Eco-Challenge
| Eco-Challenge | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Reality |
| Created by | Mark Burnett |
| Starring | Ian Adamson, Mike Kloser, John Howard, Keith Murray, Andrea Murray, Michael Tobin, Sara Ballentyne, Nathan Faave, Kathy Lynch |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Mark Burnett, Lisa Hennessy |
| Producer(s) | Tim Powell |
| Editor(s) | Brian Catalina |
| Release | |
| Original network | Discovery Channel |
| Original release | April 1, 1995 – April 11, 2002 |
Eco-Challenge: The Expedition Race is a multi-day expedition length adventure race in which teams of four compete. It aired from April 1995 to April 2002.
"Eco-Challenge" is generally regarded as the genesis for modern day reality television, launching the success of Mark Burnett and his subsequent television shows Survivor, The Contender, Who's Smarter Than a 5th Grader, The Apprentice and many more.
Eco-Challenge was created in 1992 by Mark Burnett. Inspired by a Los Angeles Times article about Gerald Fusil's Raid Gauloises adventure race in Costa Rica, Burnett formed a team and competed in two Raid Gauloises events. Although his teams did poorly, Burnett decided to create a similar race in North America. When the race went international, Burnett purchased the rights from Fusil and set out to make the Eco-Challenge the world's premier adventure race.
Each team comprised a mandatory mix of both men and women, racing non-stop, 24 hours a day, over a rugged 300-mile (500 km) course, participating in such disciplines as trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering, camel-back riding, and mountain biking. Teams originally consisted of five members, but the team size was reduced to four members early in the event's history.
The first Eco-Challenge was held on April 25, 1995, in the Utah desert and was held each year in a new locale until 2002. Burnett recently noted that he did not intend to hold another Eco-Challenge, but had considered selling the rights to it. In contrast, other expedition-length races, including Primal Quest and the Patagonian Expedition Race continue to be held.
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Wikipedia