Competitions

## **About**

The Rock Ledge Studios competitions is an ongoing series on the Youtube channel Rock Ledge Studios. It was created by Alex Johnson. All of the competitions are based off of CBS Reality TV shows, them being The Amazing Race, Survivor, and Big Brother. As of January 2021, 7 games have been filmed, while only 5 of them have been aired. As of November 2020, 46 people have played, with multiple contestants coming back for multiple seasons on end. Alex Johnson has both hosted and produced each season.

## **History**

According to series creator Alex Johnson, the original idea for the competitions was created in 2008, when watching the show Total Drama. In a podcast discussing it, he said: "I watched Total Drama and I fell in love. I made my friends play it at recess every day, and I was always the host. I then got into Survivor, and the other CBS reality TV shows. I wanted to host one so badly, and I knew if I pursued film, I would be able to achieve that dream".

### Early Competitions

In the Summer of 2013, Alex hosted his first Reality TV show, simply titled: "The Reality TV show". It featured 8 contestants (including Alex, dressed up as a fake contestant named Luke) competing in various challenges around a neighborhood, but ended up being cancelled 2 rounds in because of an overall sense of boredom. Cameraman and Director Connor Tatum edited and uploaded the 20-minute project to the Youtube Channel Sodaman157, but ended up deleting it (along with all of the footage) a few weeks later because "it was the most boring project I've ever put on".

The following year, Alex tried again, this time disregarding the filmmaking aspect, but mainly focusing on the competition. Alex hosted 2 competitions back-to-back over the course of a summer weekend. The first competition was an Amazing Race-styled competition, which was cancelled after the first round, due to a contestant being stung by a bee. The following day, Alex hosted his second competition of the weekend, entitled "The Neighborhood Olympics", which went off "without a hitch".

### Online Competitions

In the years following, Alex lost his attraction to Live Reality Games, instead focusing on hosting online, Total Drama-inspired games. He completed 3 online seasons: Total Drama Beta, Total Drama CYOC, and Total Drama Globerace. They became popular among the Online Reality Games community, and after a satisfying series end in Total Drama Globerace, Alex stopped the online competitions.

### Modern Competitions

On October 23rd, 2016, the first Rock Ledge Studios video came out, where it reflected on the history of Sodaman157 and teased projects coming to Rock Ledge Studios. Among these teasers, was the return of the competitions.

"It was the Fall of my Junior Year in High School. I had just signed up for a couple film classes for that year, and I knew I wanted to get back into live-action content on Youtube. One day, I accidentally stumbled across Survivor New Mexico on Youtube, and in that moment I was instantly re-inspired to do live-action competitions again. This opened up the LRG community for me, and I realized, it wasn't impossible to do games, it wasn't even that difficult. I took that and I went with it, and now, here we are!" - Alex Johnson, in an LRG podcast.

On June 2nd, 2017, the first of the Colorado Competitions aired, entitled The Amazing Race Colorado. With the exception of 2017, there has been two Rock Ledge Studios competitions every year. By 2021, there was a total of 7 competitions, including an All-Stars season, which very few Live Reality Games productions have achieved.

## **The Amazing Race: Colorado**

The Amazing Race: Colorado was the first-ever Colorado Competition. It is based off of the CBS original TV show The Amazing Race. The competition features multiple teams of 2 racing to different locations, having to complete different challenges along the way. On certain legs, the last team to arrive will be cut from the race, and by the end of the race, only one team will be left standing, and they will win the title of Champion of the Amazing Race, as well as be given a small monetary prize.

The Amazing Race Colorado - Season 1 spanned over one day and featured 8 teams racing across the Garden of the Gods, a national park in Colorado Springs, CO. The race was ultimately cancelled halfway through, due to severe rain and thunderstorms disrupting the production. Three teams ultimately returned to compete in the final leg, shot later after the rainstorm. The first season was heavily criticized by fans and online trolls, for having too similar of a feel to other fan-versions of The Amazing Race, as well as bad camera quality and filming. Host and creator Alex Johnson has called the season "atrocious" and "[my] least favorite of the competitions".

In November 2019, a second season was announced to be in the works, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In January 2021, a second season was rumored to be in the works.

