The game itself is actually quite addictive. What makes the game far better than "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is the open ended nature of the questions rather instead of being multiple choice. I like the twists along the way such as the Battle round and the Top Ten(?) question where you have to get 5 out of 10 possible choices. The satisfaction of the game play is at the level of Jeopardy, the gold standard.
The problem with this game is everything else.
The show wants to use as its themes the idea of a gladiatorial battle between 2 players, creating a false friction that never develops. The challenger largely sits around and only occasionally gets involved, which is not that interesting to watch. It also rips off Millionaire's atmosphere of a dark, cold set with what the producers think of as tension-inducing music. All this is nonsense, and boring. It just makes me want to yell at my flat screen.
The host, Richard Quest, is the worst game show host ever. Hi is entirely dislike-able, with an unctuous tone, dismissive manner, arrogance, and non- relatability. He likes to emphasize the genius nature of the contestants, which is also off-putting (these game shows like to cast smart people already). And he keeps hoping to create a new catchphrase by having contestants say they will be "Gone" if they miss a critical question. I get that the coldness and the snobby British accent are part of the tone the producers want to induce, but it is all nonsense that has to go.
I would watch this show if it somehow ended up in syndication. I would get away from anything resembling "Millionaire" using warm, brightly-lit sets and I would hire a personable host (Aisha Tyler, I'm talking to you!). It would still need to be an hour long (takes a long time to get to 500 questions if anyone ever does it). The one change I would make in game play would be to have contestants get their winnings and a new challenger after 25 questions. (As it stands now, we meet a new challenger about every hour.)
