The Cube (game show)

The Cube is a British game show that originally aired on ITV from 22 August 2009 to 8 August 2015 and was hosted by Phillip Schofield. The show offered contestants the chance to win a top prize of £250,000 by completing challenges from within a 4m × 4m × 4m Perspex cube. It was based on the idea that even straightforward tasks become extremely challenging when confined and put under pressure inside a small, enclosed area whilst surrounded by a large live studio audience. Once inside, contestants could feel both claustrophobic and disoriented, affecting their concentration and abilities. Using "state-of-the-art filming techniques", the show aimed to demonstrate the intense anxiety which contestants underwent as they progressed through each task. The challenges involved catching, throwing, estimating, reacting, memorising, balancing, etc. Colin McFarlane provided the disembodied voice of The Cube, who explained the rules of the games.[1]

The Cube
Created byAdam Adler
Presented byPhillip Schofield
Voices ofColin McFarlane
Theme music composerNick Foster
Ken Bolam
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original language(s)English
No. of series9
No. of episodes79
Production
Production location(s)Fountain Studios (2009–2015)
Television Centre, London (2020–)
Running time60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)Objective Productions
DistributorAll3Media
Release
Original networkITV
Picture format576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Audio formatStereo
Original release22 August 2009 (2009-08-22) –
8 August 2015 (2015-08-08)
External links
Website

On 15 June 2020, it was reported that The Cube will return with the jackpot being increased to a significant sum of money.[2] A month later ITV confirmed that Schofield would return as host for a 5 episode series and a celebrity special. The jackpot will increase to £1,000,000 for the regular episodes but it will remain at £250,000 for the celebrity special.

Format

The game is played by a single contestant within a transparent Perspex cube that measures 4 metres along each edge. The goal is to complete a series of seven games, each of which awards an increasing amount of prize money, before failing a total of nine times. Games are preselected for each individual contestant before the show to test their mental and physical faculties in various ways. A typical episode consists of two contestants' games.

The contestant begins with nine lives, and loses one for every unsuccessful attempt at a game. The contestant must repeat the game until they either complete it or run out of lives; in the latter case, the game ends and all money is forfeited. When a contestant succeeds, they are shown a preview of the next game and can decide to either stop playing and keep their winnings, or continue and risk the money. During a preview, the game is named and described by a male computer voice (provided by McFarlane) and demonstrated by "The Body," a woman dressed in a full-body jumpsuit and featureless metal mask. In the original series, McFarlane described the Body as "an expert in all games played within the Cube"; her real name has never been stated on camera or listed in the credits.

Schofield occasionally comments on the difficulty that past contestants have had with a game and notes the average number of lives lost while playing it, in order to help the contestant decide whether to continue or stop. Friends and family members in the audience may offer advice on decision-making and techniques for playing the games. Certain games have specific restrictions added to increase their difficulty, such as a time limit or allowing the use of only one hand. If the contestant violates any such restriction, they immediately lose a life.

The contestant is given two forms of assistance, each of which may be used once. "Simplify" reduces the difficulty of a game, such as by allowing more time or increasing the size of a target zone, and may be used after any unsuccessful attempt. The simplification remains in effect until the contestant either completes that game or runs out of lives. "Trial Run" allows the contestant to make one practice attempt at a game with no lives or money at stake, then decide if they want to play or stop. This assistance becomes available after they complete the first game, and can only be used upon the introduction of a new one.

The seventh and final game is worth a jackpot of £250,000; contestants who complete this game are said to have "beaten the Cube". It is a more difficult version of one of the six games a contestant previously played. So far, seven people have looked at the final £250,000 game. Six of them decided to stop the game and take the £100,000 they have already got. Only one person has successfully completed the seventh game: runner Mo Farah, who appeared in a special episode of a celebrity series in 2012 that featured British gold medallist athletes as contestants.

Filming

Objective Productions first approached Channel 4 in 2008 with the format. It was made into a non-televised pilot by the channel,[3] and was hosted by Justin Lee Collins. Channel 4 eventually decided not to commission the show because it would have been too expensive.[4] In February 2009, ITV purchased the rights to the show and filming began during April 2009 at Wembley's Fountain Studios. The Cube is one of the first shows to use the game freeze filming technique on a frequent basis, such as when a contestant jumps in celebration. The technique used is called "time slice". Using specially designed cameras, it allows the viewer to see one side of the Cube before the action is frozen, spun to another face of the Cube and then resumed. Slow-motion shots are again common to show action replays of the task a contestant just completed, or the critical moment of a game, to heighten the excitement of whether the contestant will succeed or fail. The show makes extensive use of CGI to project images onto the walls and ceiling of the Cube, while a screen on the floor is also capable of showing images. These film techniques make the seemingly simple tasks that are put before the contestants seem much more exciting than they would normally be.

For series 8, which premiered on 1 March 2014, the show received a revamp, including a new studio set (the wave lines in the background were replaced by a circular replica of the letter C), new opening credits, a redesign of graphics and several new games. The seven game format and prize money structure remained the same.

