The Celebrity Inner Circle
5:35pm, Saturday, BBC1
The Inner Circle
4:30pm, Weekdays, BBC1
New quiz with everybody’s favourite Eurovision jury returns officer Amanda Holden.
We’ve got a decent amount of intel on this, basically contestants are randomly allocated a secret cash amount from very small to £4,000 (£5,000 in the celebrity one). Through a number of quiz rounds and vote offs (“I’m worth £4,000!” “No I’m worth £4,000!” etc) contestants are whittled down to two, who will do another quiz to add a little bit more money to their combined totals. Then they’ll do split or steal, the BBC hoping for viral moments of people stealing £60 no doubt. Presumably the reason the celebs have civilians to partner with is because the prospect of stealing small amounts of money for charity would feel a bit rum.
I feel like I’m a little bit prejudiced towards this already – likely not quizzy enough so it annoys quiz fans, not high stakes enough so it will annoy drama fans. Except for one round where you may be able to swap your value, the level of money you could walk home with is determined entirely by what you were allocated at the very start. We might get some between question stand-up from Holden. It’s Goldenballs except everyone’s only got one data point that sticks with them throughout.
But we’ve gone into things thinking it’d be a bit rubbish and changed our minds before so who knows? What we do know is that it’s not really worth analysing the numbers for the Celebrity Inner Circle as it’s before Strictly so there’ll be 4-5 million people tuning in early that will bring its number way up (this is different to shows that are on after Strictly where there’s no such guarantee as people are quick to switch off). The weekdaily show will be telling.
Oh look! This is interesting, not just due to a new production company, and a new quiz host, but also because…
this reminds me of Shafted and Golden Balls, both of which aired on ITV1 in the 2000s. Both were great shows, even if one of them (the first one) wasn’t as long-running as the other (the second one). Both were made by Initial, a subdivision of Endemol.
The first one (Shafted) aired during November 2001, and while twenty episodes were recorded, the programme stopped after just four. It was hosted by Robert Kilroy-Silk, and was famed for his famous hand gestures.
“To share…” *open hands* “…or to shaft.” *clenched fists, then one fist moving down*
The programme was filmed at Pinewood Studios, and the music was well-made (composed by Paul Farrer and Richard Clarke).
Each episode started with six total strangers. They had to decide how much money they wanted to start with (up to £25,000). But there is a catch. The player who bid the most money was eliminated immediately. They secretly make their bids using handheld electronic calculators, and there were opaque walls either side of the contestants, so they couldn’t see each other. Then Kilroy announces the greediest contestant, and how much they bid. He then tells them, ‘You’re off the show.’ For the five survivors, they move forward to play the game.
They approach the desk in order of how much money they bid at the start, starting with the player with the lowest bid on the left, through to the player with highest remaining bid on the right. Kilroy introduces them, one by one, by their first name and surname, their job and where they are from. Then the game begins. In each round, there are as many questions as there are contestants remaining. So, round one has five contestants and five questions.
In Round one, there are five players, and five questions. Kilroy asks them half questions at a time, for example: ‘What type of dance…’ The contestants were to decide how much of their own money they wanted to bid on, based on how confident they are on it. The player who bid the most, got to answer the full question. So, this would be: “What type of dance takes its name from the German ‘to revolve’?” If they got it right, they won the amount they bid, but a wrong answer lost them such money. At the end of each round, the player with the most money is safe, and picks someone else to shaft out of the game. They have a moment to decide who, then Kilroy will ask them who they want to get rid of. The selected player has to state why they should stay in the game. Then, the leader, having heard what they had said, can either stick with their original decision and shaft that player, or change their mind, and shaft someone else. The losing player is told by Kilroy, ‘You’re off the show.’
“Round Two. Four players, four questions, until the next person is shafted out of the game.” That is exactly what Kilroy says at the start of round two. To start, all four players start with the same amount as the highest-scoring player from the round one. Here on in, however, if they don’t know the answer to a question, they can shift it to one of their rivals, in the hope that they get the stick. If they do get it wrong, they lose whatever the original player bid. And the original player is off the hook. But if they get it right, they will win the original player’s bid, and the original player loses their own. Effectively, the shiftee takes the money from them. However, they can only shift once. After four questions, the leader decides once again, who they want out of the game.
