S01.E07: The Final Escape

[MarkHB]

With the Hunters hot on their trails, the remaining fugitive teams plan their final escape to win the $250,000 grand prize.

[Maggie Mae]

Ok. I'm out for any future seasons. I'm glad two teams won but this show is so lame.

[Michichick]

I'm glad those two teams won, because that was some bullshit at the end with the hunters getting notified of their location when they took the prize money. What a load of crap. I guess it made for a more interesting ending, but it's so skewed to the hunters that it was ridiculous. Also I call bullshit on the hunters being told they're escaping by plane within 100 miles.

[Maggie Mae]

Not only that but that one hunter guy's 'lucky guess' about the seaplane. 

[SayMyName]

Not a fan of the hunter bailout at the end. Locations given and a long run to give them a chance to catch up? And the hunter magically guessing it was going to be a seaplane escape? Not buying it.

[Michichick]

Just now, Maggie Mae said:

Not only that but that one hunter guy's 'lucky guess' about the seaplane. 

Yeah, that was some amazing detective work. I rolled my eyes so hard.

[basiltherat]

WORSE. EPISODE. EVER

Hell, probably worse show ever.  I feel so dirty for watching it.  Somebody, please hug me!

[SayMyName]

And the running down the street with 250k in cash in clear bags.

[NYGirl]

I'm still in shock.  I can't believe they got away.  First of all I expected the 2 guys to win since the beginning.  They at least had a storyline going.  English and Steve came onto the show late and I'm shocked they won.  However, that funeral home diversion was a thing of beauty!  I hated that their friend Meredith spilled the beans on them too.

I, too, am annoyed that it was still skewed toward the hunters..especially at the end.  Making them walk?  That's ridiculous.

The lucky guess?  It was no surprise to me as the hunters had lucky guesses every single week and they were always right.  

I'm just angry the middle eastern guys didn't make it.

[wilnil]

Before the series started, I was assuming each fugitive team was going to be pursued by a bounty-hunter type. That would have made for a much better show than having them chased by the kind of team and resources that you'd use to catch somebody like the Tsarnaev brothers.

[TheRabbi]

I want to swear so bad. Rarely have I felt so cheated as a viewer. This is the worst show I've watched in ages, and the fakest 'reality' show I've ever seen. I'm yelling and shaking my head in every damn scene.

Besides that though, one thing that needs to be addressed is the editing. Terrible. For a winning team, English and Steve got the absolute shittiest edit ever (see, couldn't resist swearing). I think we may have seen maybe 3 of their 28 days? Maybe it was just them soliciting strangers every single day which got redundant (though obviously the best strategy), but they really needed to be more visible.

I will not be watching season 2 of this travesty, though I may pop in here to read the comments to see if the show has learned anything from this mess. 

I understand the show wants to have a dramatic finish, as opposed to the teams isolated just waiting out the clock, but this was not the way to do it. Just way too scripted. And that one guy's amazing guess about the sea planes required some serious hand-waving. 

The one thing I liked was the classic southern hospitality of the team that fed English and Steve and agreed to fake out the hunters. Great stuff. 

Goodbye Hunted. If you get renewed and Amazing Race gets canceled, I will riot.

[Wings]

Terrible.  This will never see a season 2 but someone else may take the idea and make a better one.  

[nottopbravo]

"May we stay in your house tonight?"  "Okay, but does the cameraman have to stay too?"

[Bryce Lynch]

The rules for the final stage were ridiculous and gave a huge advantage to the hunters. The sea plane "hunch" was also total bs, but not quite as bad as the fake engine trouble scare (we were totally fooled, you clever producers!).

Basically, the show was saying, "Our hunters are so lame they couldn't catch a venereal disease in a Tijuana brothel, so we are helping them cheat."

Despite this, the 2 teams that made it that far both escaped with the cash.

Horrible season finale.  Hopefully it is the series finale.  It is a shame because the show had potential.

[BurgersPop]

I am in agreement that I won't be watching another season of this 'show'.  I agree 100% with the earlier posts about "Oh, it might be a seaplane" business.  And then the seaplane wouldn't start.  Come on.  But I was happy that at least two teams won.
On a side note, if you're looking for a 'better' reality show, the "Stranded with a million dollars" show on MTV is actually pretty good (IMHO).  There's only been two episodes, so you still have time to catch up. 

[Bryce Lynch]

25 minutes ago, basiltherat said:

WORSE. EPISODE. EVER

Hell, probably worse show ever.  I feel so dirty for watching it.  Somebody, please hug me!

