‘Unan1mous’ is unpredictable joy ride to hell

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Still, it’s hard to feel sorry for Richard or any of the others; after all, they’re kept there only by their desire for money and fame — and peer pressure, as every person who leaves the bunker causes the total prize to be cut in half. Otherwise, they could all walk out the door.

While “conservative Republican [and] minister” Kelly did leave, considering the remaining personalities in the bunker, it’s somewhat unlikely that they’ll all leave; even the wallflowers are far less demure than their counterparts on other series.

Reading their biographies suggests that the producers selected individuals with abrasive personalities and diametrically opposed ideologies, which makes it easier for them to justify their selfishness.

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But it’s not their political ideologies, sexual orientations, bigotry, or careers that have caused the most conflict; it’s their greed. By the second vote, the contestants were so tired of the game that they decided to just vote for truck driver Steve.

The vote failed by one because “self-described womanizer” Jonathan, who’d previously tried to swing votes his way by pretending he had cancer, changed his vote, hoping he could eventually win the game. He was soon crushed to learn that his decision led to yet another penalty: the dollar amount on the prize money started to drop by one dollar every second. Selfishness has its price, and watching him realize that was a terrific moment.

As the series continues, it will be fascinating to watch how the players ultimately decide to make a decision. How does a person with a competitive, type A personality who came to win a game decide to give the prize to someone else? Or how does that person convince everyone to vote for him- or herself?

Those questions have led to “Survivor”-style strategizing, which has just started to develop. As the first group of people to play this game, they couldn’t plan in advance, so were constantly blindsided by everything the producers threw their way, from the nature of the game to the conditions of their environment.

Interestingly, the contestants were at first horrified by all of these twists, calling the revelation of Richard’s secret “low,” for example. Every subsequent twist appalled them even more, and thereby delighted the audience, as we gaze into the blender that they thought was a comfortable aquarium.

Now that the contestants are prepared, however, the producers are going to have to keep blindsiding them just to keep us entertained. Of that, we can all agree.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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