Expedition Robinson (Central Europe)

Expedition Robinson
Created by	Charlie Parsons
Theme music composer	Andreas Nordqvist
Country of origin	Austria (2000) Germany
Original language	German
No. of seasons	2
Original release
Network	ORF (2000) RTL2
Release	September 17, 2000 (2000-09-17) – 2001 (2001)
Related
Survivor franchise

Expedition Robinson was the Central European version of Expedition Robinson . The name alludes to both Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson , two stories featuring people marooned by shipwrecks.

Background and history

In the spring of 2000, ORF in Austria and RTL2 in Germany decided to buy the broadcasting rights to the shows Big Brother and Expedition Robinson as they wanted to begin airing a new "reality soaps" genre. Neither show was quite as big a success as RTL2 had expected, however both were renewed for a second season (Big Brother would eventually be renewed for at least ten more). Das Inselduell – Nur einer kommt durch!  [ de ] (English: The Island Duel – Only one survives!), an unofficial adaptation of the format aired on Sat.1 in 2000 but was axed after one season. ^{[1] [2]}

Following the first season, ORF chose to no longer broadcast Expedition Robinson leaving only RTL2 to air a second season. In 2001, RTL2 decided to produce a show that was almost identical to Expedition Robinson known as Gestrandet – Zeig, was in dir steckt!  [ de ] (Stranded – Show what you're made of!). ^[3] Gestrandet proved to be a ratings failure and was also axed. ^[4] This was followed by Outback, an unofficial adaptation of Survivor: The Australian Outback , in 2002 on RTL ^[5] and a ProSieben revival of Survivor in 2007. ^[6] The format returned once more in 2019, this time on VOX. ^[7]

In October 2024, a further revival was announced by Banijay Entertainment to be produced in partnership by Turkish media company Acun Medya and Banijay subsidiary Brainpool TV for broadcast on Sport1. ^[8] Filmed in the Dominican Republic, it is expected to begin airing in March 2026 with Detlef Soost as host. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Format

The Robinson format was developed by Planet 24, a United Kingdom TV production company owned by Charlie Parsons and Bob Geldof. Their company Castaway Television Productions retained the rights to the concept when they sold Planet 24 in 1999. Mark Burnett later licensed the format to create the U.S. show Survivor in 2000.

Sixteen contestants are put into a survival situation and compete in a variety of physical challenges. Early in each season two teams compete but later on the teams are merged and the competitions become individual. At the end of each show one contestant is eliminated from the show by the others in a secret "island council" ballot.

The format for Gestrandet was very similar to that of Robinson, but instead of there being sixteen contestants, there were only fourteen and they were initially divided into tribes by gender. Jokers could also enter the game at any time. Finally the winner of Gestrandet was not determined by any kind of juror vote, but was decided by a large obstacle course.

Seasons

Year	Channel	Host	Location	Days	Participants	Winner
2000	ORF 1 (2000) RTL2	Volker Piesczek	Malaysia	39	19	Melanie Lauer
2001		Pierre Geisensetter  [ de ]	Panama	60	22	Alexander Kolo
2007	Prosieben	Sascha Kalupke  [ Wikidata ]	Malaysia	50	18	Volker Kreuzner
2019	VOX	Florian Weber  [ de ]	Fiji	39	18	Lara Grünfeld
2026	Sport1	Detlef Soost	Dominican Republic	TBA
Unofficial versions
2000	Sat.1	Holger Speckhahn  [ de ]	Malaysia	50	14	Michael
2002	RTL	Markus Lanz	Australia	40	13	Sergej Schmidt

References

1. "Das Inselduell". 3 July 2000. Retrieved 19 August 2022– via www.fernsehserien.de.
2. "Sat 1 kippt zweite Staffel von Inselduell". www.horizont.net. 9 March 2001. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
3. "RTL II präsentiert: "Gestrandet" - Zeig, was in Dir steckt!".
4. "Gestrandet – Zeig, was in dir steckt!". 2 September 2001. Retrieved 19 August 2022– via www.fernsehserien.de.
5. "Outback". 9 March 2002. Retrieved 19 August 2022– via www.fernsehserien.de.
6. "Survivor dropped". DWDL. 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
7. Riedmeier, Glenn (15 October 2019). "VOX holt "Survivor" zurück nach Deutschland". fernsehserien.de. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
8. John-Leighton, Mariah (Oct 23, 2024). "Banijay Entertainment Superbrands, MasterChef and Survivor, Heading to Germany" . Retrieved Oct 23, 2024.
9. "Aminati und Soost sollen Sport1-Shows auf die Beine helfen". DWDL.de. Retrieved Dec 1, 2025.
10. "Sport1 bringt den "Fantalk" zurück und zeigt neue Staffel "Exatlon"".
11. "SURVIVOR: DETLEF D! SOOST WIRD HOST DES ULTIMATIVEN ABENTEUERFORMATS AUF SPORT1". SPORT1. Retrieved Nov 30, 2025.

External links

• Expedition Robinson News