Weird But True

A real-life ‘Hunger Games’ is coming to Russia

May the odds be ever in their favor.
A group of people from around the globe has agreed to take part in a real-life “Hunger Games” — competing on a controversial new game show in Russia where fighting, rape and even murder is allowed.
The deadly contest, dubbed “Game2:Winter,” will be held on a remote Siberian Island in the Ob River and broadcast worldwide on the internet starting in July, according to the Siberian Times.
The 30 participants — who include an ex-military man from South Korea, a student from Sweden and a self-described “professional blonde” from the Russian Arctic — have all signed a release of liability for injury, as well as death waivers, in addition to agreeing to not hold the organizers accountable if they were to commit a crime during filming.
An earlier rule, which has since been removed after sparking outrage online, stated that the contestants would be able to do whatever they wanted to survive — which is ultimately the main objective. Stay alive until April 1, 2018, the Times reports.

“Everything is allowed. Fighting, alcohol, murder, rape, smoking, anything,” the rule said.
On Monday, organizer Yevgeny Pyatkovsky insisted, though, that the producers wouldn’t intervene if something sinister were to happen while the cameras were rolling.
“No we won’t,” he told the Times. “I am pretty sure there will be fights, and more. We are not scared of negative reaction if that happens, either … This is the raw Siberian taiga: Anything can happen, and we might not be on time to solve an emergency.”
During the game, players must forage and store their own food in order to survive the winter months. Once the cold weather hits, they will need to learn to ice-fish through holes cut in local lakes and ponds.

The contestants will be made up of 15 men and 15 women, from various parts of the world. They will only be armed with knives as they brave freezing temperatures, bears and other dangers associated with Siberia, the Times reports.
“There will be a ground team on duty, and one or two helicopters for emergency situations,” Pyatkovsky said. “Having said that, bears can run as fast as 60 kph [37 mph], and our two thousand cameras on the island would not be able to cover every centimeter of the forests.”
Like the famous dystopian book and movie franchise “Hunger Games,” players will be filmed by cameras that are set up remotely across the island.
“We will not intervene into relations between participants nor monitor their sexual life either,” Pyatkovsky told the Times. “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.”
After their arrival, contestants will be tasked with building a house or shelter and be provided with winter clothes, tools and fishing gear. Later on in the game, they will have to track down a group of “criminals” who will be released from a nearby jail, Pyatkovsky said.
“The task will be to catch the criminals, and whoever does so gets a prize from a sponsor,” he said.
Pyatkovsky’s project had been in the works for several years before finally coming to fruition, he added.
“There is nothing like this show in the whole world,” the Russian explained. “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.”