Prize money

Since the first episode, The Cube has had a prize money structure starting at £1,000 and ending at the £250,000 jackpot, though with the upcoming 2020 series, the jackpot has been announced to be raised to £1,000,000.[5]. Below is a breakdown of the prize money structure as used from Series 1-9, showing the game number and amount of prize money that can be won for successfully completing that game. If a player loses all their lives at any point during the game, they lose all the money they have accumulated to that point. The only exception is for celebrities, playing for charity, in which £1,000 is awarded. All games are different for each level, except for the jackpot, where a game is repeated, but at a much harder level. For example, decreased time, smaller targets or one more barrier, in Barrier.

Original series
StageAmount
Game 1£1,000
Game 2£2,000
Game 3£10,000
Game 4£20,000
Game 5£50,000
Game 6£100,000
Game 7£250,000

Transmissions
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
122 August 20093 October 20097
219 September 20102 January 201112[6]
33 April 201111 June 20119[6]
430 October 201131 December 20119[6]
514 April 201221 July 20128[6]
623 December 201213 April 20138[6]
720 April 201322 February 20148[6]
81 March 20147 July 20149[6]
93 June 20158 August 20158[6]
10202020206[7]

Ratings

Awards
YearGroupAwardResult
2010 Broadcast Awards Best New Programme Nominated
Rose d'Or Best Game Show Nominated
2011 RTS Awards Best Entertainment Show Nominated
Broadcast Awards Best Entertainment Programme Won
BAFTA Best Entertainment Craft Team Won
Best Entertainment Programme Won
2012 Best Entertainment Craft Team Won
National Reality TV Awards Best Game Show Nominated
TV Choice Awards Won
Rose d'Or Nominated
National Television Awards Best Entertainment Programme Nominated
2013 Nominated
2014 Nominated

International versions

The format has been successful with international broadcasters. As of 2017, eleven countries have produced their own versions of the show which have all ceased broadcasting and in the case of the US version, the Greek and the Turkish version have not even been shown (only a pilot was filmed).

Below is a breakdown of the countries that have created their own versions along with other information including the Jackpot available and broadcast dates.

Legend:

     Currently airing  
     No longer airing  
     Non-broadcast pilot  
CountryNameHostChannelTop prizePremiere/air datesStatus
 Arab World[9] The Cube Dhaffer L'Abidine Dubai TV Dhs250,000 2 February – 27 April 2014 No longer airing
 China 梦立方
Mèng lìfāng		 Cheng Lei Dragon TV Prize[lower-alpha 1] or ¥250,000 13 May 2012 – 4 September 2013[10] No longer airing
 France Le Cube Nagui France 2 €50,000 1 July – 30 August 2013 No longer airing
 Germany The Cube – Besiege den Würfel! Nazan Eckes RTL €250,000 29 April 2011[11] No longer airing
 Greece O κύβος
O kubos		 Unknown Mega Channel ₯25,000,000 2010 Non-broadcast pilot
 Hungary A Kocka Nóra Ördög TV2 10,000,000 Ft 23 November – 23 December 2015[12] No longer airing
 Italy The Cube – La Sfida Teo Mammucari Italia 1 €100,000 7 – 28 September 2011[13] No longer airing
 Portugal O Cubo Jorge Gabriel RTP1 €30,000 16 May – 11 July 2010 No longer airing
 Russia[14] Куб
Kub		 Dmitry Kharatyan Channel One ₽3,000,000 30 March – 30 November 2013 No longer airing
 Saudi Arabia المكعب
Al Moukaab		 Faisal Al Issa KSA 1 SR250,000 17 March – 8 July 2010 No longer airing
 Spain El Cubo Raquel Sánchez Silva Cuatro €150,000 8 February – 14 August 2012[15] No longer airing
€250,000
 Turkey Kup Unknown Kanal D 250,000,000,000 lira 2010 (pilot rejected) Non-broadcast pilot
 Ukraine Куб
Kub		 Maksim Chmerkovskiy STB 250,000 ₴ 21 November 2011 – 24 December 2012[16] No longer airing
Dmitry Tancovich 500,000 ₴ 26 August 2013 – 29 December 2014
 United States The Cube Neil Patrick Harris CBS $500,000 2010 (pilot rejected) Non-broadcast pilot
Note
  1. For example, the prize of the first 5 games for the very first contestant were football boots, complete set of freestyle football equipments, freestyle football party, replacement of old home appliances and a freestyle football studio respectively.

The UK version of The Cube is also formerly being simulcast in Ireland by Virgin Media One. It is broadcast in New Zealand on TV1, and in Australia on the Nine Network. Old series were broadcast in Bosnia and Herzegovina by RTRS, in Serbia by IQS Life and in Singapore by MediaCorp Channel 5.

