Quarterback turned baseball star Tim Tebow has taken on yet another high-profile position. The athlete hosts the new CBS competition program Million Dollar Mile, which pits contestants against defendants in a large-scale obstacle course.
In the show, the contestants are runners who attempt to win a million dollar prize and there are defenders, who aim to protect the money. At the beginning of each race, the runners get a two-minute head start.
The Los Angeles-based race includes an obstacle course with a fifth of a mile separating each obstacle. The obstacles themselves feature challenges involving balance beams, swimming, climbing and other athletic endeavors. Runners can choose the order of the obstacles — there are five out in the field (and an additional challenge at the finish line) — and there’s a cash prize that coincides with the number of completed obstacles.
To go home with any money though, the contestants need to complete at least one obstacle and mount a 15-story building and race to the finish line before the defender catches up to them. The more obstacles they complete before racing to the finish line, the more money they can win. If a runner finishes three obstacles before the defender captures up to them though, they automatically earn 50,000.
The show has an element of American Gladiators but instead of the competitors facing off directly against each other, this one features them competing in the same course together.
Tebow serves as host while Matt “Money” Smith and Maria Taylor announce the play-by-play of the race itself — noting the distance between the two competitors and the time that it takes for each to accomplish specific tasks. Defenders, for instance, usually start reducing that two-minute head start as soon as they arrive at the first obstacle.
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The program follows a specific template but the obstacles vary from race to race.
Each race begins with the introduction of both the runner and the defender. Most of the runners are great athletes but the defenders are often professional ones who compete in obstacle courses for a living. The back stories nicely show the contestants and their backgrounds. Unfortunately though, only a few of their back stories stand out and it’s hard to build a connection with the competitors in these brief videos.
The races themselves are interesting and exciting, especially when the runners are proven athletes who truly compete with the defenders. However, the dry format doesn’t allow for personalities to grow naturally in front of the camera.
There are a lot of competition shows on the air but most of them give the audience a chance to learn more about the contestants and their personality traits. On shows like The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars and Survivor, the competition lasts for a full season giving the audience more time to appreciate the players. Here, the individual competitions last for a segment or two. Minutes after the runners are introduced to the audience, they complete their journey and new runners are introduced.
Even The Titan Games, an NBC athletic competition hosted by Dwayne Johnson, features a season-long competition so the audience can grow more attached to their favorite athletes.
“Victory is only a mile away,” executive producer LeBron James notes in the introduction Million Dollar Mile. The heavily-promoted program has a solid concept but the execution leaves much to be desired. The energetic Tim Tebow tries to keep the excitement for the show alive but the show loses its momentum after each individual race. There’s some elements of fun and excitement here but the program can’t maintain that, especially since the runners aren’t given the opportunity to stand out.
Million Dollar Mile, which has already aired two episodes, will start airing new episodes on Saturday, May 4th.
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