King of the Jungle

“King of the Jungle” was a reality TV series that was broadcast on the Animal planet. The series debuted on 13 October 2003 and consisted of 12 contestants. These contestants were suppose to be animal experts but only two were Doctors of Veterinary Medicine. Jeff Corwin hosted the series and the judge was ‘Nasty’ Nigel Marven from the UK who would eliminate 1 contestant each week. The show was a huge success with very high ratings for Animal Planet. It aired 11 episodes each episode was 1 day in the jungle of taping. The finale was aired on 22 December 2003 where Kelly Diedring of Florida was crowned the King/Queen of the Jungle. The winner won hosting duties of their own wildlife series. Seaon 1 aired on Monday nights.

Season 2 debuted on 20 July 2004 hosted by the beautiful Madison Michele. For some unknown reason the second season never hit it big in the ratings. There was 11 episodes this season and the winner was Tony Stallings of Kentucky. This season, Shannon Lowe was initially eliminated second and Roberto Figueroa was initially eliminated third, but, in a midseason twist, all previously eliminated contestants returned for a chance to return to the game. Shannon and Roberto both won this opportunity and returned to play. Jacob Mason a competitor from Texas had to be pulled out of the game because of family problems at home. Season 2 aired on Tuesday nights.

The 3rd season began on 3 January 2005 and it saw the format changed instead of individual contestants this season consisted of teams of two. It’s sub-title was called King of the Jungle: Pairs and had 14 contestants instead of 12. The teams were: Lori and Lisa, twin science teachers from Boston; Hindley and Thomas, best friends from Alabama; Lolita and Matt, lifelong friends from Columbus; Kevin and Sherry, a married couple, also from the Columbus area; David and Petite, hair stylists from Kennesaw, Georgia; Wendy and Troy, brother and sister from Indiana; and Steve and Danielle, another married couple from Greensboro, North Carolina. Even though they competed as teams they still were eliminated separately. The winner of this final season was Danielle Hurley from North Carolina as her husband Steve had been the 4th person eliminated. Season 3 aired on Monday nights.