Stockholm  - Participants in one of Sweden's most popular reality television shows Thursday rejected King Carl XVI Gustaf's recent criticism of the genre.

The king used an interview with the Goteborgs-Posten newspaper to accuse the genre of allowing contestants to "crush the other" rather than act cooperatively.

"That is not how it should be in society. Society should be based on helping each other and that the weaker are helped, and taken care of," the monarch added.

Martin Melin, a police officer who in 1997 won the first edition of the Expedition Robinson show, told the Expressen newspaper that while the participants in that show "cast their votes against those who were weakest, life on the island was also about helping each other."

The king, 63, said he preferred the ideals promoted by the scout movement where "even small problems are solved in a group."

The monarch became a cub scout in 1955, and three years later became a regular scout. Since 1977 he has been honorary chairman of the World Scout Foundation.

The king may be right about ideals in scouting, Melin said, adding that "likely it would make very boring television."

The show's name is a composition of Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson.

Angela Monroe who took part in this year's edition said "you know what you are in for when you head out there," adding "in for a penny, in for a pound."(dpa)