Show Discussion: Supermarket Sweep

By | September 9, 2019

Weekdays, 8pm,
ITV2

Store manager Rylan Clark-Neal invites pairs to his supermarket to go wild in the aisles with the heavily trailed 2019 gritty reboot of Supermarket Sweep. If our shoppers are very very good they could be walking out with £3,000.

Really like Rylan, really like Supermarket Sweep but there are question marks. 8pm feels like quite an odd timeslot to strip an hour-long game on a daily basis, especially one as fluffy as Supermarket Sweep – Pointless and The Chase‘s biggest opponents are each other – this will have to compete with whatever the bigger channels are putting out in prime-time and if it’s not must-watch it might end up being not-watched. We also wonder what sort of tone this is going to have, relatively straight or heavily ironic piss-take? Either could work but falling between the two stools may end up pleasing nobody.

Also it’s an hour of Supermarket Sweep. How are they going to fill the time? We’re promised celebrities and new games but will they fit with the format?

Not long until we find out. I’m pulling for it, but it’s not a guaranteed success by any means. Let us know what you think in the comments.

66 thoughts on “Show Discussion: Supermarket Sweep

  1. Alex McMillan

    The trailer gave me a lot of faith in this revamp, I’m very much looking forward to it. The name badge and Tesco signage saying “Rylan’s Deals” is a nice touch.

    Will be catching up tonight due to the clash with OC, but hopefully that doesn’t alienate too much of it’s potential audience.

    Reply
  2. Mark Leete

    I have to admit I’ve been really enjoying the build up and the trailer makes this look like a lot of fun! Always thought that the Dale Year’s suffered from the lack of brand management that was overly prevalent in the American shows so hopefully we will see that little “P” icon appear and they’ll be searching for PG tips and Domestos rather than generic own brand products! I will be watching and hope that Rylan can turn the campiness button up to 11! There’s no reason why he shouldn’t cos I think this is the PERFECT fit for him! More later

    Reply
    1. Brandon

      Since the product placement laws changed a couple of years ago, I can’t say I recall any cases on British TV where it’s ridiculously blatant as it is in most other countries. Products being mentioned as their brand names might work in Supermarket Sweep if it’s something you’d refer by its brand name anyway,like Coke rather than generic cola.

      Reply
  3. TheLupineOne

    A programme like this will live or die on its product placement, right? At least, that’s what I originally thought after the X Factor’s figures tanked following their dalliances with Samsung, but seeing how well Love Island is doing despite all its sponsorship deals is making me reconsider.

    How much is Tesco bankrolling this reboot? As much as Sage funded Ben Shephard’s Krypton Factor reboot? I at least hope Tesco promotes Supermarket Sweep as much as Supermarket Sweep promotes Tesco!

    Reply
    1. Greg

      To me the supermarket looks a lot smaller than the original. Narrow isles seem to only allow trollies in one direction in some cases. I think an hour might just be overkill

      Reply
        1. Mark Leete

          Did I read somewhere that the new supermarket is based on a Tesco Express store meaning it would naturally be smaller than a regular supermarket? Also in the trailer the fresh produce looks… well… fresher than it used to!

          Reply
          1. Greg

            Yeah Rylan said it’s real and gets donated to food banks every few days

  4. Pacdude

    They have to allot extra time for when the self-scan doesn’t recognize that we in fact did put the item in the bagging area.

    Reply
    1. Brandon

      I know you’re only joking, but I thought a few years ago that this format would work so well with Self-Scan checkouts if the contestants got a bit more time and the time to scan was included.

      Reply
  5. gyroscope

    It’s the Love Island Germany premiere on RTL II at the moment, and they’re running trailers for a version of Wild Things, beginning next Monday. Wasn’t aware this was coming!

    Reply
  6. Christopher McB

    I see that they’ve gone down the Cheap Cheap Cheap route by making the members of staff characters in their own right. Not sure if I’m sold on that idea just yet.

    Reply
      1. Greg

        Was one of the cashiers not on Cheap Cheap Cheap? Also can anybody tell me where I know contest Kyle from? Is he just a repeat gameshow contestant?

        Reply
  7. Chris B

    Comedy shop assistant characters? The spirit of Cheap Cheap Cheap is alive and well.

    Quite enjoying it actually but an hour is clearly too long.

    Reply
  8. Karen

    I liked it, but also I liked Cheap Cheap Cheap so the character comedy bits worked for me. I think they did well enough to stretch out to an hour but the early sections did drag a fair bit. You could probably reduce it to 1 pricing game, a checkout game, the express sweep and round robin and it would feel like it was moving at a good pace. Reducing question value to 5 seconds as well doesn’t feel that great, like time doesn’t build up that quickly.

