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99 To Beat sees 100 contestants competing in a series of games – supposedly simple – and to survive, all you have to do is make sure you’re not last.
Let’s hope they also include Piers Morgan, and we can just tie his hands behind his back, and there we have our outstanding one!
Seriously, though, whoever comes first will win £25,000. To bring down the cost even more, £25K isn’t won each week, but over the course of the entire EIGHT weeks. Yes, they don’t quickly get rid of people in this programme.
I’m not familiar with either presenter Adam Thomas, nor Ryan Thomas, since I haven’t watched Emmerdale or Corrie, respectively, in a long time. Or is it the other way round? Either way, it makes a change to NOT have Ant and Dec hosting a show.
Obviously no spoilers as to who wins or loses, so just to give a flavour of the games, the first one sees 99 balls falling down from the ceiling, and “The last one to sit on a ball will be eliminated“.
Hmm… surely, that’s ‘The last one TO ATTEMPT to sit on a ball will be eliminated”, since 100th potential person can’t sit on one. It won’t be easy, though, since before they begin, they’re all blindfolded. Maybe you can try that before watching the programme?
Others involve wearing a Slinky, defrosting a T-shirt, and pouring out an amount of liquid from a can, so it will balance on its own… er… pardon?
Each game is drawn out by inserting pieces-to-camera from various contestants, waffling away unproductively, all leading to a programme that has a very simple premise, and will cost almost nothing to make for a Saturday evening TV show. Hence, while it’s nothing to get excited about, it’ll probably run for 30 years.
99 To Beat begins tonight on ITV at 6pm, and once broadcast, each episode will be available to watch on ITVX.
It’s unlikely to ever be released on Blu-ray or DVD, but for things that are, check out the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Mike Parker
Writer: David Reilly
Music: A-Mnemonic
Presenters: Adam Thomas, Ryan Thomas
Speaker: Carla Terry
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.