Not until you take a shower. :)

[Thumper82003]

I'm surprised that there were 2 "winners" as well. This was so skewed to give the "hunters" the advantage. Between the limited funds allowed, the unfair phone taps and interrogations of everyone, including children, I don't see how there could be one winner, but two.

I agree that this type of chase would be only for a mass murderer or extreme terrorist. Even though the mass media (social media, local newspaper) wanted ads said that it was for a tv show, some people don't read everything. I could see some Barney Fife type doing damage to the teams accidentally. Same with the teams'  reputation in the future. I think that in the future, fewer advantages should be given to the hunters. NO interrogation of children. More money available to the teams. Any ads have to have "This is a TV Show" in as big letters as the pictures. And so on.

I suspected that the Chapel Hill couple won this past week. The UNC student newspaper, The Daily Tarheel, had an article about English & her husband. (She works at UNC.) No mention of winning but the writer included the fact that there was a new car in the drive, lol.

IF there is a second season I would watch IF they leveled the playing field just a little bit. Maybe a day lead instead of an hour. More money. Same criteria that a judge would need to grant a wiretap, not just because the hunters say so. And so on.

[Lakebum]

"I've got an idea. I know it sounds crazy, but it just might work!" is a historic gold standard in the field of Remarkably Bad Writing. And yet, it was the modus operandi of the hunters, and not just tonight... though "I'm thinking they take a sea plane out of Blue Ridge" might have set a new low. Scooby Doo had more believable detective work, every Saturday.

I'm embarrassed that I watched this show (even though I came in late.) I'm more embarrassed that some producers green-lighted it, and that some screenwriters got paid for their inability to make this show come across as remotely "real."

[Tabasco Cat]

44 minutes ago, SayMyName said:

And the running down the street with 250k in cash in clear bags.

LOL What I needed to see there was when Lee and Hilmar paused to catch their breath, a big ol' dirty pickup truck pulls up beside them and a bunch of rednecks jump out with guns: "You never seen that movie Deliverance, has you?" Then they take the bags of cash.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Tabasco Cat

[Eolivet]

38 minutes ago, TheRabbi said:

For a winning team, English and Steve got the absolute shittiest edit ever (see, couldn't resist swearing). I think we may have seen maybe 3 of their 28 days? Maybe it was just them soliciting strangers every single day which got redundant (though obviously the best strategy), but they really needed to be more visible.

This, this, this! I've watched all seven episodes of this show and I still can't explain why some of the fugitives were good and some weren't other than "They were just lucky." Seriously, what either of these teams so good? What mistakes did they not make? What skills should other fugitives preparing to do this show emulate in order to make it far?

Go away, Hunted. Your time on the air is over (Survivor is back!)

[Tabasco Cat]

43 minutes ago, NYGirl said:

I'm still in shock.  I can't believe they got away.  First of all I expected the 2 guys to win since the beginning.  They at least had a storyline going.  English and Steve came onto the show late and I'm shocked they won.  However, that funeral home diversion was a thing of beauty!  I hated that their friend Meredith spilled the beans on them too.

For $500 I'd turn in Anne Frank. But seriously, if any of the teams got run down in a foot race to the plane at the very end I think the audience reaction would have been horrific.

[teo47]

What a ridiculous faux-dramatic finale episode (hey guys, what about these two locations I randomly picked out of this 30,000+ square mile circle that turn out to be the exact two airports the teams are heading towards!)  No doubt in my mind that the entire final bank/run/plane scenes were filmed after the fact - there's no way they'd have had people actually running down the road for several miles carrying clear plastic bags full of cash unless it were a controlled filming environment (see the police car in the bank parking lot one of the teams went to and flashing police car lights in the background of one of the running scenes).   I wouldn't be surprised if the teams never really had to do the airplane thing, but the producers added it in after the fact to create extra drama compared to having to show the teams winning while hiding out in someone's house with the hunters nowhere nearby.

I'll probably watch a Season 2 in the unlikely event there is one, because I really like the concept of the show.  But if it doesn't improve with a clearer statement of the rules the teams and hunters are required to play the game by, I won't stick around for the whole thing.

[Tabasco Cat]

It would have been awesome if the 2 planes at the end were being piloted by Phil Koegan and Jeff Probst.

[Lakebum]

I woul

16 minutes ago, Tabasco Cat said:

It would have been awesome if the 2 planes at the end were being piloted by Phil Koegan and Jeff Probst.