    I’d rather see it as a weekly show with a bigger prize really, even with how much I enjoyed it once it really got rolling in the second half I’m not going to watch it every night. It’s something I’d pull up on the ITV Hub if I had nothing else to watch though.

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  9. Clive Of Legend

    Quite enjoyed it as someone who didn’t care for the original, but it really needs to pick between either being an hour or being daily, can’t imagine sitting through too much more of it a week. Rylan a class act as always, extra characters and “celebrity” guests neither helped nor harmed the show in any significant way. Disappointed it’s another show that only casts shiny, young, conventionally-attractive contestants but I should be more than used to that by now.

    Reply
  10. David

    I thought it was OK- an hour is a bit too long, maybe a 45 minute slot would work better.

    Format rundown-

    -Teams start with 1:00 on clock
    -1st question is Mini Sweep- :10 plus a shot at a bonus prize (it does NOT count toward the Big Sweep total)

    -2 quizzes w/ 5 questions at :05 each (which is different)

    -1 quiz w/3 questions at :10 each (with a bit of a pointless move to the checkout areas)

    -Then the biggest change- the Express Sweep. One player from each team has a mini basket, and all three look for the same 5 items- but only one of each item has a tag on it. After 45 seconds, each tagged item a team has will be worth either :05 (4 items) or :10 (1 item)

    -then a short video about a Mystery Shopper Celebrity is shown- all three write their answers, :10 for a right answer, then 2 bonus questions on the buzzer based on the video for :05 each.

    -Finally a Round Robin; questions worth :05 each, but at least one question instead lets you steal :05 from an opponent.

    -Big Sweep is the same: inflatables £25-£100, Pick&Mix £50, Mangers Special £50,, 3 item Shopping list £100; £10 penalties for leaving items on the floor or running into a cameraman.

    -Totals are given down to the penny.

    -SuperSweep is the same; find 3 items in a minute for £3000

    -I think it was OK; probably would have been better at 45 minutes in the afternoon than an hour in primetime (probably 1 and out, or maybe it gets a 2nd run if it holds up)

    (Did anyone see the Dale tribute anywhere? I was watching on my phone and may have missed it)

    Reply
  11. Brig Bother Post author

    Mmm. I thought this was pretty good – certainly slickly made (except for one thing which I’ll get to) – as a once a week primetime show I’d watch it again, as a daily show in primetime probably not so much.

    It took me a while to get used to the supermarket’s dimensions, it feels like they’ve taken the old set and rotated it 90 degrees so it’s half the width but twice the depth. Maybe this makes it easier to get shots, don’t know. It’s a no harm no foul change really.

    The theme tune took me a while to warm to, I’m a bit cold on the sung element, but I would suggest it makes for *particularly banging* sweep music and I’d like a clean copy, thanks.

    The added elements are OK – the Express sweep is a fun diversion, the ITV celeb additions I can take or leave. I quite enjoyed the staff element with Rylan pretending it’s a real supermarket, that’s probably at a sustainable level. The Supermarket Steal element seemed to take more time to explain and resolve than the actual round itself, and then it only turned up once. I think they could do with offering a few more ten-second questions, the clocks seemed a bit anaemic for the time and effort put in.

    Afraid to say Jennie McAlpine isn’t great, she’s no Gary King and certainly no Bobby Bragg, it’s a bit of a non-commentary really. And what’s up with the sound mix? Can’t technical crew make natural sounding V/O any more? And that’s a shame because the Sweep was quite exciting, well shot and well cut together.

    It didn’t really do much wrong once I got used to the new set, but like I said if it’s not must watch it risks being a non-watch… the trend will be interesting, wouldn’t base any future decision on the basis of episode one.

    Reply
    1. David

      I’d cut the round at the checkout lanes out completely- just didn’t make a lot of sense to me to move over to them for that one round..dump the steal rule as well.

      I do like the Express Sweep- if the rule is the person who does the Big Sweep doesn’t do the Express, it gives both players a chance to run in the aisles.

      Reply
      1. Matt Clemson

        With the premise of that round being based around the fiction of the show and using receipts as props to set up the questions, I wonder if there’s rounds that go into that slot that do use the checkouts more directly.

