These days, when people think of Korean media, they often immediately think of Squid Game. Despite how good Squid Game is, it’s kind of a shame that it’s eclipsed some of the other prominent media offerings from South Korea.
And while all art is derivative anyway, it’s often the nature of reality shows — especially competition shows — to borrow formats from other countries. The US has done this to the point of exhaustion, taking a show like Love Island and reproducing it with varying success levels.
The UK, on the other hand, doesn’t tend to have an issue with adaptation. This has never been more apparent than right now what with The Traitors UK completely cleaning up at the BAFTAs.
Who will compete for the token of life?
So, reality TV fans can rejoice as ITV has announced that it will be adapting The Genius, a South Korean competition show, for British audiences. The Genius is an intellectual and social competition featuring 13 contestants, usually celebrities.
James Townley, head of content development at ITV’s parent company, calls the show “an entertaining, high-stakes, social game which has generated significant international interest. We have experienced and talented creatives in the UK, Denmark, and Norway who are ready to bring this psychological social experiment to audiences.”
The show is refreshingly complex. Where one show might get bogged down by its simplicity, The Genius embraces the intellectual aspect of the competition. Players compete in each episode to win a “token of life” or immunity in the Main Match. The criteria of the Main Match varies from episode to episode. The match’s loser will select an opponent who hasn’t won immunity to go head-to-head with in a Death Match. The loser is eliminated from the show.
ITV has produced shows like Love Island, Big Brother, and Britain’s Got Talent. The studio has won multiple awards for its reality shows in production and editing, so expectations should be set high for this upcoming adaptation.
TELL US – ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT THIS ADAPTATION? DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE WORTH THE WATCH? OR WILL IT FLOP IN COMPARISON TO THE ORIGINAL?
