The ultimate brutal television reality contest. Picture: Yevgeny Pyatkovsky

The show to be broadcast worldwide on the web starting in July will see 30 participants, 15 of them women, ditched on a large island in the Ob River, the seventh longest in the world, chasing a 100 million rouble ($1.7 million) prize on a nine month survival mission in winter temperatures as low as minus 50C.

Called Game2:Winter, the reality TV programme has quietly dropped a shocking rule that stated: 'Everything is allowed. Fighting, alcohol, murder, rape, smoking, anything.'

When asked if he will intervene if there is 'physical violence, rape, a murder', organiser Yevgeny Pyatkovsky, 35, a Novosibirsk millionaire, told The Siberian Times: 'No we won't. I am pretty sure there will be fights, and more. We are not scared of negative reaction if that happens either.'

He insisted it would be made clear to the international participants ahead of the show 'that punishment will follow according to the Russian Criminal Code'. In other words, any action would be for the police or other law enforcement agencies only, not the show's organisers.



Called Game2:Winter, the reality TV programme has quietly dropped a shocking rule that stated: 'Everything is allowed. Fighting, alcohol, murder, rape, smoking, anything.' Picture: Yevgeny Pyatkovsky

Pyatkovsky has stated previously: 'We will refuse any claim of participants even if they were to be killed or raped. We will have nothing to do with this. This will be spelled out in a document to be signed by the participant before the start of the show.'

There would be no rules restricting sex between the participants, he said.

'We will not intervene into relations between participants nor monitor their sexual life either, and our cameras will not be able to follow every move in every corner of the island.

'They are free to form any couple or union, and there is no limits or rules regarding sex.

'If a woman falls pregnant - and manages to carry the baby - that's fine with us.

'We will show the baby after the project is over.'



It gets to minus 50C in winter in Tomsk region of Siberia. Picture: Danil Barashkov

The survival race on the island will be filmed and broadcast 24 hours a day on an internet TV channel, Pyatkovsky said. The island of nine square kilometres is in Tomsk region, he announced.

'It gets to minus 50C in winter, and it is infested with brown bears. This area of Siberia has always lots of bears, but recently numbers doubled because more animals migrated from the north of Krasnoyarsk region, pushed away by wildfires.'

He made clear that the conditions would be more testing than on any TV reality game show. At the start of the show, 'brown bears will be at the end of their mating season. Days after they calm down a bit, the biting gnats will arrive'.

They will be allowed knives but no other weapons and he admitted that if a bear attacks a participant, there may be nothing the organisers can do.

'There will be a ground team on duty, and one or two helicopters for emergency situations,' he said. 'Having said that, bears can run as fast as 60 kph, and our two thousand cameras on the island would not be able to cover every centimetre of the forests

'This is the raw Siberian taiga: anything can happen, and we might not be on time to solve an emergency.

'The participants will have knives only, no guns will be allowed. They won't be allowed to bring anything with them.'



The show is a brainchild of Yevgeny Pyatkovsky, pictured

Survival will depend on growing food and storing it for winter, catching fish from a plenteous supply in the Ob, or killing game.

'We will give one set of clothes to every participant and it must last till the end of the show. Right after the arrival our survivors will be given the task of building a house, shelter, or anything they decide to live in during autumn and winter.'

At the start, they will chose from a storage 100 kg worth of winter clothes, tools like a hand saw and axe, fishing rods, ropes, soaps, salt and sugar.

'The set of clothes, food and instruments will not be replaced,' Pyatkovsky said.'There will presenters whose role is to give initial tips about surviving in Siberia - for example, how to catch an otter, or how to behave when you meet a wild bear, and also to organise various competitions and quests.

'One might be being woken early in the morning from a loud alarm.

'A worried presenter's voice will announce that a group of criminals broke out of a nearby jail and is already on the island.

'The task will be to catch the criminals, and whoever does so gets a prize from a sponsor.'



The island of nine square kilometres is in Tomsk region. Picture: Tourist Club Tomsk

Pyatkovsky, a father-of-two, said: 'There is nothing like this show in the whole world. No-one has done it as a real thing where people will actually have to use every skill they ever gained, social, physical, psychological, to survive.'

'You will be able to watch it from every corner of the world at any moment of the day and night, as you move, work, drink with your girlfriend in the bar, or relax with a cup of tea at the end of the day.'

Asked for his goal in running the extreme show, he said bluntly: 'To earn money, this is my main task. I will however reach several other goals at the meantime. I will show what Siberians are worth as survivors, how strong and resilient, but also how warm, fair and humorous we are.

'I am hoping we will become heroes in the eyes of an international audience who I hope will have better grip of how we managed to conquer this part of Russia, and make it home.