        Reply
  12. Danny Kerner

    my views

    – 1hr is a little too long in my opinion but pleased how they managed to keep the shopping sweep limit to 3 minutes by cutting the time received from 10 to 5 secs.
    – Guess the celebs round from the vt is definitely a question of sport element borrowed with both the guess and the questions relating to that vt.
    – I like how they introduced penalties by breaking the shopping sweep rules. limiting items to 3 max, however, I would of set it at 4 as that’s most supermarket limits (ALDI is that limit as I should know). They are finally looking after the camera crew.
    – I like how they put a self-checkout into the set but then hardly use it unless there is another game that relates to it coming throughout the run.
    – The music has 90’s cheesy feel to it but is not annoying at the same time.
    – I think £3k is a bit tight compared to that reboot 1 had £5k and that ran in the teatime slot. itv2 target is about right however but if it was an ITV main channel program I bet £5k would be on the table.
    – Rylan as the host is about right. his humor matches dale plus semi campness works for this show.
    – Jenny’s voiceover was clearly a post edit scenario and was not on the set floor. I wonder why they went with her and not an upcoming comedian who could come up with witty lines.
    – I’m curious about the introduction of characters as at the moment they not been used to the best effect except for the security guard.
    – Wasn’t there a stop-go penalty for damaging goods in the past versions?

    Reply
    1. John R

      Another problem with Fiz from Corrie is she didn’t bother commentating on half the sweep and was quite dry whereas Bobby by the end of the sweep was almost as exhausted sounding as the trolley runners!

      Reply
  13. Karen

    That’s something else I liked, actively running down the Sweep rules and showing them being enforced. Like the cashiers removing an item that exceeded the 3-item limit and Rylan outright stating any penalties they’d incurred.

    Reply
    1. David B

      Ryan being chased by Ratings Bear is the stuff dreams are made of.

      I’d go along with the consensus: Rylan was good value; game was competent but overlong despite the innovations; scheduling is puzzling; voiceover for the Sweep was very poor. Maybe it had already been done once and this was their second try?

      The blonde woman (Jo?) on the first till seemed very familiar. Isn’t she a bit of a quiz show regular?

      Reply
        1. Chris B

          One of the things she’s been on is Deal or No Deal in 2007 (according to Twitter anyway)

          Reply
          1. Brett Linforth

            I’m convinced she was on !mpossible not too long ago

    2. Tom H

      My (telly producer) girlfriend summed it up pretty accurately last night: “I don’t particularly want to turn it off but I don’t particularly want to come back for more”.

      I’m not sure I could face an hour of Sweep every night – think we can be certain there’ll be a sizeable drop off over the next few evenings.

      Reply
  14. Whoknows

    I quite liked it. One thing though I thought the use of Go Pro shots on the trolleys actually killed the excitement of the Sweep a bit. Think I’d just keep it to the chaos of the cameraman chasing after them.

    Reply
  15. Brett Linforth

    Jury’s out on the new Supermarket Sweep. They’ve done a lot of things right but I’m still not convinced it needs to be a full hour. Having said that, Rylan has once again proven he’s a great game show host – plus I’m convinced Jo, one of his cashiers, was recently a contestant on !mpossible

    Reply
  16. Steve

    Going only by the couple of clips on Youtube, my reaction is that this feels like it was Set In A Television Studio. The US version that I’m used to and even a few of the older UK clips I’ve seen felt like they could’ve plausibly been set in an actual (if oddly laid out) supermarket, but a lot of shots here (often the gopro cameras in the carts, but even some handheld cameras too) were pointing up, and seeing all the studio lighting really ruined the illusion for me. It’s a weird complaint, but it just felt odd for the format that usually tried to maintain a sense of authenticity about its setting.

    Reply
    1. Des Elmes

      Both Dale versions were set in a TV studio, too – the ’90s version at Lenton Lane in Nottingham, the 2007 version at Maidstone. 😉

      Reply
      1. Alex

        That was Nottingham too?

        Which means I’m right now literally metres away from where the supermarket once stood. Amazing.

        Reply
  17. Chris F.

    I thought it was a bit adversarial. Dale was only ever pleasant and fun, but Rylan has this hostile diva thing going on that’s a bit off-putting. Then there’s explicitly penalising the mess they make during the sweep – was that part of the unwritten rules of the original or is it added, because it doesn’t improve anything. Mind you, produce thrown on the floor can’t be donated later, so that is wasteful..

    I also think they should have included self-checkouts in some way, and making characters out of the staff doesn’t really work for me. Maybe it’ll settle in though as the crew get into a rhythm.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      IIRC, dropped items in the original incurred a £25 penalty, but it also happened much less often for whatever reason.

      Reply
      1. Alex

        I certainly remember it being mentioned more during the 2007 series than the original.

        Reply
        1. Chris F.

          It’s not so much ‘go wild in the aisles’ as ‘watch yourselves between the shelves’.

