Ten’s new reality competition series is undeniably exciting television – but two episodes in, some viewers have questions about just how real this cat-and-mouse game actually is.
The show, which launched on Sunday night to strong ratings of 619,000 viewers across the five metro capitals, is like a high-stakes game of tag as 18 “fugitives”, competing in pairs, are dropped in a central location with one simple instruction.
They must evade capture by Hunted’s crack team of detectives and intelligence experts, both on the ground and at a central HQ, who will use every surveillance technology available to capture them. Whoever is still on the run at the end of 21 days will share in $100,000 of prize money.
The first two episodes show just how much contestants’ digital footprints give them away: The Hunted investigators pore over their social media for contacts they might reach out to, while CCTV cameras pick them up as they race through busy city streets, often in disguise, trying to evade detection.
But some scenes seem to stretch credulity: We see the investigators apparently watching live, crystal clear vision from inside a remote country ATM as one of the contestants hastily withdraws money.
Elsewhere, the investigators “hack into the telematics” of a car contestants are using, to track where it’s going.
As one viewer quipped on Twitter: “I find it hard to believe Channel 10 can get live CCTV out of a country ATM and telematics out of a random Nissan, but can’t put on-demand and rewind functionality into Paramount+.”
Turns out, there is a little bit of television smoke and mirrors employed.
An article about the show published in the Sydney Morning Herald revealed just how the Hunted team can access “live”, high-definition footage. Turns out, the camera operators discreetly trailing each of the fugitives help out with that part.
“Because the producers don’t have authority to actually request that footage, it is reproduced on the run by having the camera operator place a Go-Pro where the closed-circuit camera would be, using a selfie stick. That footage is then uploaded via WhatsApp, and is available to the team at HQ within minutes,” the SMH reported.
And in an interview with TV Tonight, Hunted intelligence officer Ben Owen was pretty cagey when asked about the behind-the-scenes machinations of the show, “I’m not sure I’m allowed to answer that” being his standard response.
But he did let slip a few more details.
Owen explained that the show’s CCTV arrangement was “replicating real life”, with the investigators not simply handed footage so they can easily track the fugitives.
“From that footage, we are able to access it, but only if we’re in the right place, at the right time, with the right time parameters and confirm there are cameras there. Only then will we get that information. So once again, it’s completely fair as to how they simulate it,” he said.
The show has lit up social media, with viewers debating what’s real and what’s not – and poking fun at some contestants’ unusual measures to go undetected:
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Originally published as Hunted: Biggest question about Ten’s hit new series answered
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