'I will show stunningly beautiful nature of Siberia and will increase interest from tourists from all over the world.'



Tomsk region, north of Western Siberia. Picture: Andrey Bosh

Pyatkovsky said: I've been thinking about this show since the time I first saw Lost. I thought that surely there must be a way to do a real survival show, where people face all the real problems of daily life in the Siberian taiga.

'I envisaged it being organised in Siberia, but I had no idea as to how to transmit it so that the whole world could see it. Now I know, and the time has finally come.

'Several years ago I realised that I could set up cameras and arrange seamless broadcast, and this is when I started to work on the details of the show.

'It took me long two and a half years of preparations, and now I am ready.'

Hundreds of would-be participants have applied, and the selection will be made by online viewers.



Real-life adventurers to a 'professional blonde' queue to participate. Pictures: Yevgeny Pyatkovsky

Among the hopefuls are:

Natalya Korneva, 26, an actress from St Petersburg: 'I travel whenever I have some spare time, during the last 5 years I covered more than 150,000 km, most of them alone.

'I've been to the mighty Lena River in Siberia, to Magadan, to the Altai Mountains and the Far East of Russia. I've been dreaming about moving to Siberia for a long while, but first I want to feel how hospitable the taiga will be towards me. This is why I am taking part.'

Jonghyun Lee, 22, from South Korea: 'I have served in the South Korean Air Force, and currently I am a student. Right now I am in the middle of America, biking from Los-Angeles to the East Coast. Regardless of the prize, I love problems.

'I want to go through difficulties because it'll make me better. The primitive instinct of fighting nature without any help is what excites me.'

Dmitry Russkikh, 31, a security service officer from Saratov: 'Extreme, sport and travelling while getting new impressions is what drives me. I grew up on the shores of great Russian Volga River, fishing with my father and grandfather. I spent a lot of time diving, mountain climbing, snowboarding and mountain biking.'



Jonghyun Lee, 22, from South Korea: 'I have served in the South Korean Air Force, and currently I am a student.'

Yelena Grischenko, 21, a student from Kazakhstan: 'I love playing computer games, specially Perfect World and Wow. I read a lot, love Russian classics and fantasy.'

Irina Agisheva, 30, a swimming coach from Nizhny Novgorod: 'I want to do something so mad and unforgettable so that people later say 'do you remember that girl...'. We only live once and we must make the best of our lives. I'm ready.'

Klara Yuchyugyaeva, 33, a real estate agent from Yakutsk (Siberia): 'I love sport since childhood, I was born in Yakutia and I am not afraid of difficulties. For me the taiga is something mysterious and amazing, so please help me discover it.'

Oksana Shiganova, a 28 year old driver from Murmansk in the Russian Arctic: 'I am a professional blonde, a girl who loves dresses, manicure and shopping. I love myself and will definitely not make it through the show without help. But this is what will make it so interesting to follow me.'

Oleg Baturin, a 35 year old economist, said: 'I live in Chelyabinsk, the capital city of the South Urals. Our city has always been known for its strong men - and to prove it I challenge myself and all other participants. I want to spend long time in the wild, try new places and go through new hardships.'



Matts David Goldberg, 36, a student from Sweden: 'I want to take part to inspire people and to help them fight for their dreams'

Matts David Goldberg, 36, a student from Sweden: 'I want to take part to inspire people and to help them fight for their dreams. I also want to go through exactly what my grandfather endured when he worked all around the Siberian taiga after being captured during World War II. I am an adventurer, a teacher and a journalist.'

Mikhail Utrobun, 29, a sportsman from Khabarovsk: 'This is my chance, finally I'll become a millionaire.'

Those taking part will be given survival training from Russia's elite former GRU Spetznaz operatives, but after that they will be on their own coping with temperatures ranging from 35C in high summer to minus 50C or lower in the depths of the Siberian winter.

'Probably all of you have watched the Lost TV series, but surviving in a tropical climate is quite different from trying to stay alive in the Siberian taiga - boreal forest - at minus 40 degrees Celsius,' said Pyatkovsky.

'There will be no film crew: the whole area will be dotted with cameras and each participant will be carrying a portable camera with 7-hour life rechargeable battery.'

Contestants must be at least 18 and 'mentally sane', he said.



The ultimate brutal television reality contest. Picture: Yevgeny Pyatkovsky

Those taking part will be urged to forage and store food before winter in order to survive the cold months.

In winter, contestants will need to catch fish through ice holes to feed themselves.

Their target: to survive until 1 April - but it will be no joke.

All participants will have to sign release of liability for injury and death waivers, he said.

Each week participants may request some item from viewers who will be able to donate money for it via the project's website.

Purchased items will then be delivered to participants.