Game of Clones
Contents |
Host
Adam Gillen (narrator)
Broadcast
Youngest Media for E4, 27 February to 24 March 2017 (20 episodes in 1 series)
Synopsis
Which of the similar-looking dates will be preferred?
A single person builds up a picture of their dream date - height, build, eye colour, finger length, everything.
The show then gathers eight potential dates, who all look like the described dream. These eight "clones" move in with the person who dreamed the template.
Red dress number 4, please.They look the part, but are they compatible? Over the course of a week, the dater weeds out the potentials, and may - or may not - find a fine match.
Each week followed a similar pattern. On Monday, the shock of seeing eight copies of your chosen person. Then some speed-dating, and one of the clones is dumped.
Tuesday and Wednesday have activities chosen by the picker; one clone leaves on Tuesday, two on Wednesday. The clones choose how to impress on Thursday, and one is dumped here. On Friday, the three remaining clones meet friends and family, and a winner is declared. Then we see that they didn't get on and have found other people.
Whose phone will buzz?The dumpings are a stroke of genius. Rather than name people in company, the picker sends a text message to the clone's phone. Lots of tension, and plenty of reaction shots.
The rest of the show wasn't quite up to these high standards, too often falling into predictable dating show tropes. We wonder if Game of Clones might work better as a one-hour show, cutting out the repetition in midweek.
Title music
Marc Sylvan, credited for "Music".
Trivia
Stripped across weeknights at 7.30, following a series of Coach Trip: Road to Marbs.
The title is resonant of high-fantasy drama Game of Thrones, a cult programme on another channel.
The first commission for Youngest Media, set up by David Flynn and Lucas Church from Endemol.
Web links
A sharp review from Southampton University's magazine
