12 hardy souls must depend on friends and family to keep them going in new reality survival competition Extracted

Surviving the challenges of everyday life is tough enough, right? Well, 12 contestants are willing to brave the elements of the Canadian wilderness for a serious payday of over US$350,000 in the new reality competition series Extracted. Survivalists have long held our fascination when it comes to reality television, from the boom of CBS’s Survivor defining the genre in the early 2000s, to the Canadian hit Mantracker, which premiered nearly 20 years ago, to current-day series like Alone on History and Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. However, Extracted is not just your average game of survival of the fittest.

The upcoming series adds a couple of new twists to the competition. First, the contestants vying for the grand prize are amateurs. No lifelong survivalists are among those trekking out into the wilds of British Columbia to set up camps from scratch. Without any specialized training and completely isolated from each other, competitors battle hunger, cold and the threat of predators for a chance to win a life-changing purse. While contestants control their basic needs — building shelter, making fire and collecting food — the rest of their game is not up to them.

In a remote headquarters far from the contestants’ camps are their loved ones, watching and dictating the game from afar. Competitors receive supplies that their designated family members prepare for them while playing a strategic game of their own at HQ. The power is in the hands of the contestants’ families, as only they can pull their survivalist from the game by pressing the big red extract button at HQ.

Contestants are surveilled 24-7 by remote cameras set up around their camps in addition to what they film of themselves, sometimes sharing emotional confessions of the struggle to survive in the great outdoors on the wall of screens in HQ. They pull on their loved ones’ heartstrings but also provide other families with intel that they can use to build or destroy alliances within the game.

Extracted contestants include model Anthony, 18 (Dallas, Texas and New York, New York); teacher Ashley, 38 (Granbury, Texas); hairstylist and clown Davina, 42 (Jacksonville, Florida); river guide Haley, 26 (Long Island, New York); mortgage loan officer Jake, 35 (Meridian, Idaho); off-road event promoter Jakoben, 25 (McComb, Mississippi); wellness coach Meagan, 30 (Mandeville, Louisiana); personal assistant Robyn, 56 (Las Vegas, Nevada); registered dietitian Rose, 30 (Denver, Colorado); diesel mechanic Ryan H., 28 (Lincolnton, North Carolina); eBay reseller Ryan W., 41 (Conifer, Colorado); and retired law officer Woody, 50 (Grovetown, Georgia).

Each competitor has brought along two loved ones they trust to help guide them to the grand prize. In HQ are Anthony’s parents, Yolanda and Tony; Ashley’s father-in-law, Scott, and fiancé, Austin; Davina’s stepdaughter Tori and sister Devin; Haley’s friends Karly and Natalie; Jake’s brothers Austin and Justin; Jakoben’s uncle Terrance and cousin David; Meagan’s friend Abby and father, Gerrad; Robyn’s daughter Faith and husband, Lance; Rose’s cousin Kelsey and aunt Laura; Ryan H.’s parents, Roger and Candance; Ryan W.’s wife, Sarah, and brother Sam; and Woody’s son Blake and nephew Collin.

Extracted has a dystopian edge when compared to other shows in the survival competition genre. With its HQ surveillance and strategy room, the series evokes The Hunger Games film franchise or Netflix’s Squid Games, fictional stories of lethal competitions between desperate competitors. That brutal, cinematic quality may be an influence from someone behind the scenes.

Sylvester Stallone (Tulsa King), Rambo himself, is the founder of Balboa Productions and is one of the producers of Extracted, along with B17 Entertainment, a part of Sony Pictures Television, and Fox Entertainment. Stallone also executive produces the new series with B17 founders Rhett Bachner (Amityville: An Origin Story) and Brien Meagher (The Big Tiny Food Face-Off).

Meanwhile, B.C. remains one of the most in-demand filming locations in Canada. Whether it’s been dressed up to appear as another place, like for The CW’s Riverdale, or its terrifying natural beauty is part of the story, like in Netflix’s drama series Keep Breathing, or a bit of both like Showtime’s Yellowjackets, you have seen the province’s remote wilderness if you’ve known it or not.

Extracted airs Monday, February 10, on CTV & Fox