You can lose your marbles or lose the plot, but to voluntarily lose yourself is beyond the imagination of most people. To be truly lost is hard to achieve in these hi-tech times, but that is what Lost (premiering on i-Cable's A1 channel tomorrow night at 10pm) is all about.
After an 18-hour flight and four-hour helicopter ride, six blindfolded Americans (all of them strangers and in three teams of two) are dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Jetlagged and clueless, they have no maps, no credit cards and no mobile phones with which to communicate with the outside world. All they are equipped with is basic survival gear and US$10 until they work out where they are. The aim of the game is to be the first team to make it back to the Statue of Liberty in New York, where the winners will share a US$200,000 booty and drive away with a sports utility vehicle each.
Filmed in 2001, Lost is the poor relative of The Amazing Race, a slick show that offers an impressive US$1 million in prize money. Lost is the brainchild of Conan O'Brien, while The Amazing Race is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, which explains the different approaches. O'Brien is more subtle, hoping his race with a twist will speak for itself, while Bruckheimer pulls out all the stops and offers viewers a 'supersize' production full of drama and suspense with egos to match.
The two shows do have one thing in common, however: all the competitors failed basic geography in high school - at least that's the impression one gets from watching them in action. Or do the producers allow only participants with no knowledge of the world on their shows? Sad as it is, their ignorance provides a few laughs - but it would help if they knew a few basics, like the Earth really is round.
Back to Lost, and the teams - Carla and Lando, Tami and Celeste, and Joe and Courtland - vainly try to get their bearings. Brimming with confidence, Carla and Lando are first off the blocks, while Tami and Celeste proclaim they are on a 'blonde ambition tour' and play follow the leader but soon fall behind because of their heavy packs. Joe and Courtland, meanwhile, find some tracks in the dirt and decide they will lead them to civilisation.
After numerous clues, Carla and Lando are the firstto discover where they are. They contact the producers by special satellite phone. 'We're in Mongolia,' Carla tells them. She's right, and she's given the combination to a small box in their packs that holds their passports and US$360.
