I don't think it's bad. I do think they fall into some of the same pitfalls that plague so many other reality shows.
The weird thing is that this version is very clearly based on the latest Belgian run (some games are almost literal copies) but they don't quite get why that version is superior.
* You barely see people interacting when not playing a game.
* The constant skipping to the interviews/contestant voice overs make it seem very scripted. They need to limit those. Let the action and interactions speak for itself.
* Notebooks! Bring back the notebooks!
* Diversity. What you have is a group of people from a fairly narrow age range (25-40) who all look like they could start a modelling career and whose hobby is cross fit. Diversity is more than a bunch of attractive millennials with a different skin color. The Belgian runs have people between 18 and 50+. It's their personalities and different experiences that bring so much more to the game.
* I do like the use of cell phones instead of the large screen they use in the Belgian version.
* I didn't like the "ending on a cliffhanger" of the episodes. Why does everything have to end on a cliffhanger? Just finish after the selection. It destroys the pacing of the episodes because the elimination should be the emotional high point of the episode. Not the lead in.
* More of a personal note but the Belgian presenter, Gilles de Coster, has a very dry, factual way of interacting with the contestants during the games. I think that works better than Alex Wagner's.
If you want to see how good it can be, try and find the current Belgian version (especially series 9 (Germany) ).
