IN THE SPOTLIGHT
By Anna Malpas

St.Petersburg Times.ru
Oct 16, 2008
Russia

The latest reality show on Russian television follows the format by
bunching together "the usual suspects" as contestants.

On Saturday, TNT started its latest reality show, "Who Doesn’t Want
to Be a Millionaire." The nine participants are locked in a bunker
underground and have to agree on which of them wins a $1 million
prize. The catch is that every time one of them walks out, the prize
money is cut in half. The idea comes from the United States, where the
show aired on Fox as "Unan1mous." It has also been shown on Britain’s
Channel Four.

In the Russian version, the host is It Girl Ksenia Sobchak. On
Saturday, she didn’t actually go down into the bunker but only
appeared on a video screen in a sober suit and dark-framed glasses. At
the beginning, she announces that the contestants are 300 meters
underground, although disappointingly, we have to take her word for
it and don’t see any winding tunnels.

The bunker looks quite pleasant inside, with a central hall where
the contestants vote, a smaller room where they argue with each
other around a table, and women’s and men’s dorms similar to those
in "Big Brother." It also seems to be rather hot, as the contestants
constantly wipe their brows. This is possibly just a tactic to enable
the more photogenic ones to show off their hotpants.

The choice of contestants follows the usual logic of reality shows,
running the full range from loud and shouty obnoxious man to blonde
stripper to gesticulating gay guy. The contestants are pigeonholed
with brutal directness in the script. One is announced as "an open
homosexual," while another is labeled as "a representative of the
Armenian diaspora" (read: successful businessman).

In the first episode, the contestants agreed right away that they
would have to share the money in some way. All but two contestants
— the gesticulating gay guy, Pyotr, and the shouty obnoxious man,
Mikhail — wanted to nominate the most reliable-looking contestant to
take the million and divvy it up. They picked out Maria, who said she
was an encyclopedia publisher. And you know what, they were right, as
she does exist and has even won an award from President Vladimir Putin.

Mikhail, who is a market trader in Rostov-on-Don and looks far older
than the advertised 26, said he didn’t trust Maria, as "99.9 percent
of people would take the money and run." With that prize, you could
afford some cosmetic surgery to change your appearance, he pointed
out. Cue discussions with Alexander, who boasted of contacts who could
"find anyone" and talked knowingly of how a "fake passport isn’t so
easy to get nowadays." They ended up forcing Maria to write down all
her passport details and cell phone numbers of her friends.

Maria said she wanted to give her share to a hospice but also mentioned
a loopy plan to build a center in the Moscow region that would help
people live longer with stem cell therapy.

As my opinion of human nature plummeted, gesticulating gay guy
Pyotr coyly hinted in diary room asides that his sob story was not
entirely true. He had won some sympathy from the other contestants
with a story about how he accidentally burnt down a wooden house and
had to compensate the residents to the tune of 4.5 million rubles
($172,000). This story did not gel very well with his carefully teased
hair, new-looking clothes and tan.

Winning the contest is supposed to be all about strategy — and one of
the contestants is even a poker player. That could be interesting to
watch, but this is definitely a case where the nice guys finish last.