Castaway 2000, the grandaddy of reality TV shows, was no walk in the park. The participants had to live for more than a year on a remote Scottish island and were almost self sufficient by the time they left.

In comparison, the new, revamped 2007 series seems to be a whole lot easier. Its on a New Zealand island for a start, the weather at least has got to be better, and the castaways will only be on the island for three months.

But BBC One controller, Peter Fincham, has assured us here at Unreality TV that he believes that Castaway 2007 will be a much more difficult experience for the participants.

For a start they have no buildings on the island. Between the 13 Castaways they have 3 basic wood huts, no beds and very little food. In fact they were given only one match which they used to start a fire on the first night……it went out!

Host Danny Wallace has backed up Fincham’s claims and said: “It will be a pretty grim experience for them — I guarantee that.” And the shows boss Jeremy Mills stated:

“They won’t know what’s hit them. There’s no electricity, plumbing or running water — and they’ll have just one match to start a fire. We’re only giving them Second World War-standard rations, so they’ll have to fish if they want to eat well.

“And we’re not giving them beds — they’ve got a sack of sheep’s wool, they’ll have to use that.”

To make things tougher the producers have partly dismantled the few huts, smeared human waste on their outside toilet and sprayed dust into their kitchen. As part of the shows interactive features the public will be allowed to make decisions on issues such as whether or not to release giant insects or rats into the compound, or whether to award the Castaways items such as Champagne or vinegar.

This show sounds more interesting by the day! Roll on Friday night!