El Puente (TV series)

El Puente (The Bridge) is a Spanish reality television series in which a group of contestants is challenged to work together as a team in order to build a bridge.^[1][2]

El Puente
TV series poster
Genre	Reality television
Presented by	Paula Vázquez
Country of origin	Spain
Original language	Spanish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16
Production
Producer	Zeppelin TV
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	#0
Release	29 May 2017 (2017-05-29) – 23 September 2018 (2018-09-23)

Created and produced by Zeppelin TV (part of Endemol Shine Iberia), the first season aired on #0 from 29 May 2017 to 17 July 2017.^[3] It was filmed in the Argentinian Patagonia. The series was renewed for a second season, which was filmed in Vietnam, and all of its episodes were made available on VOD on 23 September 2018.^[4][5] The series was hosted by Paula Vázquez.

Format

In the first season, a group of fifteen strangers was brought together and challenged to build a bridge to an island 300 meters away in 30 days. If they were successful, each contestant had to vote on who deserved to receive the €100,000 prize that was kept there. The person with the most votes had then to decide whether to keep it for themselves or share it among the group.^[6]

In the second season, two competing groups were introduced, among other twists. Each group consisted of seven people and had to build a bridge of 400 meters in 20 days.^[7]

Series overview

List of seasons

Season	Premiere date	Finale date	Location	Prize	Winner
1	29 May 2017	17 July 2017	Patagonia, Argentina	€100,000	David
2	23 September 2018		Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam		Equipo Sur (South Team)

International adaptations

The French adaptation of the show, titled The Bridge : Le Trésor de Patagonie and hosted by Stéphane Rotenberg, premiered on M6 on 3 January 2019.^[6][8] A British adaptation, titled The Bridge and narrated by James McAvoy, was produced by Workerbee for Channel 4 in 2020.^[9] A Brazilian adaptation was produced for HBO Max in 2021.^[10]

An Australian version was commissioned for Paramount+ in 2022, with the first episode also broadcast on sister free-to-air channel Network 10 as a preview. Ten months later, the full series was broadcast on Network 10 in primetime, in the place of the premiere week of the 15th season of MasterChef Australia, which was delayed a week following the death of judge Jock Zonfrillo.^[11]

Country	Name	Broadcaster	Premiere	Finale	Host(s)	Winners
Australia	The Bridge Australia	Paramount+	19 August 2022 (2022-08-19)[12]	9 September 2022 (2022-09-09)	Hugo Weaving (narrator)	Season 1, 2022: Bardie Somerville
Brazil	A Ponte: The Bridge Brasil [pt]	HBO Max	9 June 2022[13]	23 June 2022	Murilo Rosa	Season 1, 2022: Suyane Moreira [pt][a]
Denmark	The Bridge Danmark	Amazon Prime Video	4 November 2022[14]	2 December 2022	Mads Steffensen [da]	Season 1, 2022: TBC
Finland	The Bridge Suomi	Amazon Prime Video	4 November 2022[15]	25 November 2022	Antti Reini	Season 1, 2022: Marju Kauppinen
France	The Bridge : Le Trésor de Patagonie	M6	3 January 2019	24 January 2019[b][17]	Stéphane Rotenberg	Season 1, 2019: Elian Casini
Hungary	A híd	HBO Max	11 August 2023	25 August 2023	Magyarósi Csaba [hu]	Season 1, 2023: Janka Sára Molnár
Lithuania	Tiltas	Telia Play	Season 1: 4 October 2023[18] Season 2: 3 October 2024	Season 1: 6 December 2023 Season 2: 5 December 2024	Rytis Zemkauskas (narrator)	Season 1, 2023: Ignas Jomantas Season 2, 2024: Current season
Norway	The Bridge	Amazon Prime Video	4 November 2022[19]	9 December 2022	Jakob Oftebro	Season 1, 2022: Thomas Klungland Stange
South Africa	Die Brug	kykNET	26 October 2023[20]	4 January 2024	Neil Sandilands (narrator)	Season 1, 2023-24: Robert Kruger Season 2, 2025: Upcoming season
Sweden	The Bridge	Amazon Prime Video	4 November 2022[21]	27 November 2022	Jens Hultén	Season 1, 2022: Robert Vrabac
United Kingdom	The Bridge (1) The Bridge: Race to a Fortune (2)	Channel 4	11 October 2020[22]	29 June 2022	James McAvoy (2020) (narrator) AJ Odudu (2022) Aldo Kane (2022)[23]	Series 1, 2020: Julie Nguyen[c][24] Series 2, 2022: Kim Blackman[d]

