I’ve already written about US TV’s The Hero which is becoming increasingly entertaining (basically since people started taking the temptations it’s become open season and it’s practically breaking out into fights every week) but it’s a double bill on the channel with a show called 72 Hours which doesn’t seem to have had much coverage so I thought I’d try and redress the balance a little.
I’ve actually written about it in a comment before, but I think it deserves front page coverage – on the face of it there’s nothing intrinsically standout about the show – the graphics aren’t brilliant, the host is Brandon Johnson who might as well be Jeff Probst Jr the mannerisms are so similar. There’s little intrinsically devious in terms of the challenges. And yet, I think it tells its stories really well and I think you’d do well to look it up, especially as this week’s episode just gone featured many surprising changes of lead and almost a fight.
The challenge is simple – Three teams of three civilians with no previous connection. A briefcase of cash is airlifted to a point about 30 miles away, all the teams have to do is find it. However, they must ALL reach the end point to win the money – if one drops out they all drop out. They have just a bottle of water each to last the entire journey, a GPS system and a radio to call in help and to signal they’ve reached a checkpoint. They can only travel between dawn and sunset. Along the way there are three supply points – basically checkpoints – and the first team there radios up and a helicopter drops off survival supplies for all three teams (minor catch-up point – this is probably my biggest issue with the show), all of which are useful but not all are worthwhile for the race situation – whatever they take they have to carry until they reach the next point. They are free to choose any route they wish – the GPS points to the next supply point (and eventually the cash) and decisions to take the straight but tough route or the longer but easier route cause lots of discussion. If the team have trouble they can call in for a relief drop (with food, water, warm clothes and the like) at the cost of an hour’s staying put. There are occasional adventure tasks (tyrolean traverses, rowing, speedboat and the like) but these do not form the focus of the show, which is roughing it. Which could be boring.
Yet it isn’t! The drama is in how teams handle the challenge – a tough endurance event through beautiful but difficult terrain with all the strategy of picking routes and the choosing of supplies and when to take relief drop hits to help them later on, but also the interpersonal drama in supporting (or not) the weak links of each team as EVERYONE has to finish to win the money. Who will surprisingly get on well as a team and who will fail miserably? Leads change frequently, and the way the game is set up (namely that those who belt it at the start tend to falter later on, whilst those who were slow to start tend to have more to give towards the end) means the result is not usually an Amazing Race style-gimme half an hour from the end. It’s all fairly Eurogame-esque!
It’s quite an unassuming show – it *feels* like quite a lo-fi production but I’ve found myself sucked in regardless. Each episode is self-contained so they go to a different part of the world every week.
You will need to use the Dark Arts to watch this from the UK, but I think it’s worth a watch certainly.
Speaking of surprising lack of deviousness, Whodunnit? starts on US TV tonight.
