“They” are looking for contestants for a new BBC1 show called The Time It Takes, with Joe Lycett, where contestants aim to answer enough questions to win a dream holiday but must determine which unusual clock to use. “Would it take longer to pack an airbed back into a box, or fill a welly with custard using a turkey baster? This is what we need you to work out in order to get your prize,” says the blurb. The Taskmaster influence seems strong in this one.
Playing against unusual clocks is something that comes up every so often, perhaps the most famous is the show Dollar a Second. Contestants go up on stage and earn a dollar for every second they play, and can quit at any time provided they’re not in the middle of a Truth or Consequences-style penalty for failing at a task. However whilst this is going on they’re playing against an Outside Event, and must quit before the Outside Event happens or lose the money.
Dolph Lundgren is hosting ITV4’s The Tower.
The most famous unusual clock may be “Dollar a Second”, but the most recent has to be “Hardball”.
Interestingly, it seems to have an ITV email in the application reminders.
as for unusual clocks, in Itay we had the DRAGON!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPAicb6vg78
the player would sit inside the dragon’s mouth, and the jaws would slowly close in. The game was about sorting a list of a dozen or so items (like “sort these TV hosts from shortest to tallest”) and of course it was a “miss and start over” game.
What I always loved about Italian shows of that 1990s period is the amount of effort they’d go to dress up what’s basically a standard general knowledge quiz. Made them a lot of fun to watch.
Oh, the times when a show like Alphabetical had a mascot, a live band and half a dozen dancing girls.
Time it Takes is being piloted for ABC with Craig Ferguson at the same time they’re recording the UK run: https://twitter.com/bbcshowstours/status/1016691074004410370
Good spot!
Love some Craig Ferguson, maybe the better presenter choice full stop even for BBC.