Saturdays, 6pm,
ITV
100 people in a warehouse play silly games guided by Adam and Ryan Thomas. You don’t have to be any good at any of them, but importantly you must not come last in any of them or be eliminated, the last one standing wins at the end of the series wins a whopping £25,000.
This has been around Europe for a number of years, beginning as a daily segment on a Flemish show, really taking off in the Netherlands as De Alleskunner (The All Rounder), this became a surprise German Summer hit, and it looks like it’s the German show this has taken the visual inspiration from – whereas the Dutch feels like its set in a light and bright community centre, this is a large dark warehouse with a big lighting gantry. As such I think the 6pm slot feels too early for the show’s look (also it’s up against Gladiators which feels like a hiding to nothing), although it’s a big bunch of silly so they can’t put it too late either.
FOTB Tom F (and contestant on the show) is writing a series of blog pieces explaining the show’s appeal (here’s a direct link to the latest one) which is well worth a read, and a few series of the Dutch show are up on Youtube if you want something to compare it to (and it’s a pretty easy to follow watch even without subs). Watched it? Let us know what you think in the comments.
The first episode has been uploaded on youtube already before it’s even aired – Extremely tempted to watch it now but will wait till tonight to watch with everyone else generally very excited to see it, this show is right up my street love how simplistic the games look yet there so stupid! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpTYx9NnATQ
I liked it, which is a bit of a shame as I really wanted to love it. The core is there and very watchable, but the editing is dulling my enjoyment just enough to make it a little bit of a chore. Really not gelling with the hosts, qnd the confessionals feel extra phony put alongside the real-time interviews with contestants in the actual arena.
Yes, largely agree with this. I’m interested in the games and seeing what comes up, the Thomas’ are doing nothing for me. The start of each of the games where the lights go down and then come up again is really annoying. Even though we’re getting longer per game than the Dutch show, I feel like we’re getting a greater amount of empty calories.
Several problems with this for me. The main one was the games largely boring to watch. Holding a spoon in your mouth? Putting on a t-shirt? I also picked up that the team game was edited in a way where the group that barely got mentioned were the ones going out.
Way to much chatter. I hate those fake conversations between contestants you get on BGT and they are even more irksome here.
Also sorry lads but the Thomas brothers were also a no. What they were offering was drivel a lot of the time. You need somebody with voiceover experience and an idea of comedy timing.
I can only think this got commissioned because it must be really cheap to make.
Won’t be back for this one
This show needed proper comedians. The lads are just not suited for this.
Few things
£25K for a series wide prize is a tad bit pitfuil, given the fact that 1% club gives out more than that on any winning episode, BBC Glads doesn’t have this issue (By dint of not having a prize but still)
Thomas brothers are a flat no, If this gets a series 2, they need to go, what do they add to the show?
Oh, they nicked some games from minute to win it, That’s fine, speaking of which, games where fine, spoon one was worst, survival challenges don’t work as well when it’s loser goes out.
Could do with being a tad bit quicker with games, having one big team game per episode seems off editing wise, although it’s fine gameplay wise.
It’s mid, not stream worthy, but if it comes up and there is nothing else, I might watch it, sadly it is going up against the aforementioned glads, which I will watch. I feel like itv should’ve shelfed it till post glads.
Have the rating spirits been in touch yet on it’s overnight figure ?
No, sounds like there’s an overnight problem today, I’m sure we’ll find out in time.
Hopefully we find out soon! Look forward to hearing how this did in comparison to other Saturday night TV.
WHAT the hell are the Thomas brothers doing!? Talking about there GCSE’s and over-the-top laughing! They’re not hosting AT ALL. The voice-over woman is giving us all the info we need.
2m for ep 1.
The Sunday early evening repeat did 1.1m, make of that what you will.
Yikes! This wasn’t good. The editing feels very American, almost as though Fox filmed and passed it on. It feels like they’ve just asked the producers of Storage Wars to pop in and edit a game show.
Unlike many reviewers here, I thought the hosts weren’t awful but over-exposed. Maybe the wrong format for them: perhaps one of them could carry this on their own. The voiceover lady seems to be the star: not quite the Voice of The Cube, but hey ho hum.
Also what are ITV doing repeating it at the same time the next day? Pick either Saturday or Sunday: not both. 3/10
Early contender for Hall of Shame. Feels more like a show that should have been on ITV2 or E4 than a main channel – especially with that jackpot.
when watching the trailer and clips online i was extremely excited for this but my eagerness toned down after watching the first episode. The games are actually very fun and engaging, I like the fact that most of them you’d have the stuff for at home so you can join in and play along, when they get to the final few you really find yourself willing them on to beat the others . what let’s it down is firstly the editing which was a bit all over the shot having cuts every few seconds to contestant vt’s was annoying, I wanted to see more of the gameplay rather than them waffling about themselves it’s hard to track each contestant when there are so many of them maybe cutting to a split screen every now and then from 4 camera angles could help especially in the team game. I appreciate ITV experimenting with new hosts but they didn’t really do much to add to the show because there was so much noise you could hardly catch what they were saying during games. Like with all shows I have to give it time and I think gradually i’ll grow into it because the show is right up my street but there are too many editional things that let it down, Very watchable nevertheless/ Overall a 7.5/10.
I think overall it was absolutely fine. Nothing that particularly offended me, nothing groundbreaking whatsoever, it was the definition of filler. I wasn’t anywhere near as offended by the Thomas brothers as others seem to be!
£25k for a series prize is pathetic though.
Wasn’t expecting much but quite enjoyed it and thought the Thimas brothers suited it well – nice to see different hosts on TV. The games were quite watchable but the foreshadowing in the interviews before them often spoiled the result – was so obvious the couple woukd end up going gead to head.
Coukd do with a tighter edit – the individual farewell to ever eliminee feels awkward. The prize is tight too but keeps it fun rather than high stakes.