This show breaks the typical overproduced reality TV feel and turns it on its head.
In late spring of 2022, I found a show called “Jet Lag: The Game.” It was a goofy three-episode race through several states. Now nine months later, they just debuted the fourth season. The show has hit Top 20 on YouTube trending lists along with having a strong fanbase of 400k subscribers.
“Jet Lag” is very much a low-budget, underproduced show and that is why I keep coming back every season. It’s a change from the usual reality TV style, which is typically produced and has strings pulled. It has famous people come on and judge the participants What makes the show feel even less human is how they cut away and have a person talking after the show has been filmed, which just makes the show look like someone is pulling strings even after the show is produced.
The show’s basic rules are very simple: in season 4 the goal is to claim the most states. Each state gives you a point. To claim a state they take a card from the deck and complete the challenge they get. If a team claims two states bordering another team’s state, the team can challenge the other team for that state and they both have to complete a special battle challenge. Whoever wins gets the state and the state is locked. Then, at the end of 100 hours, the points are tallied up with an additional 2 points to the team that claims the most area.
The new format
This show was created by people who had run a few channels before; the biggest one they had was Wendover Productions. They were coming in with knowledge on how to run a YouTube channel.
To fund the show, rather than having sponsorships, they had help from a creator streaming service called Nebula. Nebula was around before this show came out and they had even done other shows on Nebula. The reason this one stands out is that it was not Nebula exclusive. Rather, each episode was released one week earlier on Nebula than on YouTube.
Natural on camera
The strategy that the contestants put into the show is very in-depth. Usually, it is very interesting to see what happens when they butt heads in a battle for certain states.
The want to win the game is very real because it is not money that is on the line.
I hope you watch this show.
Students of the Sidewalk 