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Everest Survivor: Global Extremes pre show warm-up
07:24 a.m. EDT Jun 1, 2003
Tonight OLN TV in the United States is going to air this past Thursday/Friday’s summit push on TV – 7 PM EST (8 PM PST). Whether you’ve been following these guys since last autumn or just heard of them today, read on for a pre-show warm up of the Everest Survivor show. Join us as we recount the Global Extreme’s Lho mystery man who almost got put in Nepali jail, the expedition leader getting hit in the head with an oxygen bottle, and the ex-contestant who refused to be voted of the show and took matters into her own hands.
When it was announced there was going to be a Survivor show on Everest, it changed the face of reality TV. Survivor shows are usually done in a controlled environment, with tight leashes on the contestants. We only know of one death that has taken place over the years – it was contestant who got voted off and committed suicide.
What made the Everest survivor show even crazier was the final summit push was supposed to be aired live and on TV. To combine Everest with people who had never climbed above 7000m and put it on live television meant that there was the distinct possibility that viewers across America would get to see a live death on TV.
On Friday, May 30, 2003, the team made it to the summit and they survived, however, the much touted and anticipated live coverage of the event didn’t happen. Instead you’ll be watching it tonight.
Wait a minute, they summited, why bother to watch? Well, the road to the summit was rocky and many interesting things happened along the way. Of the 50 original contestants, only 5 made it to Everest. Two of the eliminated contestants decided to take matters into their own hands and at times they stole the Global Extremes show.
Elimination didn’t stop two of them
Pavel Trcala, was eliminated and went on a Global Extremes tour of his own around the world. He ended up in the Nepal’s Everest base camp this May and wanted to visit his friends from the show on the Tibet side of Everest. Without much experience and a minimum of equipment, his plan was to climb the steep and technical Lho La pass over to Tibet and he soon came to be known as the Lho La mystery man.
This is the equivalent of watching a guy with refrigerator suction cups make his way up the Empire State Building. He got caught before making it very far, but managed to escape arrest by sneaking out of Base Camp under the cover of darkness.
I wanted it more
Another contestant who was voted off in one of the later parts of the show was Tryntjie Young. She really took matters into her own hands and joined with a commercial expedition in an attempt to climb Everest on her own. To this date she has become the only woman Global Extreme’s contestant to summit. Of the five finalists with the show, only two of them summited, both were men.
The OLN spin-doctors
OLN didn’t start doing dispatches until a month after arriving in base camp. The only action on their website was on the message boards of people complaining about the poor coverage. Things soon changed. A storm hit Everest, and the then expedition leader, Chris Warner, left an audio dispatch to dispel rumors about the team’s tents being wiped out and that they were in bad shape. After that, one of the contestants dropped out. First they announced it on the site and then took it down – but not before enough people saw it to make a big stink about it.
Then they started on their summit push and had to hold while their supplies were offered to help in a rescue. However, this was not without the then expedition leader getting hit in the head with an oxygen bottle, and another contestant dropping out.
With the expedition leader headed for home, one of the cameramen stepped out from behind the camera and became the de-facto leader.
At this point, base camp was clearing out – teams were packing up and going home. Some think the Global Extreme’s team didn’t throw in the towel because Toyota executives would have had a fit, but we prefer to think that these guys wanted it bad. After getting so much crap from everyone, they were not going to give up without a fight, and for that matter, without live television either.
Seasons change
The live broadcast was scrapped in favor of the show being aired several days later. The excuse was that the satellite window over the mountain closed. A quick tip – a satellite is not like a Monsoon that comes and goes with the seasons. Still, a produced show, with 4-day-old footage from the summit is pretty darn good considering it took blind climber Erik Weihenmeyer’s Everest film over a year to come out.
So on Thursday they set out. No announcement or anything until they were on their way. OLN had learned their lesson, no more promises, just action. By now the team was down to two guys, another one bit the dust. OLN’s wording about, “Petit not proceeding with the team,” leaves minds to wonder what is actually going on, but nonetheless, 1 leader, 2 contestants, 2 cameramen, and 5 sherpas set out for the summit and arrived early Friday morning after a 6 ½ push.
Summit secrets
That night the phones in base camp were mysteriously left off, though they had been working fine for weeks before that. Could OLN have tried to keep the summit a secret? Well, theoretically they could have gotten away with it a couple years ago, but due to satellite phones, pesky websites like us, and the off chance the cameramen’s friends were summiting at the same time from the South, they didn’t. IMG’s website spilled the beans just moments after it happened.
Instructions for watching the show
So now that you know the scoop, it’s time to get ready for the summit push tonight in your own home. For the best experience possible follow these directions: Close the windows, crank up the AC, find the smelliest clothes you have in your laundry room and put them on.
Put on your ski goggles and steal grandpa’s oxygen that he walks around with, firmly affixing it to your face. If your goggles start to fog up, don’t take them off, you are really starting to get the true experience. If you have to go to the bathroom, sorry, hold it in. And if you really want to be hard core, fill four salad bowls with ice and water; 1 each for your hands and feet. You are now ready for the, “At home Everest summit push”
Enjoy!!
Image courtesy of Global Extremes
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