Discovery Channel has announced The Colony, a new reality series that will isolate a group of participants for two months and require them to create a sustainable society inside an abandoned warehouse, will premiere Tuesday, July 21 at 10PM ET/PT.

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The Colony -- which the network is billing as "a groundbreaking experiment" that will attempt to determine what would happen after a "global catastrophe" -- will begin with 10 people moving into a 50,000 square-foot abandoned warehouse on a three-and-a-half acre plot near the Los Angeles River in downtown Los Angeles.

Once there, The Colony's participants will spend the next two months attempting to create a livable society inside the warehouse using only their personal skills and whatever tools and supplies they can recover from their surroundings.  The warehouse is without modern amenities such as electricity, running water and communication with the outside world.

According to the network, the space was designed by homeland security, engineering and psychology experts who used elements from both real-life disasters and models of what the future could look like after a global catastrophe.

Throughout the series, the experts who designed the space will offer insight to viewers on challenges the participants could face in the context of real-world disasters as they work together to build the necessities of survival and society -- such as a water filtration system, a battery bank for electricity, a solar cooker, a shower system and a greenhouse.

In addition, different tools and sparse food items will be "strategically placed" in the space to represent what might be viably available in an urban post-disaster landscape based on actual event data recorded during past real-life catastrophes.  

As part of the experiment, the participants will also be challenged by "a hostile gang of looters and thugs" who threaten their security and force them to devise a safety plan to protect themselves.

The 10-episode series is being produced by Thom Beers' Original Productions -- the same production company behind the network's Deadliest Catch and Pitchmen reality series.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
Christopher Rocchio is an entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for several years.