Link to the audio version of this post is HERE
Summer camp. A rite of passage for so many young kids. I remember the times my parents thought that summer camp was the place for me. The great outdoors, dirt, bugs, extreme heat, dehydration, being made to go swimming three times a day so your counselor can take a break and your hair always smells like chlorine. And if there’s one thing that I remember most vividly, it’s how we were split up into six teams of four based on our jobs and were made to do extreme challenges on an island, known as the Island of Fire, for the honor of our profession. Wait, I might be thinking of Siren: Survive the Island. Let’s get into it.
I’ve never really covered reality TV before, other than a quarantine post about how it’s okay to enjoy trash TV like Tiger King when it’s comfort viewing for a world that feels like it’s falling apart. But since the focus of this blog is storytelling and I’ve talked about storytelling in sports, why not some more reality TV? Siren is unlike any reality competition I’ve seen before and while I was reluctant to watch any reality show, this one came with a strong recommendation so I tried it out. It’s not like I don’t watch any reality competition shows, but they are generally centered around cooking (Top Chef, Bake-Off), so I’m nothing but open-minded. The premise is simple. Six teams of four, split by profession. Soldiers, cops, firefighters, stunt performers, bodyguards, and national athletes. No prize money on the line, only pride. Right, this is where I tell you, if it’s not obvious by the fact there’s no prize money, that it’s not American. Siren is a Korean reality show. And all the contestants are women.
If there’s even a moment of fleeting doubt about the intensity of the show in your mind, banish it now. Siren makes Survivor look like a high tea service with caviar and finger sandwiches by comparison. In one challenge, the teams are told to go, but they don’t know where until a flare is shot into the sky. The flare happened to be 1km away from them, setting off a race through a mudflat to get there. If you’re not familiar with mudflats and you’ve never seen the Top Gear Botswana special, then allow me. One kilometer running across mud that sucks your legs and pulls you down like quicksand in a cartoon. Once they reach their destination, they have to pick up their team’s flag and race back through the mudflat to get to the arena. The catch, though, is that the flag comes with an 80kg (~175 pounds) flag pole that they have to transport as well. Make no mistake. All of these women are in peak physical shape and are incredibly strong. And this challenge saw them reaching their limit, breaking down in the mudflat, collapsing under the literal weight of the flag pole and the extreme exertion of the challenge. And this was the first challenge.
It was genuinely incredible to watch, seeing them fight through this ordeal that was perhaps more difficult than they thought it would be. But here’s the one thing that immediately got me on board with this show. When the first team arrives, they receive a phone call to give them the next instruction for the second phase of the challenge. But the first team had someone lagging behind, near the back of the pack and the voice on the phone informs them that they can only receive the instructions once the whole team has arrived. Rather than wait for their colleague, one of them immediately went back into the mudflat to go get her. And when she sees her teammate fighting through the mud to return to her, the first words out her mouth are “I’m sorry” and her teammate responds that there’s nothing to be sorry about because they’re a team. She was just glad that she was able to go back and help her. And that’s a theme across the entire series. These women are so supportive of each other. When one falters, another is there to prop them up and help them get across the line. What a noticeable difference from most American reality TV shows I’ve ever tried. If cutthroat backstabbing and finger pointing is your thing, Siren isn’t where you’re going to get it. It was truly inspiring to see these women building each other up instead of tearing each other down. Their challenges truly require teamwork and they’re all there for each other through it. My Marvel Rivals teammates could never.
And this is all even before we get to the heart of the actual competition. Each day, there are two challenges. The first occurs in the arena and that’s your sort of Survivor style challenge where the teams compete to gain an advantage in the other battle. This is called an Arena Battle. These are intense physical challenges that make the games I’ve seen in other reality shows seem like babytown frolics by comparison.
