 Series creator Mark Burnett (II) (qv) originally conceived of the  contestants in the first season being divided into college graduates  vs. those who finished only high school. However, of those who  applied to be on the show there were not enough credible contestants  who did not graduate from college. As a result, the teams were  instead divided into males and females. The popularity of the show  caused a very large number of people to apply to be contestants and  the producers were then able to choose a full team with only those  with high school educations that was more or less evenly matched  with those who graduated from college. This became the premise of  the competition in the third season.