For round three, three players remain, and after three more questions, one final person will be a goner. All three players start with the same amount as the highest scorer from round two. If they still have their Shift option, this is their last chance to use it. All three players start with the same amount as the highest scorer from the previous round. The same structure for rounds one and two. And someone will be shafted out of the game.
“We started with six. Four have been eliminated, and now only two remain.” For the two remaining players, they now have a very important decision to make. “To share, or to shaft.” Both contestants join Kilroy for the show’s endgame, and one or both of them could win a life-changing cash prize, or absolutely nothing. The highest scoring player’s total, is the prize money the two remaining contestants are now playing for. They are told how this will work. Do they ‘SHARE’, or do they SHAFT’? If they both decide to SHARE, both contestants walk away with half of the prize pot (£217,000 = £108,500 each). If one player SHAFTS and the other SHARES, the shafting player wins the whole prize money, and the sharer gets nothing. However, if they both SHAFT, they both leave empty-handed. Before they make their decision, they both get to know each other in turn. Now that both players are a bit more clued up about each other, it’s time to decide. Then Kilroy will announce that their decision will only be for the viewers. Their results are shown on screen, but neither of them will know about it. Then, Kilroy tells each of the final two about what the money means to them, in turn. After this, they have the chance to change their mind about their final decision. It’s time to decide. Again. Once they have decided, their decision is locked in. Then Kilroy reminds them how much money is at stake. Then the final results are revealed. Then both contestants explain what made them stick with their original decision, or forcibly changed their mind. The most that could be won on this show was £2,500,000, but this was an artificial cap, as without it, the maximum theoretical amount was £102,400,000. Despite twenty episodes being recorded, sixteen of them didn’t make it to air. Of the four that did, each one was on every Monday at 20:30. Despite viewing figures of 7m and 6m for the first two episodes, by the 4th (where Elaine Thorpe and Ralph Short had £217,000 to play for but chose to shaft each other out of it), viewing figures were not exactly that good. That was the end of it. We’re still waiting for episodes 5-20 of Shafted to air. Either that, or somehow, we hoping that Challenge airs these episodes, including the four that made it to air.
Meanwhile, the second one (Golden Balls) made 6 series, from Monday 18th June 2007 to Friday 18th December 2009, and a total of 289 episodes were aired; each one usually aired at 5pm. It was hosted by Brummie comedian Jasper Carrott, filmed at BBC Television Centre, and the music was another job well done for Marc Sylvan.
The premise is that in a game of truth and bluff, four contestants try to convince the others that they have the big money, by either telling the truth, or bluffing it out. “But who’s got what it takes to take the lot?”
At the start of each episode, there are 100 golden balls in the Golden Bank, each one loaded with a cash amount, ranging from a pitiful £10, to an amazing £75,000. In Round One, the golden bank dispenses twelve cash balls, and four Killer balls are added into the mix, making sixteen golden balls. Each player gets four balls at random, then one by one, they reveal the front two balls, then when everyone has revealed their front balls, they get to peek at the back row balls in secret.
This is when deception starts. They tell Jasper what balls they claim to have, whilst persuading the other players about their back row balls, by inevitably ‘shouting’ at them, and this goes on for about a week or two*, and we’re now certain that we’re suddenly watching The Jeremy Kyle Show; 9:25am it is not. Eventually, all this hubbub stops, and then it’s time to pick on someone At the end of each round, the contestants pick whoever they believe is the biggest bluffer. The player with the most votes is out of the game. If there is a split vote, the players who received no votes must decide who to get rid of, and if they’re really undecided still, the golden balls will decide who. The player with the killer is eliminated. Their back row balls are revealed, starting with the losing player, followed by the others. The player who is voted off then has to ‘Bin’ their balls, and walk to a black void, where the light goes off, and that is that. For Round Two, the twelve remaining golden balls go back into the ball machine, and two more are dispensed to join them. Oh, and one more killer is added as well. The three remaining players now get five balls. The same as round one, except there are three balls in the back row instead of two in the previous round, three votes cast instead of four, and only 10 golden balls remaining at the end of this round. They go back into the ball machine, and one final killer joins them. Eleven golden balls remain. Cash and Killers. We’re down to two players, and they are now playing to build up their jackpot in ‘Bin or Win’. The 11 golden balls are arranged into three rows in a 4-3-4 fashion. At this point, Jasper will explain the maximum potential win to be had, if they picked the top five cash balls, and then he will tell them how many killers are there on the table. The player who brought through the most money at the end of the previous round goes first. They will pick a BALL TO BIN. Whichever ball they pick to bin, is out of the game for good, whether it is a big cash ball, or a Killer. They then pick a BALL TO WIN. This goes into the Golden Five, and that will make up the day’s jackpot. The order they go in is crucial. As long as it’s a cash ball to win, that’s fine. But, if they pick a Killer ball to win, it will knock a 0 off the cumulative total so far, so for example, if they had a £20,000 ball, and then a Killer, the £20,000 goes down to £2,000. Another killer, and £2,000 becomes £200, another Killer, and it’s 20. The next player picks a ball to bin, and then a ball to win. This will keep going until there is only one ball left on the table, and that gets binned. At the end of Bin or Win, Jasper will tell the contestants the jackpot value, then asks the golden question, “Can you keep it?”, as they now have to decide to Split or Steal. This is where the ultimate bluff can be pulled off. In front of two players, are two final balls, but these are not cash or killers. Instead, one of them has SPLIT written inside, and the other has STEAL. If both players pick the SPLIT ball, then they split the jackpot between them. If one of them chooses the SPLIT ball, and the other chooses the STEAL ball, whoever picks the STEAL ball, walks off with all the money, sending the player who picked the SPLIT ball, with nothing. However, if both players try to be greedy, and they pick the STEAL ball, then they both leave with nothing. Jasper will then tell the final two to check their balls, so they know which one is split, and which is STEAL. Then they have a discussion about what they are going to do with their final two balls. Once the final two have reached an agreement, Jasper will tell them to choose either the SPLIT or STEAL ball. Once they’re happy with their decision, the result is revealed, in the later series, Jasper counted from three, and then they’d reveal their decisions. Either one or both of them win some money, or they be greedy and both leave with nothing.
Each programme ends with this: “I’ve been Jasper Carrott. This has been Golden Balls. Until next time, goodbye.”
After this, there is a post-game interview about what influences they had when deciding to Split or Steal. Not borrowed from David Young. I promise!
Could this new show The Inner Circle do just as well as Golden Balls, or is it going to do just as badly as Shafted had been all those years before? Only time will tell.
*well, it’s two minutes, but you’re close… to being a million miles off!
This show is appalling and the dim witted compared does not help, she is definitely not everyone’s favourite, can the BBC not find compares with brains and personality, there are quite a few around. The whole thing is a complete shambles and a very poor take on the 2 previous shows. Surely the money programme designers get paid they can come with something better than a copy of 2 failed game shows/quizzes. I hope this programme gets shafted quickly before viewers brains die. It’s just so dull with questions a five year old could answer. Compare and contestants both brainless and dull. Please get rid of it quickly. Linda
“But we’ve gone into things thinking it’d be a bit rubbish and changed our minds before so who knows?”
Have we?
It has happened!
Funnily enough one of those shows was Pressure Pad.
Will only watch this because of how bad the reviews from the recordings were. The trailers suggest those reviews were correct.
Well that’s this year’s Hall of Shame top spot locked in. Absolutely dreadful
If you thought Shafted was bad enough…
Perhaps two Worst New Shows 2025???????????????????????????????
It happened in 2024, will the impossible happen again this time?
Really disappointing. Not good, but not the full-on guilty pleasure trainwreck I was hoping for either. Fairly dull mechanics cobbled together from other shows without half the style and flair a show from 2008 would have dressed them in. Everything’s been done in the least interesting way possible, from the music to the graphics and the reveals. Hard to even care about it enough to remember it for HoS, to be honest
Now compare that to Shafted and Golden Balls – then you can see how bad all three are.
MWAHAHAHA!!!
Not again!
The producers – so unwise – decided to reenact the final of Shafted.
To repeat the final of Golden Balls.
To replicate the climax to The Bank Job.
To duplicate the inevitable ending to Love Island.
To be really undecided about the conclusion to The Traitors.
To wonder whether the final of The Inner Circle should have been acceptable to materialise. Or not.
Different endgame suggestion: Instead of the share/shaft decision, how about split the combined cash total into ten boxes, 60 seconds of questions, answer correctly, then choose to open he box or quit. That makes for better telly than the – Ahem, the Robert Kilroy-Silk dilemma, I’m sure of that!
It was even worse than I expected. Presumably the daytime version is solo players – there seems absolutely nothing in the format here that justifies the celebrity partners.
Then again there seems to be absolutely nothing in the format full stop.
This was disappointing because all the pre-show intel was pointing to an absolute car crash but in the end it was just a bit 4/10. Holden, surprisingly bearable except for “WHAT IS THE SWEET SPOT?”. All the rounds have changed from a buzzer sprint to something a bit more Pressure Pad and by and large they worked out alright, even if it felt like they went on a bit longer than my interest was held for.
But the bones of the show are still unlikely to hold people’s attention – they need to be playing for 10 times those stakes really, and I thought leading with an episode where the big money leaves in Round One a bit of a choice. I noticed everyone thinking it was confusing – well everyone found Goldenballs confusing and that was quite successful and this is much simpler, but that also had large amounts of money that wasn’t usually removed from the game until towards the end and Jasper Carrot making light of the situation. Half the show is people arguing over amounts of money nobody is going to deliberately tune in for. At the very least they’ve not tried to go dark and doomy with it and given it a tone more in keeping with the sort of cash on offer.
The celebrities added very little, talking playing pieces mainly. I don’t think anyone’s going to tune in especially to see them do that.
OK, so I didn’t like this – but I wasn’t ever going to like it based on the concept.
It’s a social deduction game with round-by-round voting that has seemingly every possible reality show voting twist crammed into an 45 minute long gameshow. It all feels very 2000s.
Throwing so many voting and game show concepts against the wall, while not being difficult to follow, didn’t add much or make the show more fun either. Ultimately, it ends up feeling like an overly-elaborate Weakest Link but without the pantomime villain bit people liked.
This is another commission clearly inspired by The Traitors – this one apparently concluding the British public are now open to meaner, cutthroat concepts which have historically struggled (even something like Survivor, a massive international hit format, hasn’t worked over here). I think this is the wrong lesson and, even if it was, I don’t think this is the right format for it.
I personally dislike shows premised around, essentially, manipulation and lying, perhaps epitomised by split or steal. Is there much evidence the wider public like that either – doubly so from their daytime or Saturday evening light entertainment shows? Sure, it might create the occasional viral moments but you’re not exactly going to feel good watching it no matter how bright and breezy they make the production.
Even if you do like the idea of it, I don’t think social deduction games work in such a short format as you need to get to know the contestants to get invested. Combine that with such relatively low stakes and you can’t wring much interesting drama out of the format. I could imagine a daytime strip with daily eliminations and a half-decent weekly prize being a hit at some point.
Beyond the format, production-wise, it’s fine for what it is. For the first 5 minutes, it felt a bit like a parody of a gameshow for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, and there was something a bit 2000s about it, but it settled down. It moved at a decent pace and they successfully conveyed the endless rules. Amanda Holden was fine as host. I can imagine an unwatchable trainwreck version of this and this is not it, it’s just not for me.
Final thought: Did a studio spend a fortune on a round giant floor screen a decade ago that will now pop up in a new show every other year until the end of time or are they alldifferent ones? Not that I dislike it. I also always like seeing Lauren Layfield pop up in stuff and wouldn’t mind seeing her as a host at some point.
Sadly, I think the state of the industry in the last couple of years has increasingly forced companies desperate for commissions into chasing trends or even particular genres. It’s notable that TernTV (those behind The Inner Circle) had never made a gameshow before. It’s the worst of both worlds in that they will know the shows that have worked but don’t have the chops to know about the dozens of shows with similar elements that have failed and why that was the case.
Just to address this. It’s not completely on the production company (which looking at the credits had some solid names in the genre working on it) but also the commissioners themselves. This show was the one that won out in the BBC’s quiz tender that went out to every production company to pitch ideas in – previous winners have been The Tournament and Bridge of Lies. Considering the rumours of how the run-through and pilot went, I’m surprised the commissioners went with this. Were I part of one of the other companies that entered a format, I’d either feel angry that this was the one that won out considering how much money you have to spend in developing these ideas, or deflated to think their formats could have been worse than this. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the winning show came from a Scottish company though…
Absolutely, the BBC have to take some of the blame. I knew about the tender. The Chosen Ten was a similar show greenlit, which asks further questions of what commissioners are doing.
I first knew about The Inner Circle over two years ago. Even then with a few things changed it was at best OK. Yeah, there are more respected names attached now but they can only do so much.
It’s not new for hit formats to lead to knockoffs that are often terrible and miss the point – look at all the shows inspired by Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, Popstars, Big Brother etc.
I think the lesson to be taken from Race Across the World/Traitors, if any, is there might be an appetite for more original reality competition shows (I.e. shows along the lines of The Apprentice) rather than anything else.
The funny thing is that the bin or win round on golden balls was statistically so brutal that this probably has a higher average pot – but the fact that GB could throw around 5-6 figures as a _possibility_ made it more compelling.
Not awful, but it can’t really shake off the “this is the show they would create on W1A” issue. For all it was supposed to be Golden Balls, it felt like Weakest Link (and maybe should have leaned into that, with more money to pick up along the way), which does at least tonally work in early Saturday primetime, so well done for that I guess.
I’m so sad that split or steal (legally distinct) is still with us.
Having added £1k on the first round it felt odd that no prize money was up for grabs for winning future rounds other than the few hundred quid in the cash builder, where Amanda really needed to pick up the pace.
I guess the highest theoretical pot is about £9k with £5k and £2k carried through from the start along with one of those teams winning the £1k bonus, and then at best answering 10 questions in a minute to add another £1k.
– Golden Balls did it better
– Jasper Carrott was far funnier
– Amanda Holden is simply a terrible host
Also agreed, it’s not a car crash, but it’s just not anything worth caring about.
Now that the first episode has aired, what is the complete format rundown?
6 players, each with a celebrity partner, are given a secret stash of money of the following amounts: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000, £500, £100 and £0. Only 2 players will make it to the final round. I guess that each episode will have different rounds, so I’ll just go off the rounds that were featured on Saturday’s episode
Round 1 was Moving In Circles and came with the power to add an extra £1,000 to the winning pair’s secret stash. The large circular floor in the middle of the studio is divided up into 3 sections, each with an answer. Standing on a correct answer scores 1 point, but if the correct answer is stood on by only 1 person, it’s worth 3 points. After 2 questions, the number of answers goes up to 4. The 6 teams then vote on which pair to remove from the game, the winning team of the round receiving immunity and getting the casting vote in the event of a tie.
Round 2 was Vicious Circle and came with the power to peek at another pair’s secret stash. Questions are asked on the buzzer. Getting 2 questions correct allows the celeb to enter the red Vicious Circle in the middle of the floor. Anyone inside the Vicious Circle and getting another question correct can then take another pair out of the round until one is left. Another vote then happens.
Round 3 was Sweet Spot and came with the power to swap stashes with another pair. 2 clues appear on the circular floor of the set [e.g. ‘Small rodent’ and ‘Device for moving a cursor around a screen’], the answer being what fits both clues [The answer to the example being ‘Mouse’] and each correct answer worth 1 point. Another vote then happens.
Round 4 was Circle of Light and came with the power to control who joins the winning pair in the Final. A silhouette of a famous person appears on the circular floor of the set with 4 options. Each of the 3 pairs locks in their answers, correct answers scoring 1 point. The final vote then happens.
In the final round, the 2 remaining players play the Cashbuilder (I think Brad might want to have a word about the name…). Starting with the winning player of the previous round, there are 60 seconds of quick-fire questions, each correct answer adding £100 to the prize pot made up of both players’ stashes. A correct answer hands control to the other player for the next question, a wrong answer keeps control on you until you get one correct.
