As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, television producers are scouting for more entertaining formats to roll out to audiences seeking an escape from reality.
The revamped ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Holey Moley’ have proved to win viewers over so far, and now one of the latest additions to Aussie reality TV is ‘The Cube’.
The game show hosted by Andy Lee is adapted from the UK version, but for those who haven’t watched it, here is exactly how ‘The Cube’ works.
The prize
The ultimate skill test challenges contestants with a combination of mental and physical games for the grand prize of $250,000.
The tasks
There are around 40 games at ‘The Cube’s’ disposal that can involve throwing, catching, estimating, balancing, memorising or reacting – all the while being placed inside a 4m x 4m x 4m Perspex cube to complete the tasks.
If a team successfully completes seven games without losing its nine lives, it can walk away with the top prize. Each team also has to make a big decision each time it faces a new game: play or play safe?
Contestants can play on for a bigger prize yet risk everything they’ve won so far, or play it safe and walk away with the money they already have.
The ‘bodies’ and ‘ninjas’
Contestants and the audience get to see a demonstration of how tasks should be completed when each game is revealed.
Those demonstrating are anonymous, costumed stig-like ‘bodies’ or ‘ninjas’.
Lifelines
Contestants start the game with two lifelines they can use to help them complete games. These are ‘swap’ and ‘simplify’, and each lifeline can be used only once.
The ‘swap’ option can be used during a one-player game, allowing the contestant playing the game inside the cube to swap positions with their non-playing teammate.
‘Simplify’ will make a game easier, but contestants won’t know exactly how that happens until the lifeline has been used.
Nothing goes unnoticed thanks to 140 cameras surrounding the cube to allow for slow-motion replays for split-second results.
Meanwhile, ‘The Cube’ has a voice and personality of its own, reflecting different moods, such as ‘thinking’ and ‘gameplay’ mode.
Money ladder:
Games are valued at an increasing amount of money but increase in difficulty as each one is completed.
Game 1: $2,000
Game 2: $5,000
Game 3: $10,000
Game 4: $20,000
Game 5: $50,000
Game 6: $100,000
Game 7: $250,000
Host Andy Lee
Comedian Andy Lee, best known as one half of the ‘Hamish and Andy’ duo, will be hosting the game show. He said it’s an opportunity he “can’t wait” for.
“Things get tense with me and my mates when we play skill games to determine who’s going to get the next round of beers at the pub, imagine doing it for a quarter of million dollars,” the television and radio presenter said in a statement. “I can’t wait!”
Show’s history:
‘The Cube’ debuted in the UK in 2009 and ran for nine series until 2015.
As previously reported by HuffPost UK, the ITV program returned for a revamped run earlier last year, and the ‘Body’ was unmasked as model and singer Andrianna Christofi.
Olympian Mo Farrah is the only person to have ever beaten ‘The Cube’, taking the top prize during a 2012 charity special.
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