Stranded with a Million Dollars
by Kaitlyn Palividas
![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/published/download_2.jpg?1491371507)
I have a terrible habit of binge watching reality television competitions while on summer or winter break. The concept of spending 40 days secluded with people you don’t know in order to compete for some unrealistic prize money really entertains me. The competition, character development and guaranteed drama always seems to keep me coming back for more. So when MTV launched a new survivalist reality show titled Stranded with a Million Dollars earlier this year, I had to see it. The concept is simple yet so interesting, which is hard to come by in current popular reality television. Ten players are stranded in the wilderness for 40 days with just the clothes on their back. Every few days, they travel across the island to a new checkpoint in order to earn an additional $100,000 for up to a million dollars. The participants can elect to purchase food and supplies, but for a ridiculously expensive price.
Examples:
Tent - $30,000
Hatchet - $8000
Pizza Pie - $3750
Jar of Peanut Butter - $3750
Soda can - $1000
Each week two of the players are also tempted to spend $15,000 of the team’s shared money to treat themselves to a real meal. With a diet consisting of primarily coconuts, these exorbitant prices become very appealing.
Examples:
Tent - $30,000
Hatchet - $8000
Pizza Pie - $3750
Jar of Peanut Butter - $3750
Soda can - $1000
Each week two of the players are also tempted to spend $15,000 of the team’s shared money to treat themselves to a real meal. With a diet consisting of primarily coconuts, these exorbitant prices become very appealing.
![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/published/stranded-dollars-trailer90-010617-csm-mp4-00-00-30-09-still005-edited.jpg?1491371588)
The entire premise makes the audience consider their own access to food and how many of us take it for granted. Without tools or technology, feeding oneself is extremely difficult. Creating a fire to cook what little food they could scavenge was no easy task for the competitors. The convenience factor is the main drive in their quest for food. The survivalists were forced to purchase items to feed themselves. But imagine if those items were unrealistically priced? These participants were starving because they couldn’t afford it. The viewer cannot help but think about how this idea compares to those impoverished around the world. For many people in the world, regular food isn’t a financial luxury.
It’s fascinating to watch the character transformation the participants undergo as they learn how great they once had it. So even though this is an MTV reality show, I think it really forces young people to acknowledge their privileges, especially with regard to food.