Game show contestants have historically come up against mostly physical obstacles, like supermarket aisles and Aggro Crags, in their pursuit of easy, taxed-at-a-later-date money. Any mental hurdles they’ve encountered are usually just their own insecurities, which is presumably why, in 2015, a British production company created a game show that employs a hypnotist to plant suggestions in contestants’ minds to hinder their progress. And Fox, not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to mess with people’s minds (that is what’s going on with Gotham, right?), is adapting the show for American audiences.
According to Deadline, Fox has ordered eight hour-long episodes of You’re Back In The Room, a show whose hypno-format has already been picked up by several European and South American countries. You’re Back In The Room is currently just a working title for the show, presumably because it sounds both vague and vaguely threatening—what room is it that contestants are being returned to in their minds? Hopefully not one in which something awful happened, which resulted in a repressed memory that a certain type of professional would be asked to help retrieve.
We did take a look at the U.K. original from production company Tuesday’s Child, and it pits teams of susceptible contestants against each other to complete what would be fairly straightforward tasks if they hadn’t been hypnotized to sabotage themselves and each other. In keeping with their famously dry humor, the British host and audience cackle as the contestants touch each other and snap at each other, while baking cakes and pizzas after being told they’re too fat for their clothes. If Fox decides to pick up on the negging theme, perhaps it can get Mystery to host.