Imagine that the prerequisite for a gigantic payday was your ability to lie, cheat, bullshit, and backstab unapologetically.
It’s not just qualities that politicians should seemingly possess, but also the abilities likely highly valued by the directors of the Netflix show The Million Dollar Secret. Cause that’s how you win the game.
The show’s not exactly a lesson in moral fibre wholesomeness, but then again, it’s part of what makes it as entertaining as it is. And in season two of the reality game show, the sparks fly, and the lies are served up like candies that decorate the witches’ home in Hansel and Gretel. Because behind the sweetie wall, there’s danger that lurks.
The new season, released last month, pits a dozen vastly different personality types against one another at The Stag. It’s a gorgeous mansion on the shores of a lake somewhere. The placid location deceptive against the pressure cooker nature of the show’s narrative.
Smoke and mirrors on steroids
The second instalment features a super diverse cast. There’s Nick Pellecchia, a finance account manager, alongside Lauren Gierth, who works in sales operations, Kaleb Moon, a cattle farmer and rancher, former navy intelligence agent Umeko Peterson, Kat Ellis, a beverage cart attendant, and Hunter Call, a student and poker player while Daisy Skarning, a stay-at-home mother was the town gossip, and Kevin Moranz, a professional supercross racer.
Art director Kasey Coffey, daycare worker Tarek Ahmed and marketing manager Natalie Noisom. You get to know many of them quickly. Others exit early on without much luck or discourse.
If you have not watched the show yet or need a reminder about season one…The premise sounds deceptively simple, which is usually where the proverbial brown stuff starts hitting the fan.
One of the contestants walks into The Stag with a million dollars in a box and absolutely no intention of telling anyone about it.
From there, it becomes a game of smoke and mirrors. The person with the money must keep their identity under wraps while ticking off secret tasks designed to keep them in play. Everyone else is left to circle like hawks, watching, whispering, and trying to figure out who’s sitting on the cash before it’s too late.
Of course, nothing is ever that straightforward. Clues are dropped around the house, particularly in the Trophy Room, but trusting them is a gamble too, because the game has no problem feeding players misinformation just to see what sticks.
Watch the trailer: Trust is a gable, lying a strategy.
Alliances form quickly and fall apart even faster, usually over dinner, where accusations fly, and sucker punches are dished out in elimination voting.
And just when someone thinks they’ve cracked the case, the money changes hands, and the whole thing resets, leaving everyone back at square one, only more paranoid than before.
It’s not about playing fair at all, and add to that, reading people, bluffing convincingly, and knowing exactly when to keep quiet and when to throw someone else under the bus.
It sounds like another day at the office, but while you’re playing a longer game to earn that promotion, the contestants package it into twelve or so episodes.
Host Peter Serafinowicz returns with his dry wit and somewhat menacing demeanour. You may remember him from Star Wars (The Phantom Menace) as the voice of Darth Vader, Guardians of the Galaxy and Shaun of the Dead.
You may have also seen him virally overdubbing his voice onto Donald Trump videos. There’s also a comedy show that he hosts, eponymously titled.
There’s no doubt that he’s the best man for the job, and manages to pull together the adventure, deceit and gameplay into a narrative that’s eminently watchable. He never gets in the way.
The Million Dollar Secret season 2 is messy, manipulative, and at times uncomfortable to watch. But it works. And right now, it’s probably the most entertaining reality game show on television.