Then there’s the Base Battle, which also occurs everyday. This is where the show gets its name. Once a day, at a time unknown to the contestants, a loud siren rings across the island. It could be any time, before or after an Arena Battle, the middle of the night, you name it. And we’re not talking about a gently rising alarm clock either. I’m talking about those old air raid sirens that they used to test occasionally right outside my elementary school. I’m sure they had them in other places as well. I doubt the firehouse near my school was the linchpin for America’s defense from Soviet invasion. The goal of these base battles is to capture the flag of another team and occupy their base, thus kicking them off the island in the process. This is where a lot of the strategy comes in play; teams have to choose their base and each one has a unique set of pros and cons. One could be very conveniently located to the island’s resources, but that also means that it’s more easily targeted by the other teams. One could be very defensible, but placed remotely, so you have to do more work to gather resources or even just go to the Arena Battles each day. It’s not like they can take an Uber there, they’re hiking everywhere. They also have varying degrees of protection from the elements. But with four people on each team, you have to strategically decide how to approach each raid. You could split up 2-2-2, which everyone knows is the ideal team composition, but everyone keeps either going triple heals or quad DPS and…sorry, I’m talking about Rivals again. But you have to decide. Can one person hold out against a team of two, three, or more? Do you split your team evenly and hope that two people can overcome a defensible position? Do you let the sharks eat each other and put all your resources into defense? Do you trust your hiding skills, conceal the flag as sneakily as you can, and then go all out in attack?
Battle is the right word for this hourlong free-for-all. The contestants aren’t allowed to really hit each other, but the definition of hit is pretty loose. Each contestant wears a sort of vest with their own personal flag in the back. Pull the flag out of a person’s vest and they’re done for the battle. They can’t participate further until the battle has concluded. This means that pushing, shoving, grappling, and even some light weaponry come into play. These fights get intense. They know that having your flag pulled means your team will be at a massive disadvantage for the rest of the hour and that could lead to elimination for your entire team if the tide turns against them. And when you’re watching it, it feels like the stakes are very high. These women don’t want to let each other down. Remember, it’s not like it’s money they’re playing for. It’s pride. It’s each other. And that is really kind of amazing to see in a reality competition show. But make no mistake, they’re willing to fight tooth and nail for it. Watching these battles as they teeter from tense to intense and feel as action-packed as a scripted show. And knowing that these are all real, accomplished women in fields dominated by men who are giving it their all is inspiring. It’s not as if I’m going to start going outside and doing tough mudder events, but I like to know that there’s a small part of me that wishes I could. Even though it’s very small. I don’t like the mud. I don’t like getting wet or dirty and mud is wet dirt. It’s not for me.
One of the things that I love about how this show is how it’s presented. No overbearing, obnoxious, Seacrestian host to constantly reiterate what’s going on, no manufactured drama, no social manipulation. The politicking is gone because it’s performance that justifies your spot on the island, not shaky alliances and calculated treachery. Just a set of contestants playing the game. It’s crazy to me how much better other countries do reality competition shows. Sure, there’s The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show, but Korea seems to be doing this stuff really right. Korea has better reality competition shows, they have better pop groups, their horror movies are really good, and they even have better demon hunters than we do. I wouldn’t sleep on the fried chicken either. But, in the meantime, Korea, please do a version of Ultimate Tag that doesn’t involve JJ Watt or any of his brothers. That concept has so much potential! Unfortunately, Siren: Survive the Island only got one season despite critical success, but that season is still available on Netflix. Rated TV-14 for language (although it is in Korean, so that might not be a very big issue if you don’t speak Korean) and with 10 episodes averaging about 45 minutes, it’s easily one that you could watch with the family or keep all to yourself. So if you want the summer camp experience to the extreme, it’s worth a shot.
Just as a side note, if you’re celebrating the holiday here in the US, have a fun and safe weekend. If you’re facing a heatwave like I and much of the country are, stay hydrated, don’t drink and drive, and remember that patriotism isn’t the same thing as blind devotion. As for me, I’ll be locked in a dark, air conditioned room, looking for more light summer fun to bring you.
