At the beginning of the 21st century, in the 2000s, a new reality show “The Last Hero” appeared on Russian television. This transfer is an analogue of a foreign project. The name of the Russian TV show was invented by Sergey Suponev, a journalist, TV presenter, one of the creators and producers of this game.
The very first season of this game, led by Sergey Bodrov Jr., is considered the most interesting. The intrigue with the winner remained until the very end.
Ivan Lyubimenko is one of the finalists who was to receive a prize. However, this did not happen. Let's try to figure out why he did not become the last hero.
Show participant biography
Although Ivan became a hero anyway, though not the last.
We can say that all participants in the project are to some extent heroes: not everyone can decide on such an adventure.
There is not much information about the biography of Ivan Lyubimenko. At the time of participation in the project, that is, in 2001, he was 18 years old, he celebrated his next, nineteenth birthday, on the island on October 31.
Accordingly, you can calculate how many years Ivan Lyubimenko will be in 2018: at the end of October he should be 36 years old.
In 2001, he was a student at Volgograd State Technical University, studied in the 2nd year.
After participating in the project, a book by Ivan Lyubimenko “How to survive in the mouth of a bull” was published, where he wrote about his adventures on the island.
In 2014, Ivan married a girl from Volgograd Marina. The family lives in Ryazan, Ivan works as the regional director of a large Russian bank.
Ivan Lyubimenko guards his personal life very carefully.
What is a reality show?
Ivan Lyubimenko got into the project thanks to his parents who saw an advertisement in the newspaper and suggested filling out a candidate's application form to participate in the show.
An active and inquisitive student agreed. He was not used to sitting idly by, and he was interested to test himself in extreme conditions. Moreover, since childhood he has been a practically professional traveler, his parents were engaged in ecological tourism and took the child with them.
The conditions for potential project participants were proposed as follows: two groups of people (two tribes) live on two uninhabited islands, have no connection with civilization and with each other, and go through difficult trials in competitions between tribes. After a certain number of retirees, they are combined into one tribe. Here begins the struggle for the sole possession of a protective totem, thanks to which this participant does not drop out of the game, that is, you can not vote against him at the tribal council.
In the end, there remains one person who will receive the main prize - three million rubles (huge at that time money).
Selection of participants
To participate in the show “The Last Hero” a lot of people came to Moscow to visit a desert island and pick up the main prize. Many were eliminated immediately, some in the process of passing psychological tests. The rest had serious tests at the EMERCOM training ground in Noginsk. Everything is filmed on camera, the participants simultaneously give interviews, talking about their feelings.
After a tough selection of lucky people, 16 people remained, among them was a student from Volgograd Ivan Lyubimenko.
The most ambitious future "robinsons" were sent to distant islands, where they were supposed to live 39 days without a roof over their heads, normal human food and fresh water. Some stocks of food and water were nevertheless provided to them, but in very limited quantities.
What can we say about bad habits: cigarettes and alcohol were not allowed to be taken with us, I had to reinvent them by trying different plants and trying to adapt them as cigarettes or wine.
Everything that happened on the islands was filmed on open and hidden video cameras. Most of the material, of course, did not go on the air for objective reasons.
For participants in the game, living under the constant supervision of camera lenses is also a kind of test.
In general, quite dubious pleasure, frankly. But when did Ivan stop the difficulties? Yes, never!
So, the future participant of the 1st season of “The Last Hero” Ivan Lyubimenko found himself in this alteration, called a reality show.
Desert Island Life
The selection of participants was not based on physical data and stamina, or rather, not only according to them, as many might have thought, but according to a slightly different principle, although the physical capabilities of a person also played a role. Since the show was supposed to be shot, it should be interesting. Therefore, participants should have an interesting character, vivid charisma, have adequate (or not so) ambitions, so that with close contact on a desert island as much as possible friction, conflict, conflict of interest. In general, all that causes genuine spectator interest.
The choice of participants was a success for the organizers: the more dissimilar people were difficult to find and gather in one place for sending to the wild tropics.
Ivan Lyubimenko from Volgograd was in a very motley company. But in order to survive, I had to learn to negotiate with each other and the surrounding nature.
The rules of the project are such that upon arrival at the filming location, the participants are divided into 2 teams, which form the Turtles (Tortugas) and Lizards (Lagartos) tribes.
Ivan Lyubimenko - a participant in a reality show, fell into the Turtle tribe.
Tests began already in the wild, when two small groups of people, along with things, were loaded onto rafts and sent to their place of residence for the next 39 days.
