dumped adj : that is dropped in a heap; "his
hastily dumped clothes"; "the money was there, dumped all over the
floor"
English
Verb
dumped
Dumped was a
television
programme which started on
September 2,
2007 and aired
nightly until
September 5
2007. It involved 11 contestants living for three weeks on a
rubbish dump next to a
landfill site near
Croydon,
Surrey. The
contestants who "survived" the 21 days and used only what they
found on the dump were awarded £20,000 to share equally between
them.
Format
11 participants, who were not initially informed of
their task, must live on a purpose-made rubbish dump adjacent to a
working
landfill site
for 21 days after being left equipped only with a sleeping bag,
drinking can and one roll of lavatory paper each. However, food was
delivered to the landfill on a weekly basis. Every person working
on the programme was given
tetanus,
polio and
hepatitis vaccinations for
their safety. Potential participants were not told that the
programme would involve living on a landfill, but were instead told
that they would be part of "a unique eco-challenge". |-
valign="top" |Jermaine Liburd |30 |
Semi-professional
footballer |
Nottingham | |-
valign="top" |Jarvis Smith |36 |
Advertising
manager |
Leicester | |-
valign="top" |Christine Flynn |47 |
Designer |
Glasgow | |}
Pre-series publicity
Described as
Channel 4's
"biggest marketing campaigns of the year", Dumped was promoted via
various methods. Advertisements for the programme appeared on
websites such as
Yahoo,
The
Guardian,
New
Scientist,
The
Daily Telegraph and
MSN.
Coming
Down the Mountain, also airing at the same time on
BBC One, was
watched by 4.7 million and a 20% share.. The penultimate episode
was viewed by 1.5 million viewers and had a 7% audience share,
while Hell's Kitchen received 3.4 million viewers and a 15%
audience share. Both programmes were beaten in their slot by BBC
One's
Traffic
Cops, which attracted 5.5 million and a 25% share of the
audience.
Controversy
It was initially alleged that the programme was
staged, as the landfill that the contestants were living on was
created especially for the filming. However,
Channel 4 has
played down these allegations, stating that the programme could not
be filmed on the real landfill and that they have been "careful not
to mislead".
References
External links
Dumped at
Channel4.com