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Cheat (2023) is a new Netflix gameshow, yes, gameshow. You don’t get many of those on this platform.
Anyhoo, it co-stars Danny Dyer – who has had a bit on BBC1 with The Wall (even though it’s baffling nonsense), and comedienne Ellie Taylor, where the contestants have to use their brains in order to blag their way through, and cheat their way to a cash prize. The one rule? Don’t get caught!
If you’re watching from outside the UK, you may not be familiar with certain terms, and even if you’re not familiar with Dyerspeak, you might still require them due to phrases like “You absolute wrong’uns”, “They’re just absolute scumbags”, “One player down, and things are about to be proper lively”, and “The knowledge in their nut is incredible” – “Or their ability to bullshit?”
Well, we have three rounds of questions, and around £50,000 up for grabs. However, if you cheat your way to answer a question, and the others call you out… it won’t look good for you. It all depends on your poker face…
In the first game which I saw, Mark studied in South Korea, Yasmina is a fashion designer, Jess is an English teacher from ‘Landan’ – as Danny Dyer puts it; and Devan is a cosmetic dentist. Ugh, I have another checkup soon. EEK!
Anyhoo, it can be a good idea to cheat if you don’t know the answer (obvs), but you must be discreet so you don’t get spotted. The most accurate cheat hunter will go through to the next round, and they can eliminate a player of their choice, rather like The Weakest Link.
Naturally, no spoilers as to who wins – because that would negate the point of watching the entire show – but I’ll just give examples of one question, such as the first one asking: Which 2000s sitcom set in Essex and South Wales, was written by James Corden and Ruth Jones. Yes, it’s clearly The Simpsons(!)
Round 1 has 16 questions. Once done, they’ll look at the total won between all four contestants (who get 4 questions each), and deduct money for each of the answers which were gained through pressing the ‘Cheat’ button.
After that, the most accurate cheat-hunter is revealed, they’ll go through to the next round, and they can choose to evict someone. For the evicted individual, they’ll return £1000 for every one of their cheated answers, and wrong answers.
After that, we’ll be told who gave correct/wrong/cheating answers for each contestant.
For round 2, any cheating is outed after each question – rather than waiting until the end of the round, and No.3 brings it down to just two contestants with the questions getting a bit harder, but the first one to correctly out the other as a cheat will win the prize pot. If they’re wrong in their accusation, then they’re out. So it’s ‘all or nothing’ each time.
Either way, when the button is finally pressed, it’s declared as “dropping the C-Bomb”. Oo-er, missus!
Whatever happens, while one episode was enough for me, at the end, Danny Dyer tells you that you can watch the next episode straight away, and then the credits play out. It makes a nice change NOT to hear someone jibber-jabbering away over the end credits!
Overall, I can see a lot of gameshow fans enjoying this, but the prize fund is hardly huge, and the questions aren’t as complex as some that you’d get on The Chase, for example.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Cheat (2023) is unlikely to be released on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Wednesday March 1st, with 4 episodes released each week, over three consecutive weeks.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 35-45 minutes per episode (12 episodes)
Release date: March 1st 2023
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Presenters: Danny Dyer, Ellie Taylor
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.