, Australia in April 2010. The series premiered on BBC 2 on 16:05 on 20 May 2011 and concluded on 25 July.
