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| Photo courtesy of Entertainment Weekly |
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I went in for my annual eye exam at Boise Vision Care. There were all sorts of balloons in the reception area. I asked what was the cause for celebration? The receptionist advised that my optometrist, Justin Denison, had been chosen to be a contestant on a new reality show called Extracted, which had just premiered on Fox. “But don’t ask him about it,” she said, “because he doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“But I’m a film writer,” I protested, and—of course—it was the first thing I brought up in conversation. He had been forewarned of my interest and gamely fielded questions about his participation in the show. I decided then and there that Extracted would be the first televised reality show that I would monitor through The Evening Class.
For starters, Dr. Denison was born and raised in Boise. He graduated from Centennial High School and attended Boise State before receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science from Brigham Young University. He then went on to receive his Doctor of Optometry Degree from Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. He joined Boise Vision Care in 2013. He is a member of the American Optometric Association and Idaho Optometric Association. Not intending to demean his professional credentials in any way, I’ll refer to him as Justin for convenience sake.
With Sylvester Stallone among the producers of Extracted, the series premiered on the Fox network on February 10, 2025, with new episodes airing each Tuesday. Episodes are also available on the series website (though bogged down with commercials). The premise of Extracted is unique and intriguing. Twelve teams composed of one amateur survivalist ("Competitor") and two friends or family members ("Companions") are sent into a forested area in British Columbia, Canada. The Competitors are each isolated in the wilderness and must do whatever they can (such as finding food and building shelter) to sustain themselves while their actions are monitored by cameras throughout the area. The Companions are together in a nearby compound in a studio where they can watch and listen to all the Competitors. At set intervals throughout the competition the Companions have the opportunity to aid their teammates by selecting items for survival packages (e.g.: tools, bedding, food and other consumables) that are delivered to the Competitors via drone, helicopter, or boat.
The Competitors are informed that they will have no control on when their participation in the competition ends. The Competitors can only be removed from the wilderness by their Companions, who may press a red "extract" button in the studio to initiate their Competitor's evacuation. Doing so eliminates the entire team from contention. The last team remaining will win a grand prize of $250,000.
Of course, he’s probably under a legally-binding document not to reveal the series’ outcome, but my one-dollar bet is on Team Denison. Justin’s brother Jake—a mortgage loan officer in Meridian, Idaho—is the Competitor, while he and his other brother Austin are the Companions participating from “Headquarters” (“HQ”). I immediately came home from my eye exam and—even though my eyes were still dilated—couldn’t resist watching the first two episodes of Extracted. The fourth episode just aired today and so—before we get too much further into the season—I’m starting in with, not so much a review, but sheer vicarious participation. As there are so many individuals involved, my focus will be—of course—on Team Denison in each episode.
Season 1, Episode 1: “Survive the Night”
The stage is set. Within an extraordinary, timeless and dangerous mountain wilderness, 80 robotic surveillance cameras are watching and listening to twelve competitors dropped into this challenging environment with nothing more than the clothes on their back and selfie camera equipment. This is one of the elements that Justin did mention to me in his recollection of the experience: the daunting edits of so much footage masterfully reduced to what would provide the most intense and exciting narrative traction. Miles away in a high-tech headquarters, the camera feeds can be seen and heard by the competitors’ companions. “Don’t let me die,” Jake shouts out to his brothers as the helicopter arrives to lift him into the wilderness. Austin boasts that Jake is their team survivalist because he’s confident that Jake “doesn’t have any quit in him.”
As the amateur survivalists are dropped into a survival zone around a lake fringed by forested mountains, back at HQ family members are advised that in order for them to secure resources for their loved ones through supply drops, they must compete for limited supplies with the other families, or the contestants must compete for them through survival trials.
Finding a campsite and setting up shelter is the first objective of the competitors so that they can withstand their first night. Jake is shown hoisting “bad boy” logs onto his shoulder either to get them out of the way or to use them to construct a shelter. He quips that he’s waiting for a bear to jump out and snatch his arm.
The following morning as the first supply drop is announced, the families have a minute to enter the supply room to fill a box and seal it before their time is up. Austin predicts that there might be potential animosity if it’s revealed that one family takes more than their share and Justin concurs that they’ll be fine as long as those before them don’t wipe things out. Irritation arises when Team Jakoben takes two knives, leaving one family without. This is the first indication of the sharpness of the competitive edge within HQ.
But more disturbing is the lack of gratitude on the part of Anthony towards his parents, who filled his supply box with everything he would need to do well in the outdoors. Allegedly a model, Anthony quickly becomes a model of an immature, spoiled and ill-behaved young man, whining about his advantages. This is when the series deepens to being more than just a survival reality series and becomes an interesting study of family dynamics. As someone who is fond of dystopian narratives where social alliances determine survival, Extracted presents the family unit as the first litmus test of cooperation and solidarity. Anthony’s ungrateful behavior embarrasses his mother and father, particularly his father who blames himself for his son’s lack of maturity. He had hoped that the experience would have toughened him up and it is uncomfortable to watch Anthony give up so readily and not be the man that his father wants him to be. He begins to come unglued and disrespectfully demands extraction. “This is not a request,” he asserts. Shaking his head, Austin characterizes Anthony as “an 18-year-old kid who’s unhappy.”
The expectations that family members have on the survivalists also speaks to failures of trust. Making fire becomes a fulcrum of judgment. Jake conquers the challenge swiftly, but others struggle with flint and firedrills, unable to get a fire going, and this frustrates and worries impatient family members. Tensions begin to escalate….
…and I’m hooked.
