The Return of Eco-Challenge
Rob Howard / 21.10.2018
Since the first tentative announcements in the summer the return of Eco-Challenge has been a hot topic of AR chat, and things firmed up recently with Amazon buying into the show. At that point a simple webpage and a Facebook presence popped up and teams could register their interest – the backing money was in place, and it’s really going to happen. The most famous adventure race ever (like it or not), and one which helped establish the sport of Adventure Racing, will be coming back in 2019 after a 17 year break.
It’s going to make waves in the sport of Adventure Racing that’s for sure, because of the iconic nature of Eco-Challenge and the TV and media might of those producing it. (I was going to say it’s unprecedented for a race to return after such a long gap, but then remembered The Dragon’s Back Race returned after a 20 year absence, and very successfully too.)
The Eco-Challenge documentaries put Adventure Racing on the map (and in the money), and you can still see the shows on YouTube. (No doubt their hits are going up again.) The race ran from 1995 to 2002, visiting locations like Patagonia, Borneo and Fiji, and the shows following the triumphs and suffering of the teams aired on ESPN, Discovery Channel and USA Network. The race made ‘TV stars’ of the early generation of AR greats like John Howard, Robyn Benincasa and Ian Adamson and inspired many of today’s racers. (When we asked those joining SleepMonsters what got them interested in AR the most common reply was watching Eco-Challenge.)
The race was fronted and produced by Mark Burnett and is credited with being the start of ‘Reality Television’, which is a bit ironic. Burnett went on to become one of the biggest names in the genre, producing Survivor, The Apprentice, The Voice and many other shows, all of the kind adventure racers are never likely to watch! When it ended Eco-Challenge was rather abruptly dropped, with no explanation given at the time, and Burnett moved onto other TV projects, fame, fortune and multiple Emmy Awards with MGM TV. (Eco-Challenge Morocco won a Sports Emmy in 2000).
Burnett is a big player who was listed by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world, and now he’s decided it time for an Eco-Challenge come-back and has teamed up with Bear Grylls and Amazon to present the show. Here’s what they all have to say about the revival:
“I owe so much to Eco-Challenge. I came to the competition after I spent a few years competing professionally in expedition competitions,” said Burnett. “I went on to produce Eco-Challenge for a decade. It started my entire TV career and afforded me my first Emmy. I’ve been asked one question over and over. When is it coming back? Now it is. With Bear Grylls at the helm and the Amazon Prime Video team delivering it to a worldwide audience, we will make an amazing team, and the audience will see that this little race eats Ironmen for breakfast.”
“Mark Burnett and Bear Grylls are a dream pairing when it comes to the world of ultimate survival. The stakes and the emotions will run high for the teams on Eco-Challenge 2019,” said Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke. “Our Prime Video audience is in for a high-octane edge-of-your-seat experience as these fierce competitors find their limits and are asked to push beyond them in an adventure unlike any other.”
“Eco-Challenge is the ultimate survival-adventure race, against the elements, against the clock, and against some of the greatest extreme athletes the world has ever seen,” said Bear Grylls. “Amazon Studios have such incredible global reach and the ability to unite so many countries and territories around this race that shows human endeavour at its most powerful.”
That’s about all we really know so far. Racers can register an interest on the new Eco-Challenge web page (https://www.ecochallenge.com) and key members of the original production team are returning with some venue details ‘promised soon’.
It’s a shot in the arm for Adventure Racing no doubt, presenting the sport to a global (and younger) TV audience in a way which hasn’t happened for many years, but what kind of adventure racing it will present in a 10 episode reality TV format we’ll have to wait and see.
The race/show won’t fit in with existing AR calendars that’s for sure, so it’s going to conflict one way or another. (There will be some nervous Race Directors waiting for the date announcement.) It will be interesting too to see how the revival picks up on the many changes in AR that have happened since it disappeared into a Los Angeles storage locker in 2002. The last race took place before Facebook, satellite tracking and dot-watching. It’s a different world now and the top teams are much more professional too ... which doesn’t necessarily make for better TV.
The upsides will be much greater than the downsides I’m sure and racers will welcome the return of this legendary race and be keen to take part. Let’s hope the reboot is better than it ever was and lives up to the iconic status of the original Eco-Challenge, helping to take Adventure Racing to new levels of popularity along with it.
