SEAFORD: EX-POLICEMAN HUNTED DOWN PIRATES OF SURVIVOR ISLAND

And Basil Arrowsmith was a man with a more dangerous mission than the ITV show contestants who have to rough it for the chance to win a 1 million cash prize.

Mr Arrowsmith, a former chief superintendent with the Colonial Police Force, was stationed on the Survivor island, Pulau Tiga, in 1957 to catch murderous pirates.

The island, off the coast of Borneo, became his base after he tracked down a gang who killed a Chinese shopkeeper and his wife. He arrested them and all four were hanged.

As a result he set up a watchtower on the island to nab other pirates who terrorised the area.

While on Pulau Tiga the policeman and his men lived in primitive huts made from coconut trees.

But the 82-year-old said life was not as harsh as the show s producers would have viewers believe.

He said: I don t know what the contestants have to complain about. They are not surviving, they re just living there.

They have a crew of about 50 people and a helicopter. It is irritating to watch. They all look very clean with not a hair out of place. If they were there in the rainy season they would have something to complain about.

He said there was no shortage of water and fish were plentiful. And he never saw a snake the whole time he was there. I never saw a snake but I did see a few rats.

Mr Arrowsmith, of Green Walk, Seaford, lived on a diet of fish with rice and said there was plenty of other food. But he warned: You can live off the island, but eat the wrong thing and you are dead.

Published: 7.6.01 Sussex Newspapers Ltd