Endurance

Host: JD Roth
Lifespan: 2002-present, Discovery Kids/NBC weekends

PREMISE: Teams of young people play a version of Survivor for a grand prize trip. A quasi-sequel to Moolah Beach.

While the three series of the show have had changes, this will recap the basic format of the contest.

To begin the game, an equal number of boys and girls (junior high school age) are drafted into teams, each given a color to identify them. After that, the games begin. Each 30 minute program would show one challenge, and some of the down time with the teams. The two types of challenges alternated between an Endurance Mission and a Temple Mission.

Endurance Mission: Teams would compete in this mission for an Endurance piece. There are some number of pieces to the 'puzzle' (more like the Triforce from Zelda, actually...) and it takes all of them to win. The mission to be played relates to the name of the piece (Perseverance, Luck, Memory, Strength, and so on). The team that wins the triangle piece for their totem pole, and they get another bonus to be invoked before the temple mission.

The team that wins the Endurance mission now gets to hinder another team for the Temple Mission. No one knows the nature of the hinder before it is revealed, but it will make it harder for the penalized team to win the Temple Mission. On some occassions, the team must sit out the Temple Mission completely. Bummer.

Temple Mission: The second mission is of paramount importance, because it guarantees that the team who wins it will stick around. The team that wins the Temple Mission determines which two other teams will have to play the elimination contest.

'The Temple of Fate': The two teams sent to the temple play a game to see which team will return, and which will be eliminated. The teams play a variation on rock-paper-scissors, and the first team to win two rounds gets to stay.

The eliminated team leaves two things behind. First is a goodbye letter for the other teams to read. Eliminated teams also bequeath any accumulated pieces to whichever team they want. The cycle repeats until two teams remain in the game.