Things from the civilized world were allowed to take a very limited amount, on the way to the island, many of the backpacks were lost, drowning in the sea, or very wet.
So upon arrival on the island, future heroes experienced all the charms of life in nature: because of the strong current, they managed to get to solid ground almost at night. While they were catching things and trying to sort them out in pitch darkness, tropical rain started. Where to hide? There is no roof overhead, and sleeping in the rain was completely uncomfortable. So the heroes didn’t get enough sleep in this, as well as in the next two nights - the real extreme for unprepared city dwellers was provided from the very beginning.
The issue of obtaining food, clean fresh water, building at least some kind of dwelling, which without special tools and a minimum of building materials was not so easy to erect, was very acute. At first, difficulties arose due to the lack of gear, and it is not clear which fish can be eaten, and which are poisonous or simply inedible. All figured out empirically.
In fairness, I must say that before sending to the island, potential participants were shown a video of who can be eaten and who can not.
What the participants of the reality show had to eat was worthy of a separate description: they tried to eat different snails, small crabs, crustaceans, even snakes. During one of the tests, they were offered as a meal a dish of local cuisine: live larvae of a rhinoceros beetle, that is, worms. What is noteworthy, the organizers themselves did not try this dish, and the participants had to eat them, and at a speed.
Shootout Game
Solving everyday problems, the participants should not have forgotten that they will face more serious tests.
Every 3 days, teams must fight for a totem that gives the tribe immunity. The tribe that did not win the totem should, on the council, elect the person who leaves the island by secret ballot.
In addition, every 2 days, tribes compete among themselves for privileges - food, equipment, messages from home, etc.
Gradually, the number of participants is reduced by half, then the tribes are united into one. Preliminary negotiations between the ambassadors of each tribe. The ambassadors must agree on which of the two islands the united tribe will live and come up with a new name for it.
After the unification of the tribes, “Turtles” and “Lizards” turned into “Sharks”. Ivan Lyubimenko easily held out to this happy moment.
Now each participant fights each for himself, participating in competitions and conquering a totem that protects against elimination.
As a rule, two or three participants remain in the final of the project. Previously retired members of the united tribe choose who will be the last hero.
Love on the islands
One of the most striking participants in the show "The Last Hero" was Sergey Sakin and Anya Modestova. The history of their love was observed without exaggeration by the whole country, worried and sympathized. They met back in Moscow, both got on the project, only the organizers sent them to different islands. Therefore, lovers could see each other only in competitions once every 3 days, and only a few minutes.
Sergei tried several times to cross the bay separating the islands, he nearly drowned, he had to be personally guarded.
But Sergey was constantly searching for ways to tell Anna about his love: once, with the help of Inna Gomez, he built large letters in the name of his beloved, set fire to them in the evening so that she could see them with binoculars from her observation post on a neighboring island.
Binoculars were given to Anna by a submarine officer Igor, Ani's fellow tribesman, who had guessed to capture him from the mainland. Of course, he could not imagine for what purpose this thing would be used, but it turned out to be very useful.
It was very beautiful and touching when Sergey, with a lighted torch, was kneeling near the burning letters “ANNA”, and Anya herself looked at it from her island, so close and so far away.
They both "survived" to the unification of the tribes. They were appointed ambassadors from each tribe for negotiations, that is, they were presented with a meeting in private. Needless to say, the lovers made the best use of this chance and fruitfully held negotiations on the unification of the tribes!
The wedding was played right on the island, at a council where representatives of local authorities were invited. The newlyweds received as a gift from the organizers of the project documents confirming the registration of their marriage.
But Sergei had to leave immediately after the marriage, because according to the rules of the project, spouses should not participate in the game together.
Sergei is a writer by profession, he wrote a book about his stay on the island, calling it "The Last Hero in Binding."
The romance of Sergei and Ani was continued in ordinary life: their marriage lasted another two years, their son was born. But, unfortunately, Sergei’s addiction to prohibited substances destroyed such a beautiful love, as, indeed, his whole subsequent life. Addiction to drugs led to the early death of Sergei Sakin, he died at 40. There is practically no information about Anna’s life after participating in the project.
The fight for the main prize
Ivan Lyubimenko from Volgograd managed to reach the finals. In this he was helped by his friendliness, honesty, moral principles. He did not engage in any intrigue, was not friends with anyone against anyone. On the contrary, he supported Anya Modestova, who found it difficult to survive separation from her beloved.
