99 to Beat
(Review's open for changes, espeically if someone hates the format and can explain why. I expect to return to this show in mid-to-late june.) |
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Revision as of 16:19, 20 April 2025
Synopsis
100 contestants take part in a series of simple challenges. The worst at each challenge is eliminated. Repeat until one remains standing.
One hundred people stand in a large and dark warehouse.
The challenges are simple to explain and easy to understand. Curl up a Slinky on your forehead. Guess the weight of a llama. Throw a recycling bin and knock over a skittle.
The elimination method is also simple to explain and easy to understand: last person to complete is out.
A marshall gives the thumbs-up of success to a contestant.
Hosts are Adam and Ryan Thomas, in the arena with the contenders to provide a live commentary (doubtless augmented with work in post-production). The contestants provide pieces to camera, saying just how happy they are that a challenge is in their wheelhouse, or confessing to their fears.
The edit for each challenge tends to focus on the players picked out beforehand. Through the episode, through the series, we get to know people's character: who is strong and silent, who might be weak at co-ordination but great at computation, who is the emotional heart of the group.
Adam and Ryan Thomas, hosts and commentators.
Because we don't need to think about the contents of the games (it's knocking a balloon off its plinth! how hard can it be!!), we can root for our favourites, and hope that the nice chap from accounts survives for another round.
Because ITV asked for 100 contestants, but the first series only gave time for 56 challenges, there were a lot of group contests and eliminations. This caused problems: by making sure we cared about the groups, the producers ensured that many of the people we knew were out. The hasty pace also meant we were still being introduced to people late in the series.
People are coming, everyone's trying.
99 to Beat is a straight translation of the Dutch show De Alleskunner (translates as "the one who can do everything"), and uses the same format. That includes the design, with contestants wearing marathon-style labels over their shirt; and the format of cheap and accessible challenges.
Filmed at Shinfield Studios, in a studio stage large enough to allow drone cameras to get some height in shots. 99 to Beat benefitted from excellent shot direction, almost every shot was framed so it was clear what we were meant to see.
Catchphrases
"Don't come last!"
Inventor
Primitives, a Belgian company who had first shown the idea as Homo Universalis, a segment in a magazine show.
