The Prime Video reality game show 007: Road to a Million uses the James Bond franchise as its inspiration, taking eighteen players, who work in pairs, and sending them on a globe-trotting adventure in the hope of winning a one million-pound jackpot. They face various trials as they go, and teams are eliminated along the way. The whole project is watched over by the mysterious Controller, portrayed by actor Brian Cox, who serves as a narrator of sorts for the unfolding action. However, reality TV shows have sometimes been scrutinized for the perceived reality of the production, and 007: Road to a Million is no exception, with viewers pondering whether the show is entirely scripted, completely real, or some combination of the two.
It seems like the latter is the truest answer.
Is 007: Road to a Million real or scripted?
007: Road to a Million is a game show, using members of the general public, the players are given the situation they have to work within, but there does not seem to be a script as such for them to follow. Of course, the situations are meticulously thought through, but we have to assume the reactions, and actions of the players, are spontaneous, with the players reacting to the challenges in a nonscripted fashion.
However, the nature of the game means that they are following a plan that is in place to allow the narrative to flow, otherwise, the game would simply not work. So although there is a structure in place, the contestants are winging their way within that structure, with no script required.
With that said, the scenes with Brian Cox as The Controller are of course scripted as the actor is there to help viewers keep track of the teams, and to add to the James Bond tone that the game is based on, although there does seem to be more to this element than meets the eye.
James and Joey in 007: Road to a Million | image via Prime Video
Is 007: Road to a Million officially licensed?
As you may expect, the James Bond franchise receives a lot of interest from companies that want to launch their own spin-off, so the producers of 007: Road to a Million were pleasantly surprised to find that Barbara Broccoli and Bond producer Gregg Wilson were impressed by the concept and gave it the green light to be an officially licensed product.
When you think about it, the show itself is a bit of an anomaly. How many other film franchises receive their own reality game show spin-off? Not that many, and it does make you wonder how the idea would even arrive. The answer seems to be that the show was not originally conceived to emulate the exploits of James Bond.
Radio Times would report on the press launch of 007: Road to a Million and confirm that originally the James Bond connection was not part of the pitch. The executive producer David Glover explained that the original pilot episode did not contain any Bond elements, and confirmed that the series was “a game show where people have to go on an adventure”.
It was only later as the concept gained traction that the idea began to evolve. David Glover would go on to say, “I took it in to Dan Grabiner [Amazon Studios’ Head of Originals for the UK and Northern Europe] and he said, ‘It’s a great show, but it needs another level, it needs something to kind of connect an audience to it. Maybe we should hook up with some kind of IP or something.'”
It was after this exchange that the idea of linking it to Bond would emerge, changing the basic premise and elevating it to the show we have today.
What are the rules of 007: Road to a Million?
The show basically sends the players to various locations, many often associated with James Bond, where they have to complete challenges and answer questions to progress to the next level.
There are ten questions that they must locate and answer, and they have to successfully make their way through the obstacles in their path, that have been set by the fictional Controller.
If they answer the questions correctly, they move on. Get it wrong, and they are removed from the proceedings. The questions were designed to be legitimately challenging since the first season of the show concluded without declaring a winner.
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