cambelljsmith

Trapped was a strange little game show that, for some reason, feels as though it lasted longer than it did. Maybe that speaks to its quality and striking tone; maybe it just reveals that it was repeated more than it should have been.

The premise is fairly simple. A group of teenagers are trapped in a castle, and tasked with completing a series of challenges, one for each floor. For each challenge, a saboteur is chosen by the presiding authority of the tower and tasked with covertly interfering with the team's efforts to achieve their goals. The team has to deduce the saboteur and vote for their removal. Only the last player remaining is allowed to escape the tower. The tasks were often a combination of both physical and mental skills that were able to be intercepted by that round's chosen sabbatour.

The challenges consisted mostly of mental and physical tasks designed such that this sabbatour could meaningfully interrupt the team's progress during the periodic moments of concealment.

The show quickly became stale, as did many of the other themed game shows produced by CBBC and other child- and teen-focused channels. A fun and genuinely interesting backstory and tone just wasn't enough to stop the monotony of the formula from becoming too much. Grossout humor and spookiness can only take you so far and Trapped found that. It had a respectable four-season run before it was canceled. That's something any show can be proud of.

Trapped was clearly developed for a child audience, and that's fine. Viewers have a wide range of interests and each of those deserve to be catered to. Trapped did that and it did it well. I wouldn't recommend it anymore; it's been far surpassed by other productions but it was good for what it was. I enjoyed it when I was ten.