          Reply
  18. Tom H

    So, as predicted, it’s happening:

    Mon – 786k
    Tues – 527k
    Weds – 381k

    Can Sweep stay above the slot average of 173k?

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Man! If overnights were still readily available, ratings bear would be chasing Rylan in a shopping trolley.

      Unfortunately they’re a bit more difficult these days. THANKS “BARB”.

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        Of course there is a slightly more important consideration, how many young viewers are watching? If it’s 381k but they’re all In The Demo, that’s pretty good.

        Reply
        1. Snoopy

          Supermarket Sweep: 16-34yo demo…

          Monday – 180k
          Tuesday – 137k
          Wednesday – 75k

          Reply
          1. Brig Bother Post author

            Well… not all in the demo then. Ta.

            For ref, for the current week up on Thinkbox, A16-34:

            The Great British Bake Off – 2.1m
            Millionaire – 565/506k (Positions 8 and 10 for the week)
            Catchphrase 450k (16th) (Just above The Handmaid’s Tale and most of Hollyoaks)
            5 Gold Rings 336k
            A League of Their Own 325k
            8/10 Countdown 315k
            Inside Aldi 280k
            Naked Attraction 266k
            Celebrity Chase 242k
            50th on the chart is The Simpsons with 209k.

            …so it’s diffficult to suggest they’ll be happy with 75k. But I’m not an expert!

          2. Brig Bother Post author

            I can’t help but think if they stuck it on ITV1 weekend shoulder-peak weekly, it’d have done quite well. But it’s almost too much production (so not especially cosy) and too little content (more rounds and less anaemic clocks needed) for a nightly prime-time show. As I said, if it’s not must watch, it’ll be non-watched.

    2. Danny Kerner

      ouch & i thought the crystal maze figures were bad. If I was ITV I would finish this week run and move the rest to itv daytime before it is called a commercial failure.

      Reply
      1. Alex

        This isn’t on ITV’s main channel, though. C4 gets a fair bit more footfall.

        Reply
        1. Brig Bother Post author

          Yes, they won’t be expecting ITV figures. The average for the slot is 178k, suggestion is 400k would be an OK place to settle. It’s the lack of demo that might end up hurting.

          Reply
          1. Danny Kerner

            see this channel average expectant confuses me. i think one channel is low then it turns out that number is okay. i give up on guessing expectant figures.

          2. TheLupineOne

            Half the demo wouldn’t have even been born the time Dale Winton hosted the first series of Supermarket Sweep, so I can forgive the lack of demo. Scheduling it on primetime ITV2, rather than as a replacement for The Chase, baffles me a little. Then again, maybe evenings on ITV2 can be the place for game shows and game show revivals? Bring back Wheel of Fortune! With Bradley Walsh! Half hour long maybe?

            Watching repeats of Des O’Connor’s Take Your Pick on Challenge just makes me think “as excited as I am for Alan Carr’s revival pilot, will this even work stretched to an hour?”

          3. Brig Bother Post author

            You can’t just ignore the demo, that’s the entire point of ITV2! To make money! From advertising to young people!

  19. Chris M. Dickson

    So I watched last night’s episode and thought it was actually pretty decent. It’s fairly obviously spread thinly, but Rylan is a very good fit for the show. The big surprise was how low the winning total from the Sweep was – lower than I remember winning totals being from the Dale days. Some of the reasons are easy to guess: there isn’t a rack of CDs any more, which used to be worth about £40 in about five seconds. I also have a suspicion that the supermarket is just bigger than Dale’s ever was, so you have to travel further from location to location. It’s really tempting to wonder whether the supermarket has exhibited years of deflation, with Tesco having an interest in demonstrating how cheap its prices are.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I just discovered what yesterday’s winning total was, they’ve been around £250 typically, with the winners getting £500+ on the first ep.

      Reply
  20. Will Stephen

    I’ve now begun to watch only the sweep part of it and a few things I’ve noticed after a binge watch.

    Shoppers always put dropped items back on the shelf rather than in their trolleys, unwritten rule?

    Pick and mix has taken most people over 30 seconds (normally 45) for £50 is terrible. Having to use scoops and sticky sweets prob doesn’t help.

    Bursting your inflatable gives you nothing apparently. Offcamera rule that was talked about when it happened in an episode.

    Maple syrup is with ice cream confectionary and not with other syrup.

    And that no one has even gotten close to the first episodes totals is perplexing is it a case of different items on the pilot to the rest of the series or just stupid people (one contestant literally spent best portion of their time going round the aisles looking for shopping list and not even thinking about putting any items in until the last few seconds…)

    Reply

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