007: Road To A Million - General Discussion

[KeithJ]

9 pairs of everyday people scramble over rugged terrain, attempt stomach-churning challenges and answer questions for a chance to win up to £1 million each. Meanwhile, Brian Cox calls the shots as The Controller. Will they rise to the challenge, or fold like a pack of cards in this true test of intelligence, endurance and heroism.

Looks interesting.  I'll probably give it a shot.

[anniebird]

I just started Episode 2 - when Bryan Cox writes down "Banked" next to their name, I assume that means they get to keep what they've won so far regardless of what happens next but I can't find it in the rules. 

[anniebird]

Am I the only one watching this?  My granddaughter and I loved it! Great challenges, really fun smart people and the James Bond theme - what's not to love?

 

[jabRI]

I liked it too, but I wonder if you had to get to a certain point before you got the money? I thought I heard one pair say at least they had 100G.  Would have liked to have seen a follow up, what they did after.  I liked all the teams.  

[JoannKBC]

I am really liking this show and surprised that I can't find anyone discussing it. 

Things I love about it:

• The teams aren't competing against each other, only against the task and the clock. Because of this, teams can do different tasks. We don't have to watch multiple teams do the same task over and over (a la Amazing Race) and we get to see a wide variety of locations and tasks.
• The locations are amazing, and gorgeously shot. The tasks are very cool and legitimately difficult and dramatic.
• The teams and their backstories are well chosen. They all seem very game and you don't get the usual American reality show cast of wannabe influencers.

Things I don't love:

• Earning the money/moving forward depends on answering a trivia question. This works well when it's something they can answer by using clues around them (measuring the snake, weighing the tarantula, finding the answer in a newspaper in the room they're in, etc.) but it's terrible and boring when it's a random trivia question that depends on them just guessing a history fact. 

Questions I would love answered:

• I love that the clues can be vague and difficult, but how do they keep the participants from going completely off the rails, going to the wrong location? Did some of the participants genuinely get lost, hike for hours and hours up the wrong mountain, or down the wrong trail in the rainforest, etc. and they just didn't show it in the final edit? Or are they getting subtle clues that they're on the right track?
• If they attempt to do something incredibly dangerous that is not actually the correct task, will the cameraperson stop them? I'm thinking of the gondola task, where it told them to get into the gondola. If, instead of searching for the way to bring the gondola up to the top, they decided to try to climb down the wire and get into the gondola midair, would someone have stepped in and said, "Woah, woah, don't be crazy; that's not actually what we're asking you to do."
• In several instances, they are breaking into a private location that appears unmarked. Did any teams ever accidentally break into the wrong house, break down the wrong door, or steal the wrong car? Would someone step in and stop them from breaking the law or causing property damage to something that's not actually part of the task?

[NaughtyKitty]

I agree with all of the above.  What a fun ride.  The camera work was amazing.  I kept looking for evidence of cameras and camera operators but never saw anything.  How did they do it?  And how did they find such amazing locations?  The trains inside the mountains....  whoa!  I disliked that some of the questions had to be a complete guess and I kind of wish each team had the same questions to make it more fair.  Please post of you happen to find a behind the scenes article.  

[KeithJ]

Finished this today and I really enjoyed it.  The cinematography was fantastic and I loved the Bond music.  If I do have one gripe though it's the questions.  They need more of the "how much does this spider weigh" and "how long is this snake" than the random trivia questions.  I was really impressed with the final three teams and, I know it's lot of money but the last question for the nurses with five answers?  That's really starting to push it.  I did love the end when each team got a duffel full of cash.