Genius Game review: David Tennant's shameless Traitors rip-off is a baffling blur of lies

Irish Times

30-04-2025

BBC's
breakout hit show,
The Traitors
, has a lot to answer for. With a flick of her fringe, presenter
Claudia Winkleman
has unleashed a deluge of copycat social deduction gameshows in which members of the public wander around tastefully appointed rooms, conspiring like crazy. Most recently, there was Netflix's
Million Dollar Secret
– which at least had the bonus of being easy to follow. That is not a claim that can be made of
ITV's
baffling Genius Game (Virgin Media One, Wednesday, 9pm) – a show so complicated that at one point, one of the contestants (a doctor) admits she has no idea what is going on. Join the club.
It's a million times fiddlier than The Traitors – yet so much less bingeable. In the Winkleman role of cruel and mocking host is
David Tennant
, conjuring with his Doctor Who eccentric boffin vibes. But unlike Winkleman, he isn't physically present and dials in his ripe banter by video link – as if he had better things to do than attend to a shameless Traitors copycat.
In its defence, Genius Game predates Traitors in so far as it is based on a Korean gameshow — the series that also inspired the
Netflix
hit
Squid Game
. But the ITV version is very Traitors: there is a suite of rooms where the contestants are encouraged to conspire and lie to each other to their heart's content. There is even an early sacrificial victim in the shape of gambling expert Paul, who gets in the bad books of university lecturer Ben and is chucked into a gold cell for his troubles. His transgression, it would appear, is to be proactive and try to win the game – a strategy that has earned him the eternal enmity of top fusspot Ben.
As to the game ... well, I have no idea. It's a social deduction affair in the tradition of card games such as Ultimate Werewolf or Secret Hitler – only a zillion times more complicated. Tennant, for his sins, has to explain the rules several times – by the end, he sounds as baffled as he did when the Weeping Angels were stalking him on Doctor Who.
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What's it all about? Something like this: punters have the option to steal imaginary gold by staging a 'heist' or passing – but there's only so much pretend loot. Steal enough and they win fake crystals that can be used in future challenges; go overboard and filch too much and there isn't enough to around – and then something bad happens.
To repeat, I'm explaining something I don't understand – but neither do many of the contestants, resulting in a hodgepodge that will turn even the biggest fans of the Traitors into haters of the format. It doesn't take a genius to work out that this show deserves to be sent straight to the dunce's corner.