Only in Russia would they launch a reality show allowing “fighting, murder and rape” in order the boost ratings. No seriously.

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The Hunger Games style show will see 30 participants, half men, half women, ditched in the Siberian wilderness to battle bears, wolves and temperatures reaching -40 degrees.

The winning prize is a £1.3million payout, but first you’ve got to play the game and it doesn’t sound pretty. Contestants from different countries will be given knives, but not guns, and will be expected to hunt for their food in order to survive. The rules state:

Everything is allowed. Fighting, alcohol, murder, rape, smoking, anything.

Obviously a rich, bored millionaire was behind the idea. 35-year-old Yevgeny Pyatkovsky came up with the concept, but says that the show will not take responsibility for what happens to the contestants:

We will refuse any claim of participants even if they were to be killed or raped.

We will have nothing to do with this. This will be spelt out in a document to be signed by the participant before the start of the show.

While the show’s producers won’t take the rap for what happens to the contenders, Russian criminal laws will apparently still apply and if there is any proof of criminality (which there almost certainly will be) “the police will come and take you away.” By which point it will probably be too late.

The show, called ‘Game2: Winter’, will only accept participants who are over 18 and mentally sane. They are also expected to pay £132,000 to take part, although several will be selected to enter for free. To make the show seem even more like a survival game, Pyatkovsky says that:

There will be no film crew – the whole area will be dotted with cameras and each participant will be carrying a portable camera with seven-hour life rechargeable battery.

Probably all of you have watched the Lost TV series, but surviving in a tropical climate is quite different from trying to stay alive in the Siberian taiga – boreal forest – at minus 40 degrees Celsius.

You should also keep in mind that this will be a real forest, with dangerous wildlife and harmful insects.

Of course, there will be some safety precautions in place, but it would still take about half an hour to reach the area where the show will take place by helicopter.

Those taking part will be urged to forage and store food before winter in order to survive the cold months.

Each person will be given a panic button, which if they press, will see them evacuated from the Siberian taiga, but not allowed to return. All of those who survive the nine months will share the prize.

Well, it looks like we’ve officially entered the next stage of reality TV. I’ve got to say, I’d much rather watch a bunch of people in a Battle Royale situation, screwing each other over for a scrap of food, rather than watching a bunch of northern tanned morons getting pissed and shagging each other. Hey, maybe they should make some sort of hybrid show and chuck all of the twats from ‘Geordie Shore’ into the Siberian wilderness with nothing but a couple of knives. I’d watch it.