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Netflix enters the reality competition genre as a host of world-class athletes compete against an unrelenting obstacle course in the high-octane new series Ultimate Beastmaster!
Produced by Sylvester Stallone and Dave Broome (The Biggest Loser), Ultimate Beastmaster is a truly unique international competition series tailor-made for the streaming era. Premiering today, Netflix has released six different versions of the reality series with each iteration tailored to local audiences in the U.S., Brazil, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, and Japan. Viewers will witness the same 108 competitors (18 from each country), but each customized version features local languages and hosts from each competing country.
Representing the U.S.A. is the energetic duo of Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews and Charissa Thompson (Extra TV, Fox Sports), who emphatically encourage the U.S. contestants as they attempt to use their athletic prowess to conquer the physically demanding 600-foot-long obstacle course known as The Beast.
Each hour-long episode features 12 competitors, two from each country, vying for the chance to be crowned a “Beastmaster.” In the final episode of the season, the nine previous winners square off for the chance to be named the Ultimate Warrior Beastmaster.
The contestants of Ultimate Beastmaster are as diverse as the obstacle course is fierce. From a fit financial advisor to an Olympic gold medalist, it’s difficult to predict who has the right combination of physical strength and mental acuity to thwart the monstrosity known as the Beast. Fans of ABC’s Wipeout or the stunts performed on Most Extreme Challenge will undoubtedly appreciate Ultimate Beastmaster, but while their hosts used to poke fun at the contestants, Crews and Thompson genuinely champion for Team Red, White, and Blue as they routinely break out in patriotic chants of U-S-A. If you’re looking for a more direct comparison, Ultimate Beastmaster is a heightened version of American Ninja Warrior.
“I believe this will be a game-changer within the industry,” Broome told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s not just that it’s the first reality competition for Netflix, this is a reality competition filmed at a scope, scale, and creative design that is tailor-made for a global platform like Netflix.”
As THR points out, more than half of Netflix’s 93.8 million subscribers come from the United States, so the immense breadth of the series — 60 total episodes across six different countries — could help the streaming site enhance its international audience. One of the points that makes Ultimate Beastmaster so compelling — the multitude of contestants and judges — can sometimes, however, be a hinderance. It’d be nice to learn more about the contestants beyond a brief 20-second video package, but with six sets of judges, 12 competitors, and multiple rounds of action, there’s just no time. Besides, the menacing Beast waits for no contestant.
Fans of other obstacle course-based programs should definitely give Netflix’s first foray into traditional TV-style reality competition a stream.
