Increase the size of the group, increase the duration of the 'test', and include men so the physical side is taken care of and you'd start seeing the value.
This is something I've wanted to see done by the "reality" shows for a while; let's look at what they've done.
Survivorman: one guy who knows what he's doing
Man vs Wild: urine consumption and marketing
Dual Survival: two experienced guys who with differing, but both effective, approaches
Man, Woman, Wild: family unit (realism there) one of which has vast survival skills and the other who would be marginal on a picnic
Surviving Nugent: throw random unsuspecting people into a very limited survival situation
MWW is sort of a favorite of these; you at least have one "average" person, and she usually has the right attitude, if little skill or strength to use it, and Mykel keeps harping on "always carry a lighter" and how much more comfortable they would have been had making fire been a 5-minute, reliable process instead of an hour or more just trying to get a spark.
DS was great, but had the problem they all do; experienced survivalists wouldn't have been in that situation without at least a pocket full of more useful stuff than they're allowed. I do wish they'd been a little more clear on crew involvement, though. (Things like bringing along a dead rabbit for them to find, etc. Not necessarily a big orange "ARTIFICIALLY PROVIDED" sticker, but a little note in the credits would have set people's expectations more realistically.) Also, Dave was about right on the "get 'er done" mentality, where in a real survival situation, Joe would be a disaster waiting to happen, for the same reason Bear Grylls always was; unnecessary risks when you don't have a medical crew on standby are just a good way to get people killed. I think Matt was better at just pointing that out, rather than Cody's blowups.
I'd like to see something more like Frontier House without the house; grab a carload of normal people who think they're just driving through the area, and offer them money (and handling of other issues like pay off their boss or whatever) to just shut down the car in the middle of your designated area with the supplies they packed for the trip (plus anything else they can scavenge from the car) and survive until rescue or self rescue. Not "for no apparent reason you have a full pack of cigs but only one damp paper match and otherwise completely empty pockets while day hiking through the jungle," but "during an activity you did expect and prepare for, the situation changed in a realistic way, so deal with it now."
Sure, that would be boring as hell with survival experts, who probably don't walk to the mailbox with as little as they were provided for the shows, (Not that I would necessarily mind a "Dave Canterbury goes on an unexpected long hunt without his big tent, instead of just cruising through to Pittsburgh like he thought" show, but that's more specialty outdoors than survival as most people think of it.) but somebody like most of us would have a basic kit in the trunk, and be able to make a decent show of it, in comfort comparable to some of the better situations on those shows.
As far as learning, IMO, it's a more practical scenario in that it would show people what a little simple, cheap preparation can do to make your situation drastically more comfortable and survivable, and should hit a little closer to home for many. I know I considered the Okavanga Delta episodes that several of the shows had to be more entertainment than education, because the odds of me finding myself there unexpectedly are slightly lower than the odds of Star Trek teleporters becoming practical and economical in my lifetime. I'm not going to get lost on the way from Stephenville to Dallas and find myself broken down in Africa. If I were going there, I would adjust my emergency load accordingly. For education value, the more similar the scenario location is to the environments I plan to travel through, the more I pay attention and take notes. The more time a skill requires to master, the less likely that it will be useful as I have to use most of my time to make a living in other ways.
I'd love to see (or make) a "surviving Texas" show based on the above idea, for just that reason. Drop me at a remote campsite in the Hill Country, with just the stuff I'd have left at the end of a weekender, (food already eaten, waterproof match container only has 39 matches left, tent smells like socks, etc.) except that I have to wear a leg splint and either hobble out a half-day (uninjured time) hike to my car or survive and signal for rescue, or ditch me with a broken down car (with my usual car load for a desert drive) on the most remote backroad in Big Bend, or even splint my ankle halfway through a planned hike of Telephone Canyon and let's see how it goes. (Many of my more likely situations wouldn't make for any show at all; breaking down on I-20 and flagging down a car within five minutes ain't exactly mad survival skillz.)