Filming locations

The German, Italian, Portuguese, Saudi Arabian, Spanish and the U.S. pilot of The Cube were filmed at The Fountain Studios in London using the British set and games. Other international versions have created their own studio sets. The Chinese version of the show is filmed at the Zhabei Gymnasium in Shanghai; the Ukrainian version of the show is filmed at the Antonov Serial Production Plant in Kiev; the Russian version of the show is filmed at the Ostankino Technical Center in Moscow; the Arabian version is filmed at the Dubai Studio City in Dubai and the French version of the show is filmed in La Plaine Saint-Denis, near Paris.

Top prize winners

Across all versions of the show, 7 contestants have won the final game and taken away the jackpot.

CountryContestantJackpot gameJackpot wonNumber of lives leftDate
 Arab World Mark Johnson Blind Shot Dhs250,000 20 April 2018
 China Chen Kun Extraction ¥250,000 22 July 2012 (Charity special)
Wu Jing Tower ¥250,000 2 May 2013 (Charity special)
 Portugal Vítor Costa Barrier €30,000 30 May 2018
 Ukraine Andriy Serko Rapid Fire 250,000 UAH 29 October 2012
 United Kingdom Mo Farah Barrier £250,000 14 July 2012 (Charity special)
Paddy McGuinness and Alesha Dixon Construction £100,000 19 December 2014 (Text Santa Special; the top prize for this game was £100,000)

Merchandise

An electronic board game based on the series was made available in stores from November 2010.[17] As of June 2011, the game has been discontinued by most main retailers.[18] The game comes with an electronic handheld system featuring games such as Time Freeze and Stop Zone, as well as 9 balls- six 18mm blow moulded balls, 1 30mm EVA foam ball, 1 25mm hard ball and one 50mm hard ball. The balls are used for different reasons and the foam ball is used for most games with a ball. For Multisphere, all balls are used unless it is being played in a room with hard floors, in that case eight balls are used. Tubes are used for almost every physical game for starting positions, voids, tubes, towers and columns. Other equipment in the board game are track pieces, discs, clips, z shaped platform pieces, cannons, blocks, a ball flipper, a beam and card pieces,and a 7 cm x 7 cm x 7 cm plastic cube for playing a series of physical games. The cube is used for a container and to connect onto the cube platform for the electronic games. A reducer also comes with the cube, allowing it to reduce the size of the open top of the cube. This is, in almost all games involving the cube, removed in a simplify. Many well known and classic games are here as well as new games such as Roller, Catch, Retrieval and Bounce, everyday life games and interesting and complex games.

Around the time of the release of the board game, a Game App version of the series was made available via the iTunes store for use on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. This app version originally featured sixteen games from the series: Balance, Cylinder, Descent, Drop Zone, Focus, Multisphere, Perimeter, Precision, Quantity, Reaction, Revolution, Shatter, Stabilise, Stop Zone and Time Freeze. The first update for the game came in April 2011 with Pulse added Another update for the game was made available in June 2011, adding a further free game, Succession, and making eight games available via in app purchase in 2 "packs" Exact, Pathfinder, Totalise and Tower in Pack one and Invert, Composure, Calculate and Navigate in Pack two. A further update was made available in October 2011, adding a further free game, Axis. 2 further games followed in 2012, Eliminate in April and Symmetry in October. In February 2013, Chase, which at that time had not been shown on TV, was made available. Almost a year later on 21 February 2014 Avoid was added. The most recent update came on 19 May 2014 when 4 games new games were made available via In App Purchase. These new games were Reset, Plummet, Selection and Tally all which are new games from the most recent series. There are currently 35 games available to play in the App version.

On 9 November 2012, a Cube game was released on consoles for the first time. It was available on the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS. 33 games are playable in this version including two unseen new games: Flight Path (already played in international versions) and Retrace. If the Cube is beaten, Extreme Mode is unlocked, featuring more extreme versions of five popular games: Revolution, Pathfinder, Perimeter, Rebound and Momentum.

References
  1. "Schofield to host ITV gameshow 'The Cube'". Digital Spy. 14 March 2009.
  2. White, Peter (15 June 2020). "ITV Brings Back Big-Budget Gameshow 'The Cube' From Objective Productions". Deadline. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  3. Channel 4 piloting gameshow in a cube Digital Spy
  4. ITV snaps up C4-piloted gameshow Broadcast
  5. [Post about the return of the game show, new top prize and encouraging to apply] (Facebook, profile THE CUBE, 15 July 2020)
  6. "The Cube". All3Media. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  7. "The Cube is back with a one million pound jackpot". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  8. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  9. "Dubai TV". Dmi.ae. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  10. "东方卫视梦立方官方网站". dragontv.cn. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012.
  11. "TVmatrix". tvmatrix.de.
  12. "TV2". tv2.hu. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  13. "Mediaset Play: Programmi TV, Video, Dirette Live e Film". Mediaset Play. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  14. суббота, 16:50. "Куб - Анкета - Первый канал". 1tv.ru. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  15. "Cuatro busca concursantes para 'El Cubo'". cuatro.com. 15 November 2011.
  16. "Шоу Куб: смотреть онлайн". КУБ.
  17. "Buy The Cube Family Electronic Game at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Games and board games". argos.co.uk.
  18. "Generic Error". debenhams.com.
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