Solitary (TV series)
| Solitary | |
|---|---|
 Solitary title card | |
| Starring | Revolving cast |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox Reality Channel |
| Release | 2006 – Present |
Solitary is a reality show on Fox Reality Channel whose contestants are kept in solitary confinement. It is the channel's first original series commission.
Premise
The show calls itself a "social experiment" in determining the physical and mental endurance of the competitors.
From the beginning, there are several mental challenges. The show's theme is based on solitary confinement; accordingly, the contestants are placed in isolated pods, with only an artificial intelligence named Val to communicate with. (In reality, Val's voice is a computer-modified voice.) Val is possibly a reference to HAL, the demented computer who takes over the spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
No contact with the outside world - or other competitors - is permitted.
Beyond the social isolation, there is also isolation from time, with no clocks, watches, or other timepieces available to contestants. There are no environmental time cues (sunlight or moonlight).
The environment is completely controlled, from temperature, light, access to a restroom, food, etc. In addition, the room is roughly octagonal, adding an additional disorienting aspect.
Players are only referred to by their number, not their name. This is an additional separation from the world, as their identity is reduced to a number. (This is similar to The Prisoner.)
Format
The show begins, if applicable, with the remaining contestants performing the treatment that ended the prior episode.
After the treatment concludes, Val observes the players and alters the environment somewhat, such as not permitting the players to sleep or eat or precluding access to a player's personal items.
Next is a test, a mental challenge which is made more difficult by the players' physical condition. The challenges themselves are somewhat difficult to begin with; deteriorating physical and psychological condition makes these challenges even harder.
The first player to pass the test is granted immunity from the subsequent treatment, a physical challenge which often contrasts with the conditions applied in the episode. Players are challenged with a bed of nails after being deprived of sleep, or an endless feast after starvation.
The first player to quit the given challenge, either voluntarily or through a bodily rejection of the challenge, is eliminated from the program.
The player who eventually wins the program is given $50,000.
Episode list
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Episode 0
Title: The Road to Solitary
Original airdate: 5/29/2006
The making-of episode.
Episode 1
Title: The Experiment Begins
Original airdate: 6/5/2006
Test: Cruelty Test. This is only test to date in which a player cannot win exemption from the treatment. Players were shown what personal items were brought by the others, they were then asked what to take away. No items were taken away from the players. Number 7 (Steven) was the cruelest by taking away everyone else's items.
Treatment: Turning off alarms with number codes that get longer or change with each new code or if they got a code wrong, they can hit the red button. Only two of the nine players quit this challenge, with number 8 (Danielle) being just a mere second behind the eliminated player.
Eliminated: Player 9 (David).
Episode 2
Title: Bed of Nails
Original airdate: 6/12/2006
Players are deprived of sleep.
Test: Players are subjected to a film laden with disturbing imagery, such as creepy clowns, rats, meat being drilled, collapsing buildings, octopi, etc. Players are supposed to ascertain the solution to a math problem based upon the film. Number 1 (Pamela) was able to determine the solution (168) by using the popcorn provided at the start of the test. She was thereby exempt from the next treatment
Treatment: Players are made to lie upon a bed of nails. Unlike a typical bed of nails, however, the nails are approximately the size of a finger and widely spaced (wide enough for an adult male's foot to slip between them). The nails are forced to support more weight, and the treatment is excruciatingly painful after two hours. Players voluntarily end their participation in the treatment by getting off the bed.
Eliminated: Player 2 (Michelle), after nearly three hours on the bed. Players 4 (Florin), 5 (Mark), and 8 quit soon after, but were not eliminated. The other three endured four and a half hours before the treatment ended.
Episode 3
Title: "To Eat or Not To Eat"
Original airdate: 6/19/2006
Players are deprived of food.
Test: Players are given a large hourglass and asked to mete out three hours. The hourglass is 12 seconds in length, though no player successfully discerned this fact. The closest any player to this was player 7, hitting the green button at 3:05, followed closely by 2:52 by Player 6 (Cliff), who recalled the film Titanic to estimate the time. 7 was thereby exempt from the next treatment and awarded a ribeye meal.
Treatment: Players are given endless small courses. They are small servings, such as three sausages or four strawberries. Players are given unusual foods, such as caviar, stuffed grape leaves, quiche, and California rolls. Players terminate their participation in the treatment by either voluntarily quitting or vomiting.
