For 39 days, twelve people who've never met will be stranded on a tiny island off the coast of New Jersey. They will be stripped of the conveniences of modern life, including cell phones, laptops and smoothies. The island, which is nearly impossible to get to by bridge or by tunnel, is swarming with hostile natives, who cope with the chronic shortages in affordable food, shelter, clothing and movie tickets by killing outsiders or at least making them feel hopelessly uncool.

To find the necessities of life, the castaways must form their own subculture of power brokers, sycophants and gossips. But they can't be too nice to one another—at the end of each episode they will decide over cosmopolitans which one of them is too much of a loser to make it on the island. This person will be sent immediately to Hoboken. When only two survivors remain, the victor will be selected by the maitre d' at Moomba. He or she will win a rent-controlled apartment in a doorman building with a view of Jerry Seinfeld's nursery.

In each show, the survivors will be given a specific task that they must complete with or without the help of their fellow castaways, such as walk through Washington Square Park without appearing in a student film. Those who succeed will be rewarded with things to make island life more bearable, like cocaine. Those who fail must do without and console themselves by making fun of the ones who succeeded.

SHOW | ISLAND | SURVIVORS