Ivan was very active in the competition, often it was his participation that helped the team win the totem. He encouraged the laggards, helped the tired, took responsibility at the right time, showed all his skills when necessary.
After the unification of the tribes, he so purposefully went to victory that he won 7 competitions in a row: this is an absolute record for the project, nobody else succeeded.
Totem reliably protected Ivan from premature retirement.
Two remained in the final: Sergey Odintsov and Ivan Lyubimenko. Now everything depended on the vote of former tribesmen. Odintsov was from the Lizards tribe, a cunning, strong man, a family man. Ivan is a good, honest student. Who is the hero? Both are good in their own way, but Lyubimenko was the more logical last hero.
But alas, the vote was not in favor of Ivan, the prize went to Sergei Odintsov. How it happened is no longer important.
After the project, Ivan Lyubimenko admitted that he was very disappointed not to win, stopping a step away from the main prize. Although he was worried not so much because of money, but because of the injustice of the vote. Anya Modestova also voted for Sergey, which Ivan unpleasantly surprised. Those who chose Sergey then explained their choice by the fact that Odintsov needed money, since Ivan is a promising young man and he will achieve everything.
Sergei Bodrov approached Ivan, said simple words that it is still unknown who won, figuratively, of course. Later, Ivan realized that it was better for the show: the unexpected finale fueled the interest of the audience, the latest series of the project was watched by a record number of people. There was a very heated discussion of what happened there: the last was not at all the hero who was expected. Interest in the project was thus ensured for several more seasons ahead.
Return
Now Ivan Lyubimenko leads a normal measured life of a person who has a good, beloved job and receives pleasure and money from her.
He has a family. What else is needed for happiness? There is still little information about the personal life of Ivan Lyubimenko.
A stay on the island did not pass without a trace for former heroes, including Ivan. Already in the civilized world, he developed a tropical fever - one of the varieties of malaria, and he had to lie in hospital.
Book of Ivan Lyubimenko
Having corrected his health, Ivan realized that he misses the time spent in the wild, away from civilization. He realized that this would never happen again, and decided to keep everything in mind, to the smallest detail. To do this, he tried to write everything down, recalling even the minor details of his stay in the Turtle tribe.
Subsequently, so much information was accumulated that Ivan decided to write a book, calling it "How to Survive in the Mouth of a Bull." In it, he told about everything that he had to endure and feel in this difficult, but such an excitingly interesting period of his life.
The book also turned out to be very interesting, sincere, it is permeated with subtle humor and irony in relation to himself. About the other participants, Ivan responds with unchanged tact and respect. The book is easy to read and well remembered, apparently, the financier Ivan Lyubimenko also has a writing talent, because it is not for nothing that they say that a talented person is talented in everything.
Participants of the show after the project
Nevertheless, it is very interesting to find out what happened to the other participants in the project. The most important question that worries many: what is the winner doing now and how did he spend the winnings?
Sergey Odintsov, a customs officer from Kursk, winner of the 1st season of the show “The Last Hero”, quit customs, is involved in politics, becoming a deputy in his hometown. With the money he won, he bought an apartment and a car, he has a family, two children. He invested the rest of the money in the restaurant business. Sergey took part in the 5th season of the Last Hero project, but this time did not reach the final.
The most beautiful participant of the 1st season, Inna Gomez, a model and actress, continues to do what she loves, has a family, and has two daughters. Inna leads a closed lifestyle, protecting her family. She does not participate in bohemian parties, ignores social networks.
Natalya Ten became an actress, Sergei Tereshchenko is also an actor, starred in TV shows, wrote the book "Life after Death."
About the rest of the participants, the World Wide Web does not give out information.
Sergey Bodrov - host of the show
Separately, it is worth mentioning the host of the 1st season of the reality show "The Last Hero", Sergei Sergeyevich Bodrov. The way he led this program is boundlessly fascinating. In his calm manner of a wise man, Sergey talked about the behavior of people who were placed in extreme conditions, sharing his comments about each one gently and tactfully. His subtle humor and irony helped the participants in difficult moments, many remembered the intimate conversations on the tribal council.
The show was shot at the end of 2001, Sergei disappeared on September 21, 2002, that is, almost a year after the end of filming of The Last Hero.
Sergey lived only 30 years. But during his short life he managed a lot. Ironically, he died from a natural phenomenon: the Kolka glacier in the mountains, where he shot his next film - "The Messenger". He left a family: a wife with two young children.
Sergey is the author of so many aphorisms and wise sayings about life. This young man was well educated, well educated, managed to become a professional in his field.
He will be remembered.