Eliminated: Player 8 (Danielle), who vomits after 19 courses. Player 3 (Taralee), quit a few courses later followed by 6, who vomited. However, he refused to say he quit and press the red button. Details in Episode 4.
Episode 4
Title: "Brainwashing"
Original airdate: 6/26/2006
Players are deprived of certain personal items brought into the game, such as a razor, socks, chapstick, etc.
Test: Players are subjected to an alternate-reality set of facts of all sorts: personal (the player has 8 fingers on his/her left hand; has been arrested 7 times); factual (Swedish is the national language of San Marino; 2+2=5), and identifying (a parking meter is a supermodel; a seal is an omelette). Players were then asked a series of 25 questions relating to the new "facts". The one who got all 25 right won. Players 4 and 7 tied to win, so a 20 question tiebreaker began, the one who got the most would win. Number 4 got all 20 correct while number 7 only got 19.
Treatment: Not shown.
Eliminated: Player 6. Player 6 apparently suffered some psychological trauma during the show. In Episode 4, Player 6 apparently violates the rules of the game. (Interestingly, but only coincidentally, Player 6 is acting in a manner similar to Number Six from the classic television series The Prisoner, who similarly rebels.)
Episode 5
Title: "Head Spin/Tailspin"
Original airdate: 7/3/2006
Treatment 1: Players are subjected to a series of annoying, painful, or shocking sounds, such as jackhammers, babies crying, dental drills, and police sirens, culminating into a cacophonic chorus of the sounds mixed together. No one quits this treatment; this treatment is limited because of Number 6's departure.
Players are subjected to each other through the filter of Val. Each player sends a message and a question to the other players; each player sends a response back.
Test: Players must count the number of rubber balls poured into their rooms while dealing with auditory and visual distractions, namely Val counting, strobe lights, and room lights being turned on and off. Player 3 won this treatment and was thereby exempt from the next treatment.
Treatment 2: Players sit in a barbershop-style chair and spin around in it at a rate of 30 rpm, decreasing in frequency as the time increases. Once their spins are complete, they must hit the green button. Not completing the task in time results in a penalty round. Either hitting the red button or vomiting removes a player from the competition.
Eliminated: Player 4 (Florin) vomits after spinning fifty revolutions in two minutes.
Episode 6
Title: "Val Turns Up the Heat"
Original airdate: 7/10/2006
Players are subjected to total darkness. The psychological strain is starting to show in all the remaining contestants.
Test: Players must use an elliptical trainer to activate a lit board with a hidden message. Val gives clues which eliminate letters. The message, "Obey the machine," was solved first by Number Three, though Number One buzzed in a split-second afterwards with the correct answer.
Treatment: Players must keep vialfuls of "liquid fire" in their mouths for 60 seconds. The first vial's contents are about as hot as a jalapeño, the second, twice as hot, etc. They are given five "soothers" to ease the pain, which they may only use once each. Players must voluntarily quit or vomit to leave the treatment.
Eliminated: Player 1 (Pamela) (On the fifteenth vial)
Episode 7
Title: "Everyone Goes Mad"
Original airdate: 7/17/2006
The treatment from the previous episode conlcudes with Number Five giving up.
Players are subjected to prolonged cold. Thermometers on-screen show room temperatures near 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).
Test: Players are given a short speech to memorize. However, in order to view the speech one time, the player must immerse his/her head in water and hold his/her breath for ten seconds. The speech undoubtably reflects the mindset of the players at this point; it contains lines such as "The walls are closing in on me" and "Please let me go I promise I will be good." All three players successfully memorize the speech; however, Number Seven said the entire speech first, and was not subjected to the subsequent treatment.
Treatment: Players must complete 50 cycles tapping each of the two white buttons in the room, followed by the green button in a given time period. The players are first given five minutes to complete their rounds. The next six rounds increase the difficulty by adding weights to the players; each is given a backpack containing five percent of (their pre-Solitary) weight, and each round subsequent they must add a load to their bag equal to another five percent. Once the players have a thirty percent weight on their backs, the time allotted for each 50 cycles decreases by ten seconds.
At episode's end, the players had 3:30 to perform the cycles; Number Three, who is shown to have a trick knee, does not complete all fifty cycles in time, and Episode 8 will start with her performing a "penalty round" of 62 cycles in five minutes.
No elimination is shown at the end of this episode.
Episode 8
Title: "The Final Experiment"
Original airdate: 7/24/2006
Trivia
- Each player has a MySpace page. This is in line with News Corporation's ownership of that site.
Links
Series 1 individual player pages: