OK, so another show debuted this week in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Beat the Crowd. It’s a Talpa production, and very much the sort of thing I could see being tried out in a lottery slot here.

You will need to use the dark arts to watch it as RTL geoblocks some of its stuff, but if you can get round it the RTL catch-up page is here and the official site is here. It stars Linda de Mol’s number two Winston Gerschtanowitz with Pointless Friend Nicolette van Dam.

It would be easiest to describe it as 1 vs 100 with estimated guess questions but that would be a bit erroneous. It basically asks if there’s anything in the wisdom of crowds. Here’s how it works:

• A crowd of 200 play against a contestant.
• They’ll all face ten estimated guess questions. Each one introduced with a film clip.
• When the question is asked the crowd get 10 seconds to give their answer. This is averaged and hidden.
• The contestant then locks in their answer, after discussing it. They can ask for extra information from Nicolette a few times over the course of the show (I’ve read three times, but I only remember seeing it happen once).
• The correct answer is revealed, as is the audience answer. Occasional ribbing of audience members who were quite far out with their guesses (probably should be more crowd interaction in truth). The percentage distance from the correct answer for both crowd and contestant is given, and when taken away from 50 is their score for the question (i.e. 21% away = 29 points). The minimum score for a question is zero.
• Both crowd and contestant are playing for €500 a point, so the maximum prize for each is €250,000.
• After ten questions it’s time for the final. The best ten of the crowd come down – if they win the ten of them will split the crowd pot between them. If the contestant wins, he gets to take home his own pot.
• One more question is asked and the ten averaged. The contestant must decide whether the actual answer is higher or lower, and money dished out accordingly.

Solid but not really exciting. It also seems a bit odd to me that there are running totals for crowd and contestant but I’m told there’s no actual penalty if the crowd beat the contestant over the first ten questions, to me this seems a bit off, off the top of my head I’d have the best of the crowd playing off against the next ten best for the crowd pot in the final (with the requirement to chat to people doing well in the audience throughout the show) but that’s just me (Edit: or even just reduce the money). The final reveal is a bit disappointing, I think they should have borrowed from The Power of Ten and had it moving up and down before coming to rest. We’ll see how it gets on.

Saturday, 6:15pm,
BBC1

Mmm.

OK, we have some history with Reflex, we saw an episode being recorded last year (where it was suggested that it would lead into The Voice, which it is, but not the series anyone was expecting) and 18 months ago Martyn wrote up the pilot, it’s fair to say quite a lot had changed from that. It’s by Objective who make The Cube.

Before watching the first broadcast, here’s where we are:

• Shane Richie is very likable as host. He will apparently be providing a Twitter commentary for the first episode.
• Radio 2’s Ken Bruce will be providing commentary in some capacity, but we’re unsure as to how much it will add.
• The visual effects, which you can’t judge at the recording, are stunning. If you can’t wait to see them, sign up for a C21 Screenings account (which I believe is open to non-industry people these days although can’t promise) and have a look at the pitch tape.
• The soundtrack is a Foster/Bolam production, whom you may recognize from such shows as The Cube and The Exit List and 5 Minutes to a Fortune. In an ideal world, they’d just get to soundtrack everything.
• I still believe the games are in the main too sleight and people will tire of them quickly – most of them come down to who can do one action the fastest. It’s going to be very pretty but I don’t think it will take long for people to realise it’s a lot of filler and not enough killer, especially at 45 minutes. It is not like they mix up fast games with lengthier games of high tension like The Cube.
• They’ve already decided that the endgame, “Moneyball” is “iconic”. The next TV person to declare something new they’ve done is “iconic” will get a slap.

Putting it between Dynamo and The Voice will give it the best possible chance but my gut says after a week or two once everyone is over the effects the figures will drop quite quickly. We’ll see, though.