This is an additional separation from the world, as their identity is reduced to a number. Players are only referred to by their number, not their name. In addition, the room is roughly octagonal, adding another disorienting aspect. The environment is completely controlled, from temperature, light, access to a restroom, food, etc. There are no environmental time cues (sunlight or moonlight).

In Season 4, guests were given the opportunity to send a message via Val to number 6, as he was considering sharing his reward of beer and peanuts.īeyond the social isolation, there is also isolation from time, with no clocks, watches, or other timepieces available to contestants.

In Season 3, contestants were randomly paired in pods for the first challenge in the first episode, and the last two contestants were again allowed to taunt each other via Val in the final.

In Season 2, another phone call was auctioned off in the fourth episode, and the last two contestants in the final were allowed to taunt each other via Val.

In Season 1, on two occasions, the guests were allowed to speak to each other, but only through Val.

(In Season 2, at one point Val gave them pen and paper.)

The guests had a chance to send a letter to their loved one.

At the very beginning, a final two-minute phone call is permitted.No contact with the outside world – or other competitors – is permitted, with the following exceptions: Val also often makes references to the fact that she is a computer (eg by saying 'If I had feelings, they would be hurt right now').

The AI and main antagonist GLaDOS from the video game Portal bears a slight resemblance in tone and voice to Val. Val is possibly a reference to HAL, the demented computer who takes over the spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the Season 3 episode 'Rest In Pieces,' Val's 'eye' turns red and its voice takes a deep, sonorous, distorted tone, similar to that of Jigsaw in Saw, while giving instructions for the episode's test. In the subsequent rebroadcast of the Season 1 episodes, the producers replaced the computer-sounding voice with the more feminine voice that was used in Season 2. However, some 'corruption' can be heard in the voice pattern where Val speaks a word or two in a similar voice to Season 1. In Season 2, Val's voice has only minor computer modification. For all remaining Seasons - VAL was voiced by actress Keri Tombazian. In reality, Val's voice is a computer-modified human voice.In Season 1, Val was voiced by the show creator who was male and whose voice was altered. The show's theme is based on solitary confinement accordingly, the contestants are placed in isolated pods, with only an artificial intelligence named Val to communicate with. The show calls itself a 'social experiment' in determining the physical and mental endurance of the competitors. 5.2.6 Episode 6: Hello, My Name is Chubby.5.2.2 Episode 2: Pinch Me - I Must Be Nightmaring.4.2.9 Episode 8: Hell Night - Morning - Afternoon.4.2.8 Episode 7: All Locked Up and Nowhere to Go.4.2.7 Episode 6: Handcuffs Across America.4.2.6 Episode 5: Open Wide and Say 'Ouch'.4.2.5 Episode 4: Don't Let This Happen To You.4.2.4 Episode 3: From Dusk 'til Dominoes.4.2.3 Episode 2: Say Hello to Your Little Friend.

4.2.2 Episode 1: Welcome to Solitary.Now Go Home.4.2.1 Episode 0: The Road to Solitary 2.0.3.2.10 Episode 9: Solitary Reunion Special.

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