I would hope Phil would stay far away from this show; it might be contagious.

[Maggie Mae]

I miss Phil.

[SayMyName]

I really would like to see a list of all the rules. They were using a stingray type cell interception operation multiple times to intercept live conversations with people helping the hunted. That would require a warrant or in this case permission. Who in their right mind would sign off on these hunters intercepting all of your phone calls/digital communications to help someone you may not even know that well win money?

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, teo47 said:

What a ridiculous faux-dramatic finale episode (hey guys, what about these two locations I randomly picked out of this 30,000+ square mile circle that turn out to be the exact two airports the teams are heading towards!)

The thing is, a lot of the chase could be random.  They didn't know where the teams were going for the 28 days.  But they can't have had safe deposit boxes with $250K set up in every bank in 3 states.  And then they have to run to an airport? What a bunch of BS.  I turned it off before they finished.

[teo47]

25 minutes ago, SayMyName said:

Who in their right mind would sign off on these hunters intercepting all of your phone calls/digital communications to help someone you may not even know that well win money?

People who want to get their 15 minutes of fame on a TV show!

[SayMyName]

I guess that's why I won't be appearing on tv anytime soon.

[UncleChuck]

2 hours ago, Thumper82003 said:

I suspected that the Chapel Hill couple won this past week. The UNC student newspaper, The Daily Tarheel, had an article about English & her husband. (She works at UNC.) No mention of winning but the writer included the fact that there was a new car in the drive, lol.

That may be a coincidence about the new car.  It is pretty standard for these competition shows (and quiz shows as well) that NO prize money is awarded until the episode actually airs.  There have been a few instances where someone has "won" the big prize but the show itself was cancelled and never aired.  Filming doesn't count.  The show doesn't exist until broadcast.

[GaT]

This show sucks.

The hunters were paying people $500.00 for information. Wow. The runners had hardly any money, but the hunters were apparently just paying large sums of money for info.

48 hours before the end, the runners are required to log in so the hunters know where they are. WTH?

As has already been mentioned, what total crap that the apparently physic hunter just happened to think about a seaplane. They really think we're morons, don't they?

[Nashville]

I was glad the EscapeBros won.  English and Stephen, though...?  Nothing against them at all - but the only team I felt LESS invested in was the DimWigs.  Maybe. 

Virtually no illustration of the English Beatniks' "winning strategy".  As @TheRabbi pointed out, their edit simply leapfrogged from somewhere around Day 3 straight to Day 26 - do not pass Go, do not collect $250K.  Did they spend the entire time relying on the kindness of strangers?  Or is it simply an artifact of just how good they were that even Production doesn't know how they hid so well?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

4 hours ago, Tabasco Cat said:

LOL What I needed to see there was when Lee and Hilmar paused to catch their breath, a big ol' dirty pickup truck pulls up beside them and a bunch of rednecks jump out with guns: "You never seen that movie Deliverance, has you?" Then they take the bags of cash.

Hey now - leave my uncles out of this.

[waving feather]

I loved how one of the kind strangers who helped English and Steven replied to the hunter's interrogation. Just a simple "I can't divulge that". All future helpers need to learn how to do that. It is not lying either.

[BengalKitty]

This had such potential.  I wish there would have been a "Day X" every time so we knew how well teams were doing.  There should have been an explanation of the "rules." The whole log-in-to-get-money-location came out of left field.

I was also hoping for a brief update after each couple was caught where the Hunters explained where the fugitives messed up.  I really wanted to see David's reaction to being told about the calendar.

[Wings]

5 hours ago, Nashville said:

 

I was glad the EscapeBros won.  English and Stephen, though...?  Nothing against them at all - but the only team I felt LESS invested in was the DimWigs.  Maybe. 

 

I agree.  I would like to have seen more of them.  Clearly, their plan worked well why not show more?  They may have cracked the code of the best way to avoid capture.  The small bit we saw of the women who helped them with the funeral parlor fake out was one of the more interesting snippets in the entire series. 

[teo47]

3 minutes ago, wings707 said:

I agree.  I would like to have seen more of them.  Clearly, their plan worked well why not show more?  They may have cracked the code of the best way to avoid capture.  The small bit we saw of the women who helped them with the funeral parlor fake out was one of the more interesting snippets in the entire series. 

Yeah, I just assumed all along that they were going to be captured since they were introduced so late and were barely shown until all of a sudden they were on Day 26.  Weird choice by the show's producers and editors, or maybe they were just trying to throw the viewer off somehow by showing David & Emiley so much and relegating a winning team to the background.

