The project’s specifics are undisclosed, but Working Titles Films has signed on to produce for the fourth time.
The future of BBC reality series Survivor is thought to be looking more dubious as plans for a much-anticipated second season appear to have come to a standstill.
In 2023, the show returned after a 20-year hiatus, following 18 regular individuals who become castaways on a desolate desert island, struggling for life and a chance to win £100,000.
The BBC was aiming for a definite smash with new and nostalgic viewers who would love the suspenseful situations and difficult trials.
So much so that the broadcaster spent an estimated £30 million on it and gave it a prime time slot, yet it flopped miserably.
However, the application form for candidates in the second season has already been withdrawn from the BBC’s Take Part website, despite the fact that entries were allegedly available until February 16.
The show’s website has now included a new message stating that casting applications are now ‘paused’.
While promoting the third film in the series, in which he co-starred with Dame Emma Thompson and Ben Miller, the Mr Bean hero stated that a fourth episode was doubtful.
‘As things stand, we are not processing or taking any further applications at this time,’ the statement continued.
‘Please check back here for any future updates.’
‘Survivor is pretty much doomed. The chances of it returning are very slim indeed,’ an insider told The Daily Star.
‘An official announcement is expected to happen within weeks.’
They claimed that the BBC ‘did everything it could to make it a success’, but bosses are reportedly discussing its axe now, after only one series of its rebooted effort.
A BBC spokesperson told the publication: ‘No decision about the future of Survivor has been made.’
Comedian Joel, 38, who also presents The Masked Singer UK, expressed hope for a second season last month, but conceded there might be some changes when it returned.
‘Fingers crossed… there’s a lot of stuff that we would do slightly differently,’ he said when asked if the competition would be back.
‘Like with every first series, it’s hard, so I think a second series would be amazing.
‘Everyone seems to really love it, so I’m excited that – hopefully – [we get to] do another one.’
At the time a BBC source confessed to The Mail on Sunday: ‘It has come as a huge surprise that Survivor is coming back.
‘It is viewed by many within the Beeb as being a very expensive flop and the general view was that it should – and would – be canned.
‘To spend that amount of money on a programme that is watched by such few people surely is a silly way to spend public money.’
The first episode of the Survivor reboot, which premiered in October last year, drew just 2.6 million people on average, despite showing in the desired post-Strictly time of 8.25pm on Saturday night.
It drew almost two million fewer views than Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel the previous week.
The second episode of Survivor, which drew 2.3 million viewers, replaced David Attenborough’s Planet Earth III at 8pm on Sunday.
This was still less than a rerun of Antiques Roadshow on BBC2.
Survivor contestants were split into two tribes in the Dominican Republic and had to outsmart and betray each other to win. At the tribal council, they voted each other out.
The original series aired in the UK on ITV in 2001 and 2002, with Mark Austin and John Leslie presenting the first season.
Survivor is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.