## **Survivor Colorado**

Survivor Colorado was a fan version of the popular CBS Reality TV show Survivor. The show features two teams of "castaways" living separately and competing against one another in intense physical and mental challenges. The winning tribe will win immunity, while the other tribe must attend Tribal Council, where one person is voted out of the tribe and sent home. At the midway point of the game, the two tribes become one, with the challenges rewarding individual immunity for the wining contestant. When there are 3 contestants left, the power shifts to the previously eliminated players, who decide a winner between the three.

As of January 2021, Survivor Colorado has filmed 4 seasons total, and 3 seasons have been released thus far. *To see details on the seasons, scroll down.* It is Rock Ledge Studios's most popular of the Colorado Competitions, and it has amassed a large Live Reality Games fan presence. After season 5, Survivor Colorado All Stars, was filmed, creator and host Alex Johnson put the series to rest, saying that he would never do another because "The story was told". Currently, only Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3 have been released on Youtube.

## **Big Brother Colorado**

Big Brother Colorado was a fan version of the Popular CBS Reality TV show Big Brother. The show follows a certain number of "houseguests" entering a house, who first, must compete in a Head of Household challenge, for which the person who wins, will have the ability to nominate 2 people to be labeled for eviction. After that, the Head of Household, the two nominees, and usually 1-2 other players compete in the Power of Veto competition, where the winner of the competition will win the Power of Veto, which has the ability to save one of the nominees from being evicted. After the Veto ceremony, the houseguests vote to evict one player. By the end of the competition, when there are only 2 contestants left, similar to Survivor, the power shifts to the previously eliminated players, who decide a winner between the two.

As of January 2021, 2 seasons had been filmed, while only one had been released. When host and creator Alex Johnson announced plans for 2 more competitions in January 2021, a third Big Brother was rumored.

## **Post All-Stars and Future**

During an update video following the release of Survivor Colorado: Battlegrounds, series creator and host Alex Johnson announced plans for three more seasons, Big Brother Colorado: Reign of Ice, The Amazing Race Colorado: Season 2, and a series conclusion season of Survivor, Survivor Colorado: All Stars. Big Brother Colorado: Reign of Ice was filmed on January 4th, 2020. In April 2020, Alex announced that The Amazing Race Colorado Season 2 was cancelled, amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Due to an decrease of COVID-19 cases in Colorado Springs, Rock Ledge Studios was able to film their 7th competition, Survivor Colorado: All Stars, on June 20th, 2020.

After Survivor Colorado: All Stars completed on June 20th, 2020, host Alex Johnson said "I'll never do another one of these again- All Stars ended perfectly and I couldn't have asked for a more complete story- this one truly came full circle for me and I don't want to overshadow the dominant, perfect win by [SPOILER] this season. I think I'm done, or at least taking a break, for now".

In September 2020, Johnson began posting stories on the Rock Ledge Studios Meme page that hinted at a potential future competition. He asked his followers if he should do more in an instagram poll, which resulted in a major turnout, with a 78% - 22% in favor of doing another. He then posted a slide saying "real talk tho", ultimately giving an answer of "maybe" to do more competitions.

In October 2020, Creator Alex Johnson officially announced another season of Survivor Colorado, on the Live Reality Games Facebook Page. In a LRG podcast, he stated: "I want to do one more Survivor, because 4 is an ugly number, and I just can't see my competitions just being "over" after All Stars. When the Hard Drive failure happened, we lost almost everything for 2 seasons... I just feel like there needs to be more buildup before All Stars. Reign of Ice provides a little buildup, but I want to do at least one more Survivor that would take place before All Stars, in place of Survivor 3. And I've always wanted to do a Winter edition, so... ya never know. I love Survivor."

Following this, Alex began promoting a \*fourth\* season of Survivor, officially giving the title "Survivor Colorado: Winter's Wrath". It was sceduled to be filmed on January 9th, 2021 at Cheyanne Cañon Mesa, Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado, but was cancelled to the rising cases of COVID-19 in Colorado Springs.

After the cancellation of Winter's Wrath, creator Alex Johnson officially announced plans for an official fourth Survivor Season, as well as 2 more competitions, potentially opening up the door for The Amazing Race Colorado: Season 2.

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiKrDaGkteQ
2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/LiveRealityGames/permalink/1577612192428106/