Battle in the Box

"Battle in the Box" is a brilliantly conceived game show, where Jimmy Carr sends celebs into a toothbrush-toting tussle for floorspace! Eight episodes, eight pairs, and one empty box-sounds like a bargain basement IKEA flatpack, right? 😜

The format? Win challenges to gain space; lose, and the sliding box wall squeezes you like a humourless comedian's joke!

Comedy, entertainment, and reality TV merge in this space-challenged show. Carr's humour and commentary balance the competition's intensity, making it a fun-watch for fans laughing and looking at funny humans.

I'll rate it 9/10 at the end of the first 2 episodes!

Jimmy carr takes a shipping container, a dividing wall a and the contents of an IKEA before throwing some comedians into isolation and we watch them slowly go mad, or in the case of Sean Walsh, very quickly.

The format is beautifully simple while I'm quite certain bordering on human rights violations, sociological experiments conducted between the 1940's and 80's (if you know you know) and we all get to watch it and enjoy every minute of it. The games are also simple but clever making it like watching sports for nerds as you shout at the screen telling Guz Khan how he completely failed that task and you, in your pants with a can of beer, could have done it better.

The only negative is the humour of the show is dictated exclusively by the comedians in the box and even Jimmy Carr can't rescue if the comedians don't engage with the format, are tired or even treat the box like a spa holiday from their families. And it would be good if the win/lose didn't hinge on just one game, maybe if they added up won spaces across the game to work out the overall winner.

I really hope there's more to come. And that we get to see the losing team left in the box for at least 12 extra hours, if Task Master taught us anything punishments for losing teams make it better.

Would be better if they stayed on after losing, as winning isn't really rewarded. Both teams get out of the box on the same day in reality, being told that they're stuck in the box isn't the same as seeing them remain. Seeing two people slowly collapse would be a lot of fun I think, one day isn't quite enough for the crazy to set in.

Overall it's fun and enjoyable, even if you don't recognise all the comedians on the teams. I'm a sucker for people doing stupid tasks to appease someone, and this is good enough. It's a bit rough around the edges and could definitely do with a little refinement but it's not bad.

I really enjoyed this Jimmy Carr fronted series, I think maybe it could do with some tweaking to make the rules a little bit more interesting, maybe let them steal from each other or bring in some more people. Maybe even introduce gambling rules that would see the wall move constantly as the game progresses, not just at the end of tasks

I think it might be positive if Jimmy had more of a role in the show, right now it's obvious that he's edited in afterwards, you never hear him talk directly to the contestants, there's no actual back forth, which is one of the things Jimmy Carr is quite good at, why not let him flex those muscles to bring more of his personality to the show. In the same way that Greg Davies does in Taskmaster

It's a simple concept and they are getting good comedians for it, if they keep on developing its trajectory and getting in the good talent it could easily become a yearly favourite.