Over here in the UK, there's been one absolutely unquestionable breakout reality TV hit in the last few years – The Traitors. Riffing on Among Us, which became so mainstream during the pandemic a few years ago, it's now had several seasons and fulfils the all-important "water cooler" requirement that great TV manages.
It's no surprise that other producers have been looking at the BBC's success with the show and wondering if they can manage a similar format with a twist of their own (or that's how I'd guess it's been going). Now, Netflix is launching what I'd argue is its response – Million Dollar Secret, which seems to have many of the same interesting subplots and dynamics.
The show will see a group of random real-life contestants air-dropped into a massive mansion hosted by a mysterious gamesmaster. The twist is that one of them will find a briefcase in their bedroom filled with a million US dollars. Their job is to make it through the games to come without anyone successfully figuring out that they've got that money.
So, it's clearly going to be a game of deception, but much like The Traitors the social dynamics will be interrupted by more gameshowy segments. We see a couple involving people basically going on action-adventure treasure hunts, but I'd put money on some collaborative puzzles and mindgames, too.
Winning these games apparently gets contestants "clues" which might help them figure out who has the money, and I'd imagine that said lucky person might also be able to recruit helpers to split the prize, although there's been no mention of that so far.
In a fun twist for UK viewers, the gamesmaster is played by none other than Peter Serafinowicz, who made his name as a comic before starting to branch out into more dramatic roles. Whether he'll be playing himself or a named (or unnamed) character is yet to be seen. Either way, this sort of content is always a hoot to watch, so it's a great idea from Netflix to boost its library – already one of the best streaming services around, it'll get even better when Million Dollar Secret arrives on 26 March.
