Hoarder of the Gameshows

"Nobody's Fool" from ITV this week.

Fun little game, combining quiz and country pastimes, and lying, and a little backstabbing.

Plenty of nods to old game shows, and some serious efforts to rally contestants behind a backstabby plot.

Hosts were Emily Atack and Danny Dyer, who were certainly better than i'd expected.

Enjoyable enough to see a second series. Interesting enough to wonder, could i adapt it for Strange Games Fest in 2027?

Mel Giedroyc puts comedians in a locked room, and films them trying to get out.

An enjoyable romp through the world of escape rooms. There's someone in the cast for every viewer, and i was surprised at how well Chloe Petts clicked with the comedian Ed Gamble.

Doubtless the escape room aficionados will be able to spot which tropes have been used, and will dutifuly document them on their wiki. For us television viewers, The Way Out was an entertaining watch, with just a little bit of science so we didn't feel like we were completely vegging out.

Also loved how the show allowed itself to be immersive, only breaking out of the room for confessionals just before and after the ad breaks. Lesser shows would have cut every ten seconds to Nish Kumar on the sofa.

Spoilers below

Went out on Channel 4 recently.

You didn't watch it.

Here's what you missed.

Okay, that's cool.

Ow, my eyes!

There was an awful lot of time where contestants would bicker and chat, and very little time when they were actually hunting. This is a bit of a mistake, given that the show is literally called The Hunt.

Yes, it's The Crystal Maze revival revival we didn't know we didn't want!

The most over-wrought elimination ceremony since Joel Dommett's Survivor, the worst map since The Summit, and (without spoiling it here - i do in the article) the worst finish since the Neil Hamilton vs Mohammed Fayed libel trial.

On paper, The Hunt should have been brilliant. It uses cutting-edge tech, it's got a careful design, they've spent money on the costumes, it feels like nothing on telly.

And yet the producers made so many unforced errors; i've listed a baker's dozen in the article, and that only scratches the surface. Viewers could see through the bullshit, and turned off in their droves, and Channel 4 gave up and stopped selling adverts in the prog. When even Channel 4 loses faith, you're basically screwed.

Sorry for the ramble, I was just in the mood to talk about it.

A look at "Secret Genius" on Channel 4, the show that appeared to be about puzzles and the way the brain works, but was actually about how society consistently cannot cope with people who think in an unusual way.

The first episode introduced us to the ambulance tech who remembered all her patients, the shepherd, the drag queen, the quiet civil servant, and the painfully unconfident person.

Pretty much everyone could bring a history of being ignored, dismissed, passed over, or horrendously bullied. Week after week, one contestant might allude to their formative years, and see nods of recognition from all around.

And, by the end of the series, we were rooting for all of them. Okay, some more than others, but whoever won would be a worthy winner.

Tumblr, you'll love it! (Wouldn't be surprised if someone from Tumblr was on it: /me waves enthusiastically and cheers for you, whoever you are.)

And it's got Susie Dent! (And it's got Alan Carr, but he's kept on a reasonable leash and doesn't steal the show.)