Acorralados: Survivor with a twist!

I have spoken on this blog about many of the shows I've watched here in Spain mirroring American television in many ways (i.e. El Hormiguero and late night talk shows), and how they also tend to differ. Now most of these differences have been small and I could understand them due to the cultural differences between the U.S. and Spain, but there is one show in particular that I have been watching lately that has caught my attention because of one specific factor about the show that separates it from it's American counterpart.

Acorralados (Corralled), which airs on Telecinco, takes B-list celebrities from very different backgrounds of fame and places them on a farm, where they must partake in normal farmer activities as well as participate in different challenges and eliminations. Similar to other reality show challenge shows (Survivor, Real World vs. Road Rules), each week a member of the group is eliminated and throughout the season different surprises and twists are added in to keep participants on their toes. The show runs very closely in line with Survivor (Supervivientes in Spain), where everyone must live together in an environment where they have been stripped of their luxuries and must work together while at the same time trying to become the winner.

(participants of Acorralados 2011)

Although there is no U.S. equivalent to Acorralados, the farm living factor of the show wasn't what surprised me the most. What I find the most interesting about this show is the inclusion of a debate amongst the contestant's family members which occurs in the Telecinco central studio with Christian Galvez (host of Pasapalabra and Tu Si Que Vales). 

 (studio host Christian Galvez)

This is something that I have never seen done in U.S. television and it threw me off at first, but then my host mom began to explain the reason behind this. Most of the time the show will cut off to the debate after an argument or conflict has occurred on the farm and the family members are there to provide the viewing audience with a rationale behind the contestant's actions. They might also give some background information on why a person might be acting the way they are or Vazquez will simply interview them and certain emotions might result from the family members viewing the contestant in such difficult situations. I think this puts a new spin on the reality show because it adds an emotional aspect to the show that doesn't occur from just watching the competition. If you have a contestant who seems like the villain in the group, having their daughter or husband defend them shows that perhaps the contestant isn't as bad as they are made to seem. It brings the reality aspect closer to home because these family members don't have a stake in the game besides just trying to defend their family (the eliminations are done by the contestants at the farm, not by the viewing audience).

I think this would be a great thing to add to American television, however the main problem with this is that there are very few reality shows in America that utilize celebrities for reality shows. In most situations, the contestants gain fame from participating in competitions and begin the shows as regular people. I believe Spanish audiences are most invested in this family aspect because they know who these people are because they've seen them on television or on the news before hand. If that recruitment strategy was used for other American reality shows, I think it would have a chance although it might come with some difficulties. The closest thing we have to this are "After Shows," which air right after a reality show. However, these "After Shows" usually bring back the contestants to explain a situation rather than have their family members come in to rationalize them. 

I'm looking forward to continuing watching this show and seeing how things play out. Hopefully I'm lucky enough to see how it ends.