This weekly NBC reality/game show combined elements from several similar TV series as well as from such recent theatrical films as National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code. The contestants were divided into ten three-person teams, bearing such designations as "Geniuses," "Miss USA," and "Ex-CIA." Five of the teams were dispatched in one direction, five in another, whereupon all the players trotted around the globe, stopping at various historical sites to seek out hidden clues and code words that would enable them to find a "buried treasure" of gold. Along the way, the players were also expected to outperform each other in various mental and physical challenges -- many of them extremely embarrassing and humiliating in nature (especially toward those players who had the misfortune to be too fat, too thin, too short, or too tall -- at least by the prevailing "beautiful people" standards). Hosted by Laird Macintosh, Treasure Hunters debuted June 18, 2006.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
