Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films making noise in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.
This month, we head to the European nation of Belgium for the first time. Belgium’s Traitors-producing neighbor the Netherlands tends to get the lion’s share of the Benelux region’s format plaudits but there’s plenty good stuff coming from the home of Hercule Poirot, and one such series is 99 to Beat. The fun, playful show in which to win you simply can’t lose, was recently picked up by ITV in the UK and conversations with U.S. buyers are well underway.
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Name: 99 to Beat
Country: Belgium
Network: VRT
Producer: VRT
International sales: Primitives
For fans of: Musical Chairs, Squid Game: The Challenge
Can you boil an egg? Or peel a potato?
Most people would like to think the answer to these questions is, ‘Yes, absolutely,’ so the creators of hit Belgian format 99 to Beat set out to see if they’re right.
99 to Beat, which emerged from Belgium, a nation of just over 11 million people that frequently punches above its weight in the global formats game, is a show for ‘average joes,’ explains Jo Dehennin, the creator and exec for Belgian pubcaster VRT.
It started life as a short part in daily magazine show Everyone’s Famous, but commissioners spotted that viewing tended to peak during the 99 to Beat segment and a primetime version was ordered. Dehennin and his team always set out to forge a series that could act as an “antidote for all the bad news out there.”
“We were looking for a show about normal people,” Dehennin tells Deadline. “We wanted to do something for everyone that everyone could participate in. And it is out of the ordinary in that usually gameshows have winners and there has to be some extraordinary quality to the contestants, but in this show it is all about not losing.”
In 99 to Beat, the 100 starting contestants compete in amusing, everyday challenges with the sole aim of not losing. As the game progresses and there are fewer contestants, the challenges become more tricky but the premise remains the same.
Dehennin likes to think the show is unique in TV — “we aired before Squid Game,” he points out with tongue in cheek — and he was inspired by a much more old-fashioned pastime: The game of musical chairs. “The setting for that game was also the inspiration of the circle with which we start every challenge,” he adds. “We wanted to focus on the fact that you play a game and after every song a player has to leave.”
The show has now run for two primetime seasons and has developed along the way, with highlights including “silly, unpretentious” challenges such as potato peeling, running with skis on and a game in which pairs of contestants were blindfolded and had to identify the sound of squeaky toys.
The potato peeling challenge in particular played into VRT’s desire to speak to the everyday viewer, Dehennin says. “We wanted to create games that would make everyone at home scream at their TV,” he adds. “People asked how it was possible that someone in their twenties had never peeled a potato in his life; they said his mother must be ashamed. And the contestants are so recognizable, they could be your sister or colleague, or the guy you see in the local shop.”
Potential pitfalls
VRT has always been alive to potential pitfalls and not all challenges have gone down smoothly, while forging games in which there is one loser has at times proved tricky. Dehennin cites a failed attempt at a game in which contestants had to eat ten spicy hot wings (“once you get to your fourth or fifth your mouth becomes numb, so everyone won”) and also acknowledges that budget constraints meant the team tried to get through too many challenges per day in the early days, before 99 to Beat was given more investment.
As distributor Primitives has closed more and more deals for versions of 99 to Beat around the world, ratings in Belgium have held steady in evening primetime slots, with the latest season launching late last month to more than 700,000 people with a 35% share. VRT schedulers also opted for an innovative release model from Season 2 onwards that sees the show air on Facebook several hours before its linear slot, which Dehennin says “does not cost us any audience” and he believes in fact gained a share of around 3% to 4% per episode.
The latest 99 to Beat sale is likely the show’s biggest, to UK network ITV, where it will sit within a schedule that also features entertainment juggernauts like The Masked Singer, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Love Island.
“The phones have been ringing” since the ITV announcement, Primitives Sales Director Simone de Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne tells Deadline, as she reveals that talks with potential U.S. buyers are under way.
She says the concise nature of the format has proved a boon. “What we hear from clients all the time is that this has a very clear premise,” adds de Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne. “And you can cast your net very wide, finding 100 people who represent society. It’s pure, fun, family entertainment.”
De Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne notes that different territories have subtly contrasted their approaches to the show’s creation, with larger nations such as Germany choosing to opt for a glossier look and feel, and the Nordic version “a little more colorful” than the Belgian original. New territories are given an extensive game bible and run all their tasks past Dehennin and de Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne to make sure they work. De Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne tells an amusing anecdote about a potential French buyer who said they would refuse to use a challenge where contestants have to roll toilet paper as fast as they can because this would be too lewd for French TV.
‘Destination X’ coming to town
Both De Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne and Dehennin are confident that shows like 99 to Beat will shine a light on Belgian formats in a similar vein to how neighboring nations like the Netherlands are perennially part of the conversation. Another Belgian original, Destination X, looks set to make a splash worldwide soon with big-budget versions commissioned by the BBC and NBCUniversal from the same partnership that birthed Dutch original The Traitors. The travel adventure series sees contestants head out on a bus trip during which they have to figure out their mystery locations, with challenges designed to offer clues along with misdirects to keep them guessing.
De Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne used to work for Destination X seller Be-Entertainment and she says the local industry’s success is built on its appetite for taking risks. “Belgian channels give format creators the space to develop and are open when talking about development,” she adds. “If they believe in the idea then they give it time and budget. Compared to other territories there is maybe a bit more space.”
For such a small nation, and one that is divided into three distinct regions, Dehennin, who used to ply his trade for Fremantle and Endemol, says Belgium’s secret sauce lies within the strength of its public broadcaster.
“There has always been strong competition between the commercial side and PSB side and that has stimulated creativity,” he adds. “VRT focuses on entertainment as well as news and that is key. We’re often told that we are the number two public broadcaster in Europe [behind the BBC] on the efficiency and creative side.”
With 99 to Beat looking set to take the world by storm, here’s hoping Belgian buyers keep taking big gambles. Much like one of the format’s playful games, undertaking the challenge may just pay off.