The Hunt: Prey vs Predator (Channel 4)
Not just childish but infantile, The Hunt: Prey vs Predator is a kids’ party game dressed up as Traitors-style reality television. It’s tag with a cash prize.
The pounding drums and throbbing heartbeats on the soundtrack, and all the shocked faces in close-ups, cannot disguise it. What next — sudden- death musical chairs? Pass the parcel for backstabbers?
Thanks to The Traitors, every new game show has to feature alliances and betrayals, even if they make no sense. We saw it on ITV‘s mountain race The Summit, and now Ch4 has come up with a version that’s equally forced.
Instead of a castle, the HQ is a fancy garden shed. Ten players are divided into two groups, and let loose in woodland. The ones in blue tabards are the Prey, and they have to avoid capture. The ones in red are Predators, and they have to catch the Prey.
When someone is caught, they swap tops. Anyone wearing red at the end of the game is in danger of being eliminated in the daily vote-off.
Clearly, building trust and alliances is pointless in a game so facile. The players dutifully pretend to strike pacts beforehand but, once the hunt is on, Predators will try to catch anyone they see.
But within minutes of meeting, everyone was pretending to have spotted new best friends and proclaiming deep love for people who are barely acquaintances. The two oldest players, 70-year-old former model Shelley and environmental official Roy, 50, were declared ‘the mum of the group’ and ‘the father figure’.
Three episodes in, these shallow loyalties are being treated with comic intensity. Former RAF servicewoman Charlotte was suspicious of everyone: ‘If a lion comes up to a deer,’ she explained, ‘and says, ‘You just wait there, I won’t get after you’ — would the deer believe the lion?’
Pictured: Ten players are divided into two groups, and let loose in woodland. The ones in blue tabards are the Prey, and they have to avoid capture, while the Predators in red have to catch them
When someone is caught, they swap tops. Anyone wearing red at the end of the game is in danger of being eliminated in the daily vote-off
Each hunt begins with a buffet breakfast, because no reality contest can begin without a choice of Full English, muesli or fruit platters.
To let us know how serious the competition is, everyone says ‘literally’ a lot. ‘I was literally so gutted, in that last moment he just literally got away,’ panted 17-stone Chloe, after her target outsprinted he
‘I’m literally surrounded by trees,’ complained ‘beauty and lifestyle influencer’ Mia, 22, in the middle of a forest.
‘I am literally Batman right now,’ declared Welsh language campaigner Ameer, hiding behind a rock which, he said, reminded him of the Batcave.
All of them give us a running commentary to camera. As they blunder around the woods, trying not to be seen (which must be tricky with a camera crew in tow), the edit keeps switching to studio interviews crammed with soundbites that appear heavily scripted.
A breathless voiceover also updates us, for the benefit of viewers who can’t quite grasp the complexities of hide-and-seek.
‘Unbeknownst to Mia,’ narrator Mark Bazeley gasps, ‘Shelley is heading towards her.’
Literally.
