Just when you thought the reality TV field could not get any more crowded comes another, promising to be bigger and badder the rest. But this time, there could be something behind the hype.  This new show promises to be bigger than Survivor and The Amazing Race, the two grand-daddies of reality TV. And to cap it off, the show will be fronted by a contestant that has appeared in both shows.  There is none other than Boston Rob Mariano to bring some controversy to the show. Luckily this time, he's not competing but hosting the show. That show is Tontine.

What is the premise behind this oddly named show ? A tontine is a fund to which multiple investors contribute capital which is then invested. Dividends are paid out to all investors. Things start to get interesting when an investor dies as all surviving investors will inherit the deceased's share of the dividends. This process continues until there is a sole survivor who gets the balance of the entire fund.

So how does this concept work when translated to a reality TV show ? Tontine will involve fifteen contestants competing for 100 days in both mental and physical challenges across seven continents.  Like all good reality TV shows, there is an elimination element and the elimination concept is also built into the tontine concept to begin with. Each contestant starts the game with a key which represents his/her life in the game. The contestants will compete for each other's keys and the player with all fifteen keys at the end of the game wins the prize - $10 million. 

I like the sound of this premise very much as it has elements of both Survivor and The Amazing Race. But every good reality show needs a twist. Tontine's twist is that true to the roots of the concept, the $10 million will be contributed by the contestants, not the network !  This is not a reality TV game show but a reality TV poker game ! Real dollars are at stake here for the contestants who will not only lose their chance at the prize if eliminated, but they will lose their capital contribution to the eventual winner.

Tontine is scheduled to start production later this year and will air in early 2008. I can't wait !

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