Now comes the dreaded bit…’Split or Shaft?’ We know how this works:
Both pick Split – Each gets half the prize pot
One picks Split, one picks Shaft – The Shafter gets the entire pot
Both pick Shaft – Nobody gets anything
Good clear write up – it’s not Quizzlestick but does add a new element at every possible point so it’s not exactly a short one!
A few extra details which may or may not be obvious from the write-up:
* Viewers see the player’s values during the discussions and votes through an on-screen graphic (both the value and vote graphics are really helpful in making it clear what’s happening)
* There’s an open player discussion before every vote (par for the course for this sort of show but unlike, say, The Weakest Link)
* The players get immunity after every round they win along with the power (if applicable)
The first Civilian episode, aired today, had the same powers in the same order, but saw Sweet Spot played for the Peek instead of Swap, and featured two different rounds to the first Celebrity episode:
– Connected Circles. This game sees the players randomly assigned to pairs, and are asked a general knowledge question that has two correct answers out of a choice of six. The players have 15 seconds to find both answers, standing on one each (they can’t stand on the same answer). If they find both answers between them, both players score 3 points. If only one player has a correct answer, that player scores one point. Six questions in the round, so each player gets to play twice. This was played for the Swap.
– Circle Circuit. The floor is now a circular board consisting of 12 spaces. Each player in turn is asked true or false questions, with right answers gaining control of a standard six-sided die. The aim is to be the first player to complete a lap of the board. This was played for Control.
It remains to be seen if this means there is a rotation of different games to be played each episode, and whether the order of those games will vary each day. However, it was also revealed the Civilian episodes follow a repêchage format, with eliminated players returning the next day, so it seems very likely.
Just to clarify in case it were needed, the players remain behind the podiums for the Circle Circuit round, and are represented by virtual counters moving and leaving a coloured trail of the player’s assigned colour on the floor. The die is also a virtual die, which appears and rolls in the middle of the screen, like in The Loop.
The stash amounts were also slightly different today compared to Saturday. They are £4,000, £1,000, £500, £100, £50 and £0
Was it solo contestants?
It was.
I would hope the virtual die is “calibrated”, oh let’s just say fixed, so that a player always needs three correct answers. If not, it implies the potential to fix the game in a less savoury way.
Yes.
Small correction for Connected Circles: Both players get one point if only one answer is correct.
First ep for this overnighted just the wrong side of 2m – 1.96m I thought people tuning in early for Strictly would bump it more than that, but appaarently not!
I’m Amanda Holden
and
that
was
RUBBISH!
The Inner Circle – Oh, it’ll never take off!
Which show would you have liked instead?
A | Shafted (2001)
B | Golden Balls (2007-09)
C | Both
D | The Hit List, if nothing else
I wasn’t gone on The Hit List at first, but have come to quite like it and have given it a Golden Five vote at least once. (I can’t recall *each and every one* of my non-Countdown G5 votes, can I?)
Rochelle and Marvin are impossible to dislike, too.
Will the Poll of 2025 still go ahead, BTW, even if UKGS isn’t back up and running come January?
Yes probably.
It would be cool if You Bet joint worst show last year was best show of 2025!
The best description I can think of for this is “unfun”. Agree with much that has been said about it, not a car crash but certainly not watchable. Will certainly be one of those shows you completely forget about and have to properly remind yourself of the format when you hear the title in eight years time.
Reminded me a bit of Lightning in terms of quiz show cluelessness, another show made by a company with no quiz experience (though they were paired with RDF).
Only just got round to catching up to see what it’s all about was watching You Bet last night, Glad I chose You Bet over this Amanda’s laugh is so annoying and she feels awkward in this role, I like her in BGT she doesn’t suit this sorry. At the start the fact they introduced some contestants but not others felt like they were pushed for time. The first round there was not enough time to answer the questions. why 7 seconds not 10 seconds so random barely anytime to think and move into the correct section. None of the rounds seemed that good fairly rubbish ideas.
The stakes are extremely low if they increased someones stash £10,000 that would have been more interesting . I understand it’s generally aimed in daytime and Is not meant to have the highest jackpot but the fact they’ve put this before strictly it’s quite boring and dull tv.
I don’t get why they’ve gone straight out and given this a celeb series before we’ve even given verdict on the daytime version should have given it at least one series before jumping into prime-time waste of the BBC’s budget.
