Show Discussion: 7 Envelopes

By | April 19, 2015

7envelopesMonday, 8pm,
Watch

There only appear to be two episodes of this on the schedule right now, and they’re both half hour eps on Monday night.

Seven people pick an envelope containing a mystery amount of money between 1p and £10,000 and are filmed throughout the day. During the day they will be offered the chance to trade envelopes for experiences, and at the end two players get to play the end game for £20,000.

Literally no clue if it’s going to be worthwhile or not, but the last time Watch did a game show it was Scream if You Know The Answer which punched above its weight I thought, so we’ll see.

6 thoughts on “Show Discussion: 7 Envelopes

  1. Brig Bother Post author

    Mmm. OK, Will Mellor provides semi-sarcastic voiceover in self-styled ‘guerilla gameshow’. The production team apparently go around and look for seven interesting looking people, and if the people agree they’re given an envelope with a mystery amount inside (1p, 10p, £1, £10, £100, £1000, £10000). Through the day five of them will be given the opportunity to swap their envelope for a guaranteed mystery prize in a silver box worth a couple of hundred quid (one was a mediterranean cruise for two which is likely worth a fair bit). Two of them picked at random by somebody else will get to play the final for twenty grand – one of them gets the opportunity to swap their envelope with their opponent, the other person gets the chance to swap whatever envelope they have for one of seven jackpot envelopes, six with nothing, one with twenty grand. People are filmed seperately so none of the contestants are aware of what prizes are left when they make their decisions.

    It feels like the sort of thing C4 might have done on a Sunday afternoon in the early nineties – handheld cameras, boombastic music, budget of 20p. Basically an excuse for random people to tell us about their lives followed by a decision. Will Mellor’s commentary is jolly (and Northern) enough, but it’s not a gamey-game in the slightest. It’s Take Your Pick as an outside broadcast basically.

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  2. Chris M. Dickson

    It’s not so much slight as strawweight. Seven contestants are recruited on the streets of a single town. Each one is given one of the titular seven envelopes containing powers of ten: 1p, 10p, £1, £10, £100, £1000 or £10000.

    Each of at least the first five contestants are also given a silver box containing a guaranteed “great prize”, though the degree of greatness varies – three might be worth high double digits or low triple digits of pounds, one might be worth a few hundred pounds, one might be worth high triple digits or low four triple digits (in the first show: a Mediterranean cruise for two – no clue how long or what sort of accommodation). The box has a rather higher median value but a much lower mean value.

    The contestants are followed around for an indetermine but non-trivial length of time then get the chance to choose the envelope or the box and keep the contents of whichever they choose. Er, that’s it.

    One of the last two contestants is then given the chance to swap their envelope for the Grand Finale: one of a different seven envelopes, six of which contain zero pounds and the seventh of which contains £20,000. Lower median and higher mean still.

    The Dave Lamb-style voiceover doesn’t do it for me. The contestants feel admirably raw, in keeping with the “guerilla” style of the show. I don’t really feel the need to see it again, but I’d much rather watch this than Deal or No Deal, just because it doesn’t hang around.

    That said, I haven’t actually turned the second episode off as I type this up after the first.

    Reply
    1. Greg

      Watch are letting the public pick if a show gets a commission or not. They have done a few of these so far. Last weeks #perfectformula was a show called Supersize My Job. They don’t just judge on viewing figures but the tweets a show generates.

      While very simple 7 Envelopes has been the best show so far, admittedly i have not seen them all though

      Reply
  3. Brekkie

    Is this Deal or No Deal on the cheap?

    Talking of “guerilla” shows was quite a fan of Relentless on T4 a decade or so ago which I think was one person being asked ten questions throughout the day, usually having to complete a task in order to answer them. Much better “yoof” entertainment than the Made in Chelsea crap served up nowadays.

    Reply
  4. Wrong Guess!

    It’s remarkable that they’ve managed to string this out to 30 minutes.

    Reply

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