[MarkHB]

I did think English and Stephen's "we're pretty sure the burner phone has been made" ruse was nicely done.  The really important thing was that the sister didn't know it was a fake-out, so the hunters had no way to know, either. 

But yes, the engineered ending was lame.  I can see that it's to give a dramatic final chase scene (like TAR making it look like two teams are very close at the end), but it's still too obvious.  So far as the "money" goes, I'm guessing it was fake; there are Treasury / IRS reporting requirements when large amounts of cash are involved and you do NOT want to give the feds an opportunity to invoke civil forfeiture.

I'm glad that two teams won, I wish the Muslims had as well (lesson for the future: when riding with someone connected to your circle of trust, ASK THEM TO TURN OFF THEIR PHONE, OR LEAVE IT HOME).  But does anyone remember which of those two teams was the one that was using Tor to connect to Gmail, etc. at the start of the run?

Also: I also wonder what would have happened if a team wasn't near Atlanta.  For instance, the Florida couple that spent their time lurking in the swamps; would they have had to get to ATL as well or would it have been "within 100 miles of Orlando" (probably the biggest city in the game zone that was NEVER mentioned on the show).

[Raynedon]

How convenient was it that there was a bank, with their money waiting for them, within running distance of a lake with facilities to service/accommodate sea planes?  UGH   I was SO disappointed with the ending of this show.   Too much manipulation/producer interference made a potentially interesting show a real dud.  I understand that they wanted to show the tools that can be used to track fugitives, but IMO they carried it too far for it to be realistic and it ruined what could have been a great show.   

OH, and how about the hunters overlooking the cameraman who just happened to be standing there filming while they're on their manhunt looking for the guys hiding behind landscaping supplies?  Just look in the direction that the camera is pointed to find your fugitives.  What a joke.    

A second season?  Not for me unless they make some major changes to the format and producer involvement.  Otherwise - this season was more than enough of a disappointment to last me a lifetime.   Also, I hope any potential participants will have watched this season and learned what not to do and will be much more savvy and better able to avoid detection.  

Edited March 2, 2017 by rayndon

[teo47]

18 minutes ago, rayndon said:

A second season?  Not for me unless they make some major changes to the format and producer involvement.  Otherwise - this season was more than enough of a disappointment to last me a lifetime.   Also, I hope any potential participants will have watched this season and learned what not to do and will be much more savvy and better able to avoid detection.  

It would be interesting to see if Season 2 teams are a bit more smart about the game having watched Season 1.  The two things I don't think the Season 1 teams paid enough attention to were the license plate readers for cars, and the ability of the hunters to use geolocation to track cell phones even if they weren't being used to make calls.  So to combat this, teams should do a better job of staying off major highways and making sure that when a helper drives them somewhere, the helper's phone is either left at home or better yet, driven in the opposite direction by a second helper to throw the hunters off track.  That said, I agree about the necessary changes to the show and I doubt that a Season 2 is going to be coming unless there are folks out there who really did buy that completely staged finale episode.

[Bryce Lynch]

14 minutes ago, rayndon said:

How convenient was it that there was a bank, with their money waiting for them, within running distance of a lake with facilities to service/accommodate sea planes?  UGH   I was SO disappointed with the ending of this show.   Too much manipulation/producer interference made a potentially interesting show a real dud.  I understand that they wanted to show the tools that can be used to track fugitives, but IMO they carried it too far for it to be realistic and it ruined what could have been a great show.   

OH, and how about the hunters overlooking the cameraman who just happened to be standing there filming while they're on their manhunt for the guys hiding behind landscaping supplies?  Just look in the direction that the camera is pointed to find your fugitives.  What a joke.    

A second season?  Not for me unless they make some major changes to the format and producer involvement.  Otherwise - this season was more than enough of a disappointment to last me a lifetime.   Also, I hope any potential participants will have watched this season and learned what not to do and will be much more savvy and better able to avoid detection.  

I was thinking the same thing about the camera crew giving away the Muslims when they were hiding behind the mound.  I wonder how long the hunters pretended not to notice where the cameras were pointing before scooping them up.  

[waving feather]

I'm happy for English and Steven. She really seems to be as organised as she said she was in her intro package. She wrote everything down in her note book.

[patty1h]

Just popping in to agree on most of the problems with this show.  The things that bothered me the most:  being able to listen in on phone calls and why the people they interrogated for info just didn't say "get the f#*@ away from me - I'm not helping you".   Also unbelievable:  1) even though the show was spread over a four state radius, they could get hunters right onto the teams in no time flat - some of those drives could take hours.  2)  that they could tap into bank/store/gas station, etc. cameras with the press of a few buttons.  

