Mayday51's Marooned!

**Mayday51's Marooned!** was a cancelled epic island adventure gameshow starring Brian the Bunny Rabbit, Dusty the Cat, Hugh the Monster and Quackers the Duck, which was to air sometime in 2021.

It was going be a co-production between LIVE! Entertainment, IME Animation and Associated Rediffusion Productions.

## About the Show

Similar to cult gameshows *The Crystal Maze* and *Jungle Run*, Brian the Bunny Rabbit plays the Adventure Guide of Malachi Island, the leprosy capital of the world. He guides a team of six people, or "tribes", across the island to take part in several challenges, collecting pieces of an escape raft for each one they complete.

## Gameplay

The challenges take place in four zones across Malachi Island. A piece of the escape raft is available in each of the challenges. Occasionally, members of the tribe can be trapped by running out of time in a challenge. The rest of the team can then decide if they wanted to forfeit a raft piece to release them, or leave without them and lose no raft pieces.

Challenges take approximately two to three minutes each, and vary every week. They include:

* Capturing raft pieces while going down a zipwire
* Discovering raft pieces in a maze or obstacle course. Usually, one tribe member will complete the course while others can provide assistance by using tools on the other side of the wall, or provision of guidance from above.
* Collecting raft pieces hanging above a swamp, using lilypads or a bridge
* Climbing up a wall and collecting raft pieces hidden in ridges
* Diving underwater to get raft pieces hidden in treasure chests
* Filling shrines with water, so the raft pieces can float within reach
* Using bamboo poles to hook baskets containing raft pieces
* Finding and using a series of keys to unlock cages where other tribe members are imprisoned. Raft pieces are released by using the same keys in a machine.
* Remembering pairs of symbols on a board, and matching the symbols to win raft pieces

The final challenge involves contestants making their way through the Fortress of Uh-Oa, their time inside being 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Inside the temple is a series of rooms each containing a sail piece. Once the challenge in each chamber is completed, the door to the next room opens. There are four challenges and one sail piece for each chamber.

When a team has only 20 seconds left, Brian sounds a gong, signalling that they should make their way out of the temple. If the entire tribe successfully gets out, they and Brian return to Base Camp and build the raft, allowing them to escape and win a prize, which varies every week. If the entire tribe fail to get out in time, those people are stuck on the island for all eternity - in other words, Marooned.

Anyone who managed to get trapped during the regular challenges receive a consolation prize, such as a Marooned! T-shirt, a Marooned! backpack or a cuddly monkey.

Like the previous challenges, they vary every week, but unlike the previous challenges, these ones involve:

* Getting a ball in a hole by lifting up and rotating a maze
* Completing a jigsaw
* Each tribe member matching their hands and feet to the correct symbols
* Solving an abacus puzzle
* Turning cogs
* Getting across a pit without touching the sand
* Spelling the solution to a riddle by standing on the right tiles

## Island Zones

### Base Camp

This is where both Brian and the tribes start off, once they have parachuted down from the helicopter. Here, they get to know each other, and Brian briefs them on what they are going to do on the island.

### Jungles of Mahu

These jungles, home to animals like cranes, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, parrots and monkeys, are where the first lot of challenges take place. They are accessed by hacking through the vines blocking access. The raft pieces that are awarded here form the first part of the raft's base.

### Dodo Rocks

Home to the world's last, and very hungry, dodos, this is where the second lot of challenges take place. It is accessed by moving a large boulder in the Jungles of Mahu, which blocks Dodo Rocks' entrance. The raft pieces collected here form the second part of the raft's base.

### Hina Kuluua Falls

This dangerous waterfall is where the third lot of challenges take place. It is accessed by rowing in a rowboat up the River Tangaroaru, which flows from Dodo Rocks to these waterfalls. The raft pieces collected here form the third and final part of the raft's base.

### Fortress of Uh-Oa

A shrine to Uh-Oa, Malachi Island's Goddess of Disaster, this is where the final, and most difficult, challenges take place. It is accessed by answering a riddle from Dusty the Cat in order to open its portcullis. The raft pieces collected here form the raft's sail.

## Characters

* Brian the Bunny Rabbit - The nation's favourite bunny rabbit, who wears an Indiana Jones outfit in his role as Malachi Island's adventure guide. He is welcoming to the tribes, and will help the tribe members with the challenges in any way he can. He can occasionally show frustration towards a tribe member who fails a challenge, but will still encourage them to be more effective in future. Sometimes, akin to Richard O'Brien in *The Crystal Maze*, he will take out a harmonica and start playing it, calling it "excitement music".
* Hugh the Monster - A short purple monster, who has washed ashore on Malachi Island, and is now a hermit living in the shipwrecked boat in the Jungles of Mahu. He knows more about Malachi Island than Brian does, and is able to provide hints about the challenges in the Jungles. He frequently describes things as being "like a leech", and often while giving hints, speaks in very vague terms that can be hard to understand for both Brian and the tribes.
* Dusty the Cat - An orange cat, who has also washed ashore on Malachi Island, and provides the role of the Fortress of Uh-Oa's guardian. She sets riddles for the tribes to solve, and will grant entry to the Fortress when they solve it. She is able to provide hints about the challenges inside the Fortress. She is known to ask Brian to attend several events with her, which he rebuffs.
* Quackers the Duck - An Australian duck, who, like Hugh and Dusty, has also washed ashore on Malachi Island, and provides the role of the boatkeeper at Hina Kuluua Falls. He is able to provide hints about the challenges in the Falls.
* Smug and Snug - These two cannibals are Malachi Island's only known citizens, and they will try to distract tribe members during the challenges by either appearing out of nowhere, or throwing coconuts at them. Their vocabulary only consists of "Ugg ugg", "Eat human" and the song "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts".