4 hours Ago By Yahoo TV UK
What did you miss? David Tennant 's super tricky new gameshow Genius Game saw two contestant jump straight into a bitter rivalry within minutes of its debut. Former global sales director Paul, who loves to play poker and chess, said as he introduced himself to the rest of the ITV show cast that people should remember not to take any game play personally - but things quickly got very personal between him and university lecturer Benjamin. The pair instantly clashed in the contest to win garnets and build a prize fund that one strategic player will eventually scoop.
Benjamin accused Paul of not understanding the game, while Paul became convinced that Benjamin was plotting against him. What, how, and why? The first complex game challenged players to "heist" different amounts of money from three vaults in secret. If more players chose a vault than there were money pots available in it, then they would have to sit out a round in jail, which they could also be sent to if other players staged a "tip off" by correctly guessing or revealing what they had tried to heist.
It was high stakes from the start as the losing player would go into a death match with a rival of their choosing to see who would be eliminated first, while the winner would be rewarded with garnets and immunity. As the cast of 11 split off into two groups, Paul tried to instruct his group on what to do, telling them: "Just believe me." But Benjamin quickly pointed out that Paul had got the maths and the rules wrong, leading to an awkward silence.
He then tried to explain his own strategic plan to tip off a targeted player, but Paul jumped in with "Tip off on them all!" as Benjamin rolled his eyes in frustration. Fellow player Bex laughed to Benjamin: "Paul doesn't know what's going on." Read more: As the first game got underway, Benjamin's annoyance became clear as he said: "I've written nothing so far because there was no time to write down my plan.
Thanks to Paul's ramblings." However, Paul's take was: "There was no plan. They were faffing around too much.
Ben dominated the conversation too much. He is top of my radar of cannot trust." Players then went into the heist room to secretly reveal their decision to the show's dealers, but Benjamin couldn't resist saying: "Paul doesn't know the rules of the game and he's very insistent on telling everybody what to do.
I'm really annoyed. "I wanted to work with Scott and India this game and I got stuck in the minority with Paul. Paul who doesn't understand the rules to the game yet barks orders at people who he's supposedly trying to work with.
I can't work with Paul anymore." Paul ended up in jail twice, facing the death match, and was convinced he knew that Benjamin was to blame: "I just instinctively, intuitively know he's a saboteur so I cannot trust him." But later in the episode, it was revealed that the other group had come up with a plan to target Paul with tip offs, meaning that he would never have been able to win.
What happened in the first Genius Game death match? Charlotte won the first challenge after keeping a cool head that saw her finish on £20m, with an immunity badge and three garnets. She bestowed immunity on ally Scott and gave a garnet to friend India. Paul picked Bhasha to take on in the death match, where they had to spot complicated patterns in a grid of shapes and end on the highest score to keep their place in the show.
It was a tense watch for the rest of the group as they realised that Bhasha struggled to understand how it worked to begin with, watching her score plummet. However, she staged an incredible comeback and went on to win the death match, sending Paul home after the first episode. Genius Game airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
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