Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Insiders’ On Netflix, A Convoluted Spanish ‘Big Brother’ Copycat Where The Housemates Don’t Think They’re Being Filmed

We find it interesting when Netflix tries a reality format in Europe or Asia before bringing it to the U.S. Sing On! is a good example of this. We think that they want to make sure the format works and plays to a decent audience before rolling out an American version. We feel that’s what they’re doing with Insiders. Why do we think that? Read on for more.

INSIDERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Host Najwa Nimiri, clad in leather, walks around a green-and-red-lit studio. “Let’s not fool ourselves,” she tells the camera, “these days, reality contestants have seen it all before.”

The Gist: In order to capture the 12 contestants on Insiders with their guards down, the producers of the reality competition Insiders have come up with an interesting twist: The 12 contestants think they’re auditioning for a reality show. Huh? How does that work?

Nimiri takes her time going over how this works. The contestants, all in their 20s and early 30s, are led to believe that they’re in the final round of auditions for a Big Brother-style reality series. For 3 weeks, the group will live on a soundstage; in certain rooms, they’re told that there are cameras, but in the living quarters, they’re told that there are no cameras or microphones. In reality, that area has dozens of hidden cameras and microphones installed, recording their every move. They think they’re on an audition, but the competition has already started.

Along the way, they’re confronted with a pair of actors posing as “good cop” and “bad cop” producers, and in a “white room” with a video “totem” in it, they’re shown a pie chart that compares their behavior to what the show considers a “perfect contestant”. How do they determine that? Supposedly, some software analyzed the behavior of every reality contestant ever and came up with the numbers.

At a certain point, after a particular number are eliminated, the contestants will be told that they’ve been filmed all along. In the meantime, we see the usual alliances, contestants pairing up, on-camera fights that lead to “off-camera” meltdowns, and a real producer coming in to say she’s going to be fired because someone leaked a photo of the “white room”.

Insiders
Photo: Netflix

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Insiders is most definitely Netflix’s attempt at creating their own multinational Big Brother–style reality franchise. We thought they had that with The Circle, but they must have wanted a show where everyone is living together instead of isolated in separate apartments.

Our Take: The idea that drives Insiders is straightforward: Film people who don’t think they’re being filmed in order to see their unvarnished behavior. But the reality of making sure the contestants buy into the ruse is much more complex. The manipulation the show’s producers have to perform is at epic levels on this show, and the attempts to explain everything that gets thrown at these contestants take viewers out of the flow of getting introduced to the contestants and getting to see how they interact with each other.

We see much more of Nimiri than the host of even the most convoluted reality competitions; every few minutes, she pops on screen in her severe wig and patent leather to explain the next twist in the format. In the meantime, the contestants tend to blend together, and trying to distinguish one from the other starts becoming difficult.

There’s another factor that seemed to be missing from the overexplanations about the format: What in the hell are these people playing for? Are they just looking to hook up? To get the title of…. Least Gullible? It just feels like the producers are so proud of this format that explaining the actual game play itself is neglected.

Sex and Skin: There’s talk of it — one contestant says she’d “fuck three guys in one day” in her younger years, before getting a boyfriend. And it does seem that the contestants get pretty cozy within a day or two. But we don’t see any actual sex yet.

Parting Shot: After the leak, Nimiri explains that the “fake Committee” — the phony producers — will make the housemates very uncomfortable.

Sleeper Star: One contestant, Nicole, is trans, and we’re not 100% sure that she’s told any of the other contestants about it. It’ll be interesting to see if people at the house will shrug at the news or react.

Most Pilot-y Line: One of the contestants says “This is Insiders. Anything can happen.” Really? Have there been hidden seasons of the show that the contestants have seen but not the rest of us?

Our Call: SKIP IT. There’s a good reality competition somewhere within the convoluted format of Insiders. But the pains the producers take to keep their secret from the contestants makes it all about the conceit and not the contestants themselves.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Insiders On Netflix

source: nypost.com