Hunted

Awful, completely anti-climatic and ruined the entire experience. Clearly scripted and has ruined all future viewing for myself

If you are looking for a fair hunters and hunted show you won't find it here. The rules have everything slanted to make it easy for the hunters, and this can be frustrating. Season 4 especially. But some people can outwit the hunters and you have to applaud them. If you consider it real fugitives do have everything stacked against them the shows does try to replicate this.

Contestants are not able to crawl into a hole for 25 days, they must move, rely on family and friends, have limited access to cash.

If you can suspend disbelief and take this show at face value you will enjoy it. If you are looking for a completely authentic non-scripted reality show, this is not the show for you.

I really enjoyed the first few series of Hunters and originally gave it 8/10. However, in the last couple of series it's gone way downhill, and I agree with other reviewers that it now feels very scripted. For whatever reason, the contestants act far more stupid now than they ever did in earlier series and that just spoils it for me. Taunting the Hunters with video clips on social media certainly isn't real life; who on the run would actually do that? The cameraman following the hunted is a necessity for the programme and I understand that. I've downgraded my review to 4/10 now and won't be watching anymore future series.

It's very obvious that a lot of this show is stage-managed. 'New associates' (aka total strangers) mysteriously pull up and offer the fugitives lifts, even give them refuge in their homes. The hunters know all sorts of stuff that they could not logically know - or, then again, suddenly don't know stuff that you would think they would. The hunted make moves that appear completely random. And, most mysterious and improbable of all, everybody seems to want to go to Birmingham. There's a pretty big product placement angle and, just as they make a point of featuring certain hotels, it looks as though Birmingham council are paying people to go there. After all, it's the only way anybody would...

It's this close to being a completely pointless fake. The only thing that vouches for the show's authenticity is the obviously genuine reactions of both hunters and hunted. But that doesn't mean that situations are not being set up between them by the producers, they clearly are. And I'm 99% certain that the winner is picked beforehand. In fact, we had them picked out at an early stage - not because they were particularly smart or anything, but because they were the type of person that the show obviously wants to win.

Hunted is a fast-paced, addictive game of modern hide and seek. Civilian contestants go on the run, while teams of elite former FBI, CIA, and military professionals try to track them down using real-world surveillance tools. It's clever, suspenseful, and entertaining-but it also raises some big questions.

Many of the "retired" investigators look barely past 35, which makes you wonder: couldn't these skilled professionals be helping solve real cases instead of chasing volunteers for a TV show?

More importantly, Hunted serves as a subtle warning. It shows just how easily we can be tracked-through phones, bank cards, social media, cameras, and more. Everyday viewers should take note: we give up a lot of personal data without thinking, and not just to law enforcement. Hackers and scammers are out there too.

As for criminals thinking this show offers a how-to guide for going off the grid-don't get cocky. What's shown here is the surface. Real investigators have far more tricks up their sleeves that aren't shown for good reason.

In short, Hunted is more than just entertainment. It's a glimpse into the reach of modern surveillance-and a reminder to guard your digital footprint.