The Cube Australia, the nation’s newest game show will premier on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play.
The premise is simple – you don’t have to cook or sing. You just have to hold your nerve.
Hosted by Andy Lee the show challenges everyday Aussies to complete a few simple games while confined to a perspex cube, with limited time and a whopping $250,000 up for grabs.
Speaking with Mediaweek, Lee admits the show came at an appropriate time because he was separated from his contestants by perspex glass just like most cafes these days, but he found the morale factor to be the hardest part of the production.
“The audience were all in masks, so you don’t get to see as much raucous laughter from them as you would normally. And I love hanging out with crews and having banter with them, there are about 110 people working on the show and it was a shame that I couldn’t see those smiling faces.
“We were allowed a beer after production ended and we were all sitting backstage on different tables and people would drop their masks to have a beer and I would be like ‘oh my gosh that’s what they look like!’.”
Read more: Andy Lee hosts and produces Australia’s persplexing new game show
From throwing to catching, estimating to balancing, memorising to reacting, contestants have nowhere to go and nowhere to hide once inside The Cube.
“We play these games every time we turn the light off and we try to mauver ourselves to the bed without hitting our shins on the base. Those types of games around the house are on steroids because you are in a perspex cube with a live audience and $250,000 up to win” Lee said.
The format comes from the British series The Million Pound Cube (known as The Cube from 2009–2015), which has run for 10 seasons and 85 episodes.
The Cube Australia is an ITV Studios production for Network 10. Andy Lee will also serve as an executive producer. Lee and ITV Australia previously worked together on Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation.
The Cube was originally produced by Objective Media Group, an all3mediacompany, for ITV in the UK.