A cast of castaways' celeb island intrigue

The show is filmed on Shenzhou Peninsula in the southeastern part of Hainan province.

"I find Shenzhou Peninsula to be a particularly fascinating place," Gu says. "It's half developed and half undeveloped. It transitions from bustling tourism resorts to desolate islands and unexplored sea areas by just climbing over a mountain. It's a perfect place to film this show."

The production team has also partnered with Chinese National Geography magazine, which brings in experts to provide useful knowledge on wilderness survival, geography and botany during the program. The experts include Zhou Weiqiang, a wilderness adventurer who is often hailed as China's Bear Grylls, and nature photographer and plant enthusiast Zhong Xin.

In the first episode, which premiered on Friday on the video-streaming platform Youku, the participants divided into groups and built shelters on the island using materials such as wood and palm leaves.

The aforementioned experts then provided constructive advice for improving the shelters, enhancing their ability to withstand rain, retain heat and repel insects.

In addition, the participants made water-filtration devices using sand, charcoal and pebbles.

They also demonstrated ingenuity by using foil from chewing gum wrappers to connect the terminals of batteries, creating a short circuit to generate enough heat to ignite the foil and successfully start a fire.