Notes

1. Received BRL 400 thousand, kept BRL 175 thousand and divided the remainder among the other participants.
2. Due to poor ratings, M6 cancelled airing episodes at 8:50 PM. Shows 3–5, which were initially to be aired on 17, 24, and 31 January were instead aired during the second part of the evening on 17 January and 24 January.^[16]
3. Gave half the money to fellow contestant Sly
4. Gave half the money to Shaun Pelayo

References

1. "'El puente', el primer 'reality' que parece cine". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 23 May 2017.
2. Álvarez, Isra (24 May 2017). "'El Puente': un espectacular formato entre reality y documental con Paula Vázquez". 20 minutos (in Spanish).
3. Rus, Óscar (19 July 2017). "David Adán, ganador de "El Puente" (#0): "Es una película con final feliz"". ABC (in Spanish).
4. Hergar, Paula (7 June 2018). "Vuelve El Puente en Vietnam: primeras imágenes de la segunda temporada". eldiario.es (in Spanish).
5. "La segunda edición de 'El Puente' se estrena al completo el 23 de septiembre". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 11 September 2018.
6. Watson, Ryan (28 June 2018). "M6 builds its own Bridge with Endemol Shine". C21Media.
7. Mingo, Alicia (19 September 2018). "Paula Vázquez regresa con 'El puente 2' a Movistar+ y nos habla de lo nuevo de '¡Fama!'". Teleprograma. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
8. "The Bridge : destination, règles… tout sur le nouveau jeu d'aventure de M6". programme-tv.net (in French). Télé-Loisirs. 15 February 2018.
9. Wiseman, Andreas (24 August 2020). "James McAvoy To Narrate Channel 4 Reality Show 'The Bridge'". Deadline Hollywood.
10. Viana, Victor (12 August 2021). "HBO Max anuncia "The Bridge Brasil" com Pepita e mais personalidades". portalpopline.com (in Portuguese).
11. Knox, David (1 May 2023). "The Bridge to replace MasterChef | TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
12. @ParamountPlusAU (31 July 2022). "330 metres. 17 days. 1 winner. Global reality phenomenon The Bridge Australia, narrated by Hugo Weaving, premieres…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
13. "New survival reality show, "A PONTE: THE BRIDGE BRASIL", premieres june 9 on HBO Max". Benzinga. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
14. Dalby Kamper, Maria (20 October 2022). "Helt nyt overlevelsesprogram med Mads Steffensen som vært lander snart – skal du se med?". Woman.dk. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
15. "Prime Video esitteli The Bridge -realitysarjan kilpailijat". Errori.net. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
16. "Déprogrammation TV - Faute d'audience, M6 retire The Bridge et Les Reines des Enchères". www.programme-television.org. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
17. Garin, Clément (14 January 2019). "Déprogrammation de The Bridge : déçus, les candidats réagissen... - Télé Star". www.telestar.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
18. "Uždarame renginyje "Telia Play" pristatė lietuviams iki šiol nematyto formato serialą "Tiltas"". 15min.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 18 October 2023.
19. "Prime Video lanserer første lokale, originale reality – med Jakob Oftebro i fortellerrolle". Trdby. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
20. "Die Brug". DStv. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
21. Landgren, Sofie (4 November 2022). "Premiär för The Bridge – så var första avsnittet". Filmtopp. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
22. "The Bridge episode 1 viewers confused by lack of bridge-building". Digital Spy. 11 October 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
23. "AJ Odudu hosts The Bridge for tropical second season". Radio Times. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
24. "Channel 4's The Bridge reveals winners in twist-filled finale". Digital Spy. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2022.

External links

• Official website at #0 (in Spanish)
• Zeppelin TV website (in Spanish)