Extracted’s Megan Hine Teases Moments Production Thought They’d Have to Save Survivalists (Exclusive)

The British survival expert serves as head of extraction on the new Fox survival competition series, Extracted, a one-of-a-kind survivalist competition series that features 12 untrained competitors attempting to survive extremely grueling conditions, perilous terrain, and the threat of fearsome predators in the unforgiving Canadian wilderness.

The twist? Some miles away, their family members are locked down at a secluded headquarters watching them navigate their dangerous surroundings alone via a 24/7 live feed. The fate of each untrained contestant in the wilderness lies in the hands of their family members, who have the power to decide whether their loved one has what it takes to brave the elements and fight for the  $250,000 prize, or if they should push the ominous “Extract” button and remove their family from the competition entirely.

TooFab spoke to Hine ahead of Extracted‘s series premiere, where she dished on the grueling trials and tasks the contestants and their family members endured, before teasing the scary moments where production thought they’d have to step in and extract the survivalists.

“It was the social experiments part of it, because we haven’t seen a survival show where you’ve got family members in charge of the decisions that are being made around their survivalist out in the field,” Hine said of what spurred the idea for the series. “So that was the premise behind it, was to take people that had got no or very little outdoor and survival experience and put them out in the wild with their family members making the decisions on whether they need to be extracted, you know, what supply drops they get or don’t get and the strategy behind all of that.”

As for the challenges they faced along the way, Hine said in addition to simply trying to survive, the mental and physical barriers they were met with also made putting up with the elements in British Columbia a difficult task.

“So there was just the very trial of just surviving out there was huge. And then there were tasks and challenges that were thrown at them along the way as well. Each one designed to test them either physically or mentally or both,” she explained. “And just the very nature of the very start, it’s like, ‘I grabbed these survivalists and take them away from their family members and then drop them out into the terrain and just leave them.’ And suddenly they’re out there on their own, alone, having to having to survive, so then realizing this is actually a very real situation.”

It was tasking for their families as well, who were so close, yet so far away from their loved ones as they tried to strategize and do all they could to get them to the finish line.

“This was where it was really fascinating to watch that because we were watching it in real time, because we had all these robotic cameras around that we could pick up headsets and zone in on them at any point and hear the conversations. And it was absolutely fascinating watching that side of it because you’ve not just got one person who’s making decisions over this for their survivalist, you’ve got two,” Hines shared, elaborating on the unique inner-workings of the show. “And it’s that dynamic and how each one of them sees their survivalist and the lens that they’re viewing the survivalist through and how resilient they think that that person is or, you know, at what point they need to press that button.”

“But then also between the families, there’s also the strategy because maybe they need to work together to help their survivalist,” she continued. “At the end of the day, there’s an ultimate goal of winning that money at the end.”

It wasn’t all strategy and survival in the wilderness either, with things taking a scary turn at some points in the show, with Hines revealing that the experts were worried they’d have to step in at some point and extract some contestants to safety.

“There was challenges where we really pushed the survivalists so the families could watch in and really see them suffering and really see them struggling. They also had watches that were sending their biometric data back. So the families could look in and see heart rate, body temperature, sort of those stats,” Hines told TooFab. “And that was when you’ve got somebody who’s potentially getting very cold, very wet, and being pushed physically hard. And that person is saying, ‘I want to come out, I’ve had enough.’ Will their family member decide that enough is enough? Or do they know that actually that person’s more resilient than they think they are? And that was where the challenges really came into their own.”

She continued, “There were definitely a couple of moments like that, because we have genuinely put them into this scenario. And there’s… I suppose it’s been my role for, you know, for 20 years now. It’s like keeping people safe in these environments and watching them and looking out for the signs. And yeah, that is really important for us to watch that. And there was certainly, there was a couple of times where we thought that we might have to step in.”

While it’s easy to judge and critique the contestants as viewers, Hine said things can really get dire out in the elements.

“It’s very easy, isn’t it? When you’re watching these shows to think, you know, from the sort of comfort of your sofa and like, ‘Oh, I could easily do that,'” she continued. “But actually that person’s really out there we were we were filming in the changing of seasons. We had all four seasons we experienced while we were filming. And, you know this is this is somebody that’s not eating properly. They’re dehydrated. They’re not sleeping. They’re cold. And it’s like their body is like, you’re watching them their body breaking down down in front you.”

As for why a potential contestant should consider joining Extracted — outside of the whopping $250,000 cash prize — Hines said it’s an experience that really “puts life into perspective.”

“I think it’s an amazing experience. I mean, it puts life into perspective. And the amount of resilience and confidence that it gives you to be able to go out into these environments and know that you, you know, even if you just survived out there for one night, it’s like, you’ve survived there for one night. That’s awesome!,” Hines gushed. “In this environment, there’s bears, rain, snow everywhere. And you’ve spent the night there by yourself. I mean, that’s epic. And then it’s like, if you’ve then been out there for weeks on end, it kind of, it just makes everything else in life just seem pretty easy.”

Extracted premieres Monday, Feb 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.