Tracked

"Tracked" squanders a stunning setting and promising concept with its blatantly contrived plot and shoddy scripting, turning what pretends to be a genuine competition into a thoroughly disappointing farce. The show's complete reliance on scripting, and that poorly executed, is an embarrassment. It's appalling that the NZ Army and NZ SAS were associated with this debacle, which not only misrepresents their capabilities but also turns New Zealand's rugged charm into a backdrop for a laughable military portrayal. This show epitomizes why traditional TV is dying-YouTube's authentic adventure races offer far more credibility. It's misleading not to outright declare the cast as paid actors in a fully scripted charade.

The scenery is one of a kind, something straight out of a movie, the ideals on which this is set on is riveting and unpredictable especially with military trackers, vinny makes the show that much more real. I hope a season 2 is on the plate as I'd love to see them go across the world with this series. The camera crew did a great job as well with just one person per team getting down and dirty makes you feel immersed like you're right there with them in the action. It's been properly made and you can tell it wasn't just slapped together and put out to the masses. As vinny always says "Don't get tracked."

Since there don't seem to be any reviews or information on IMDb for 'Tracked', I'll provide a basic outline of the nature of the show followed by my thoughts.

'Tracked' revolves around pairs of individuals with a strong outdoors, hunting, fitness or similar background who are dropped somewhere in the New Zealand backcountry (ie wilderness) and who must manually navigate using a map and a compass to a remote extraction point over a two day period whilst not being caught by experienced military trackers. $100,000 prize money is up for grabs. The trackers are released 1 hour after the teams have started and the teams must carry all their gear, including overnight camping equipment. The nature of the challenge changes a little from week to week, but generally speaking each team must race to collect one of a limited number of 'tri-markers' distributed throughout the course so as to not face a penalty in next round and then make their way to the extraction point. The extraction point is typically open for 30-60 minutes on the second day.

The fact that the teams have quite varied backgrounds (including a USA based Parkour team) plus differing personalities, adds to the variety of the show.

The pressure of strenuous exertion, sleep deprivation and constantly being on the run from the trackers starts to show within some teams and tensions rise.

Anyway, on to my actual review:

I must admit I wasn't expecting particularly much as I don't normally watch reality TV shows. However as someone who personally loves exploring the NZ backcountry, I thought I would give it a try, even if only for the beautiful scenery.

Tracked turned out to be much more enjoyable than I was expecting and I am pleased I did give it a try. I got fully immersed in watching the show and I could literally feel the adrenaline that must be pumping through the veins of the team members as they ran and hid from the trackers. The problem solving nature of the navigational challenges also really appealed to me.

I found it genuinely interesting to see how well some teams dealt with setbacks and difficulties compared to others teams who struggled under the pressure. You could say it was a fairly good illustration of what 'personal resilience' does and does not look like in people (especially in the later episodes where the pressure starts to build).

Vinnie Jones does a pretty good job of channeling a bit of LockStock-esque attitude when needed, which I appreciated.

The two main downsides to the show in my opinion were:

(1) The hype and over dramatisation that crept in from time to time (but thankfully not all that often). This is probably just something that goes hand in hand with reality TV shows I guess.

(2) The two individuals back at the 'base station' really didn't seem to add very much to the show (Retired Brigadier Dave Kassapian & Psychologist Alia Bojilova). I think Vinnie could have fronted the show on his own without them, and if these two weren't there I don't think anyone would have noticed all that much. They just didn't seem to say anything that wasn't already fairly obvious, and therefore superfluous. Maybe retain Psychologist Alia Bojilova to give Vinnie someone to converse with when needed. It was also a bit humorous having the base station make 'recommendations' to the trained trackers, who with all their experience I suspect knew better what to do than those at the base station.

Despite the two negatives mentioned above, I have genuinely enjoying watching all 6 of the available episodes released so far. Can't wait for the next episode out Monday night. Hopefully there will be a season two.

In summary, if you like idea of enjoying beautiful scenery coupled with watching teams navigating difficult terrain under pressure, it might be worth giving 'Tracked' a try.

Really good show sucked me in to watch all episodes in 2 days. If you like it have seen Alone on History channel this reminds me of that a lot. Makes me want to go visit New Zealand without being tracked, beautiful scenery and film work. Suspenseful and ever changing. Didn't have high hopes at the beginning but changed my mind very quickly. Vinnie Jones was a great addition always like seeing him in movies and he added that extra legitimacy to the show. I really hope they continue this show and they could literally take this anywhere else in the world with different military trackers that would be cool to see.