Double-quick cash dash
TODAY, once again, I start with both some bad news and some good. The bad news is that DOUBLE THE MONEY, which begins tonight on Channel 4 (9pm), is not the same as Double YOUR Money, the old ITV quiz in which every correct answer would enable you to do precisely what its title promised, the top prize being a life-changing thousand whole pounds (bear in mind, this was a while back).
The good news is it’s even better than that show. I know, pretty hard to believe, right?
Imagine a blend of Bake Off, Race Across The World, The Apprentice and Strictly (sort of), and you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect.
The Bake Off element is really just the fact that it’s hosted by former Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins.That, plus some of the contestants are making cakes, in this first episode at least.
The equally laboured Strictly comparison? That’s just the end bit, when Sue does a Tess, revealing, one by one, which pairs are through to next week – and who has to leave. Sadly, there’s no dance-off, dreaded or otherwise.
The similarity to Race Across The World is that each team consists of two people (couples, best chums, a mum and daughter, a dad and son etc), whose relationship looks sure to become strained as the competition intensifies.
They’re not actually in a race as such, but they do have a weekly goal to reach if they’re to stay in contention, in this case to take whatever money they’ve been given and come back with at least twice that sum. First up, each team has 36 hours to turn £250 into £500.
“How you do it, I don’t really care,” Sue tells them. But I think she probably does care a bit, or else why not just let them bung the lot on the 3.20 at Newton Abbot?
Like The Apprentice, each team needs to demonstrate their business sense and commercial awareness. Also like The Apprentice, you’ll wonder if some of them have any.
The dad and son decide to run their own superhero-themed car wash.Yes, quite.Well, the dad comes up with the superhero thing, the son just goes along with it.
One pair plan a pub quiz.Another put together “premium picnic boxes” to sell at their local market. A pair host cocktail-making master classes. Another reckon there’s big money to be made from “jazzy” sunglasses (that’s “jazzy” as in horrendous).
And so on, and so on.You get the idea.
Perhaps most ambitiously, Yorkshire pals Faye and Clare decide to tell fortunes, charging £15 per reading.Will this really earn them enough in such a short space of time?
To be fair, if anyone’s going to know the answer to that, I guess it’s them.