The Island with Bear Grylls adds new prize money twist for 2019

The Island with Bear Grylls in 2019 will feature a prize money twist.

It’ll be the show’s sixth series to air on Channel 4 after the original run in 2014 proved a big hit in the ratings. Subsequent series have continued to attract viewers, with the fifth run airing last Spring.

Each season sees a cast of contestants sent to live on a remote pacific island with just the clothes they stand up in, basic training and a few tools.

They film everything themselves, in a bid to survive six weeks on The Island.

The next series is already on its way and will again feature a broad range of both men and women who think they have what it takes to thrive in such challenging conditions for a sixth series next year.

And this time there is a £100,000 prize up for grabs in what has been dubbed ‘Treasure Island With Bear Grylls’.

The money is hidden across The Island but there’s a catch: If they leave early, they must leave empty-handed. Only those who make it to the very end, can keep their share of any loot they find.

Bear Grylls said: “This radical new twist on the Island experience will test whether human nature really is ruled by the quest for financial gain, or whether co-operation and altruism in the face of adversity can bring their own reward.”

Ian Dunkley, Channel 4 commissioner, added: “Being marooned on The Island has always been one of the most extreme but rewarding experiences on British television. After five successful series, it feels like now is the right time to reinvent the format – and this fascinating new twist promises to shake things up in unpredictable ways.”

It’s the latest experiment for the show: When The Island first hit our screens, fourteen men were left to fend for themselves without modern luxuries.

The second run then saw men and women taking on the challenge, but living separately on different islands.

The third series was the first to feature a mix of genders together, although the males and females initially arrived on opposite sides of the same island, without knowing the other group was there.

2017’s series involved contestants split by their age with an ‘older’ and ‘younger’ group while last year’s cast was made up of groups of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ contestants.

Alongside the main series of The Island, a Celebrity version also airs in the autumn in support of Stand Up To Cancer.