This show should not return in this format.  

[Richness]

Any tolerance I had for this show's conceits went completely out the window with this final episode. If the winning teams had been caught because they had to engage in that staged escape that literally let the Hunters know where they were, I would have screamed and thrown things. The forced ATM withdrawals was bad enough. I really like the show's concept, but its execution leaves much to be desired. I honestly don't know if I'll be back for a second season, should the show come back.

 

I am happy that the Escape Room team won though. I loved their epic airplane rendezvous, and overall thumbing their noses at the Hunters. However, I was not happy with the King's win, mainly due to the editing. I can only imagine that it was so effective that they didn't show it in order to prevent future teams from copying their methods, or it was so boring it would have put people to sleep.

[piequinn35]

Lol, what's the point of all these diversions (wait, there was a friend who accepted a $500 for info), when when they get the money in the bank, the hunters will know their location and a foot race to the plane lol. Yes, what a lame show and you lost $500k!!! 

[hilaryvm]

I feel like the show must have thought we would cheer for the hunters to catch the teams, and that's why they set up all these crazy rules.  Except for the wig team that got caught in the very beginning, I would have like to see all the other teams win.  The team that went camping in the woods, while not great tv, would never have been found if they could have just stayed in the woods the whole time.  They were already at day 18 or so when they were caught.

Also, I couldn't believe one team had a 1 mile distance to their seaplane, and the other had 3 miles to go.  That seems inherently unfair, and I thought we were being set up to see the escape room team get caught right before they make the plane because of their longer distance on foot.

The crazy requirements at the end though really seemed insane to me and with no purpose.  Why should you have to withdraw money from a bank?  When would a fugitive ever do this?  It was all just poorly thought out.

[Puffaroo]

17 hours ago, GaT said:

This show sucks.

The hunters were paying people $500.00 for information. Wow. The runners had hardly any money, but the hunters were apparently just paying large sums of money for info.

Isn't this the first time we've seen them do that, the bribe?  And WOW, I wonder what the future relationship will be like with the snitch!

[GaT]

12 minutes ago, Puffaroo said:

Isn't this the first time we've seen them do that, the bribe?  And WOW, I wonder what the future relationship will be like with the snitch!

They offered rewards before, we saw that with the wanted posters they put on FB, but we've never been told how much they were willing to pay. No wonder people were talking to them, & we don't know if they paid people even more.

[dstann]

10 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I did think English and Stephen's "we're pretty sure the burner phone has been made" ruse was nicely done.  The really important thing was that the sister didn't know it was a fake-out, so the hunters had no way to know, either. 

For all the miraculous links they managed to make on the show there was a huge mistake made that seemingly the hunters didn't pick up.  From the license plate of the decoy car, they could have gotten the name of the owner, use that to get other cars that person owns and hey presto you have the license plate of the car Stephen and English are currently driving.  It was a good ruse but sending the second car, the tan yukon was totally unnecessary and could have given the hunters a lead.

 

I agree with a lot of people here that the 2 teams that won were probably the 2 teams that were shown the least and you don't really have the story of how they actually did it.  All I can think is that whatever tactic they used, they don't want future contestants to see as it will make the game to easy for them.

[Thumper82003]

8 hours ago, waving feather said:

I'm happy for English and Steven. She really seems to be as organised as she said she was in her intro package. She wrote everything down in her note book.

I'm happy that they won since they are a "home team", UNC. However they received a horrible edit. They edited English as a bitch, while Steve was edited as a whipped puppy. Did they do this with the ex gang member/lawyer? No, they received a good edit despite the woman blowing their lead with the blotter.

i get the feeling English pissed the producers off in some way. Maybe there was only supposed to be one team winning, but when the producers' pick (escape guys) was coming in second they allowed both teams to win. Or she called BS on the hunters' "hunch" about the seaplane. But I think there was something we don't know.

 

Major changes/leveling the advantages would have to happen for a second season to happen.

[sonyab]

23 hours ago, SayMyName said:

And the running down the street with 250k in cash in clear bags.

I know!!!!!! That was just crazy!!!!

23 hours ago, NYGirl said:

I hated that their friend Meredith spilled the beans on them too.

Yeah I couldn't believe that happened!!!! What kind of friend was she?! At first I thought she was lying!!!! WOW!