Treasure Hunters

Five teams Air Force, Geniuses, Grad Students, Fogal Family and Brown Family start on a ship in Hawaii on a wide hunt across American history for a treasure of gold. Unknown to them, another five teams Southie Boys, Ex-CIA, Miss USA, Wild Hanlons and Young Professionals start at an isolated Alaskan mining camp on the same hunt.

The Amazing Race is one of my favorite reality game show and this is a similar show with a large sense of National Treasure. I really like this show pushing the cryptic clues which the Amazing Race abandoned early on in its run. It makes this game a much more mental challenge.

However there are a few inferior aspects that the show could have solved if it continued for more than one season. The host is awful. There is a genuine warmth that a host like Phil Keoghan gives that is completely overlooked here. The product placement also annoyed me at the time but it is standard issue now. It still could have been done more artfully.

Splitting the group in half is fun. The two groups facing off each other is a compelling scene. However it takes too long to get there. Basically the first hour of the show has little effect. The only effect of the competition up to that point is to get them paired up for one task. There is a devaluing of the results of each task early on. The Hanlons spend 11 hours in the mine and end up in the same place as everybody else. The show needs to make sure that every task has its consequences. It's too bad that this show didn't continue because the show is actually pretty good overall.