Fox to Debut Unscripted Survival Series KICKING & SCREAMING This Year

FOX has ordered KICKING & SCREAMING, a new, eight-episode competition series that teams 10 expert survivalists with pampered partners to face the toughest race of their lives. From executive producer Matt Kunitz ("Wipeout," "Fear Factor"), in association with Lionsgate Television, the series drops these unlikely duos in a forbidding wilderness where they must overcome dangerous animals, raging rivers, hunger and extreme weather. While these survivalists are accustomed to fending for themselves, there's one thing that none of their previous expeditions have prepared them for: their privileged partners, who think roughing it is going a week without a massage. To win the competition, THE EXPERTS will have to drag their partners, KICKING & SCREAMING, to the finish line.

"Pairing high-level experts with high-maintenance novices struck us as a perfect way to extract comedy from the survival competition genre," said David Madden, President, Entertainment, FOX Broadcasting Company. "Matt Kunitz has tremendous experience in this field, and together with Lionsgate, we've got the perfect partners to lead us on this adventure."

"We're delighted to venture into the wilderness with FOX and Matt Kunitz as our partners," said Lionsgate Television Group Chairman Kevin Beggs. "KICKING & SCREAMING has all the earmarks of an important new brand for Lionsgate Television. Matt is a singular creative voice, FOX is the ideal partner and KICKING & SCREAMING is the perfect property to continue building our momentum in unscripted television."

"I've always been fascinated by the survival space, so I am excited to infuse a touch of comedy into a traditionally dramatic genre and to get to do it on FOX, the home of competition reality series," said Kunitz. "I am pleased to be producing this series in association with Lionsgate, a studio known for stand-out, brand-defining shows, which is perfect for the conflict, heart and humor viewers will see in KICKING & SCREAMING."

Produced by Pulse Creative's Matt Kunitz, in association with Lionsgate Television, KICKING & SCREAMING is created by Matt Kunitz, David Shumsky and Mark Harris, and executive-produced by Kunitz and Anthony Dominici. Rebecca Shumsky Quinn developed the project and is a co-executive producer, along with Shumsky and Harris.