I like the hint of Golden Balls but would rather a reboot of that compared to this
Comparing this to Bridge Of Lies, The Answer Run and The Finish line which are all very strong, clever concepts with quality hosts, Overall The Inner Circle is an absolute flop on my hall of shame although the viewing figures were okay yesterday it will go rapidly downhill.
Btw what’s the sweet spot!! ? (There isn’t one)
The music on The Inner Circle, I somehow sound familiar.
It goes: dun-du-dun-du-dun-dun-dun-dun – that is exactly the same music as that used to play skill-ball machine Bongo Burn-Out – you know, the bingo machine you play at the seaside arcades. The music on these are in the same key, tempo and rhythm throughout the game, but the theme to The Inner Circle was the same as the bingo machine, but had a slightly faster tempo and played in different keys – gets grating after about ten seconds. I know the difference between the two as I played the skill ball machine and watched an episode. What do they have in common? It is… They’re both the same. Except they’re not.
The rhythm is: | dun – – dun | | – – dun – | | – dun – – | | dun – dun – 😐
: means repeat from start.
I’m sorry, I mean | dun – – dun | | – – dun – | | – dun – – | | dun – dun – : |
This is what happens when 45 or more indies across the UK pitch their best ideas, do countless meetings, host, film and edit run throughs (all at their own cost). The BBC gives the commission to a company with zero quiz experience and based outside of England, ticking all the right boxes… apart from the best idea winning.
This is a total failure of the part of the BBC daytime commissioners involved.
To be fair to Tern, other companies probably didn’t come up with a show with multiple elements from The Traitors or as interesting (although still poorly executed) visual ways of presenting the game as The Inner Circle. Not having made a quiz show before was maybe also a plus in that it wasn’t pitched by hardened quiz experts, which stood out to the BBC. Without seeing the other bids it’s hard to tell apart from geography why they didn’t get commissioned instead.
Being told Inner Circle did just shy of 850k yesterday. The slot typically does 1m +/-100k so not a great start but one number is not a trend!
A SURGE to 880k yesterday I’m told.
And now a drop to 740k.
That is certainly not the sweet spot
Watching the second episode of the celeb version and whilst they want the tension and drama of Celeb Traitors, it doesn’t have any of it.
It’s just all so inconsequential. There are just not enough connections between the participants and between the contestants and viewers for anyone to care who might be telling the truth 10 minutes in. It just all feels a bit inconsequential.
I see Richard Osman was not kind about the show on this week’s TRIE podcast. Has the ratings dropped for it at all?
I’ve not seen been furnished with any since last week (although 1.75m for Saturday I understand), last week’s daily numbers were… underwhelming.
Just out of interest, it appears there was a mid-series change to the Moving In Circles round — the time limit was increased to 10 seconds per question. This change originated from an episode which featured a player in a wheelchair, but was subsequently retained in later episodes. I suspect the producers realized the players weren’t really moving at the kind of speed they desired, often having to rush to the answers last-second, and thus adjusted the round accordingly.
As an additional note, since this change was made, the on-floor countdown now appears to only show up in the final 5 seconds, instead of counting down the full time as before, despite the fact the necessary graphics clearly exist (as Circle Circuit uses a full 15-second timer which IS visible throughout). Perhaps this was another subtle nudge by the producers to encourage players to pick up the pace a little?
Sorry, Connected Circles, not Circle Circuit.
The people at Tern (who should really need to stick to documentaries and factual) need to come up with a format that would dominate the ratings because this is just Golden Balls with added questions and Amanda Holden who doesn’t make the show any better because if it was a reboot of Golden Balls which was against this show, Golden Balls would’ve hammered The Inner Circle as I think this could basically be 24-hour quiz of the 2020s, what I mean by that is this show is basically two big formats (in this case: The Weakest Link and Golden Balls) combined to make a flop and that you shouldn’t take two big formats to make one flop. For all I know. could’ve been made by Banijay UK who made both Shafted, Golden Balls and The Bank Job, all of which have given away big money and all of which were good in terms of format and the brains behind it were talented but I wouldn’t say the same for The Inner Circle.