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“Amazing Race meets Phone Booth” show concept being auctioned off on eBay.

by Andy Dehnart 24 Feb. 2005 | 7:00 am

“Amazing Race meets Phone Booth” show concept being auctioned off on eBay.
Greg Cooper, who describes himself in a press release as “an accomplished veteran of the broadcasting industry with nearly 20 years experience,” is auctioning off the rights to a reality show he developed. The high bidder will win “the intellectual property rights to an all new reality series concept entitled ‘The Cube.'” The auction says the show is “‘The Amazing Race’ meets ‘Phone Booth,'” which of course is a movie where people get picked off by a sniper. Sadly, no culturally insensitive morons get shot in this show, which is summarized thusly:

We take 20 people – strangers – a mixture of males and females – and pair them up. The teams are given a cell phone – and then they each move in to a separate 6′ x 6′ enclosed transparent cube on a public street. The contestants can bring anything they want – but all of it must fit in the cube. All of the cubes will be located in the same city. One person from the team must stay in the cube at all times. Each contestant is given a limited number of minutes each day to leave the cube for hygiene. … The rest of everyday is spent trying to complete various tasks assigned by the producers of the show. … That person will then leave the cube to do something extreme and very challenging – and they’ll have to do it faster than their opponents. … As a kicker, we’ll also set up “cube cams” on the internet so that the world can watch all of the teams 24 hours a day.

All of this begs the question: If the concept was so amazing, why not sell it to a network? And why summarize it in a public forum? Maybe that explains the current bid, as of 9:30 a.m. ET: $1.

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about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart’s writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Pacific Standard, and other publications. He has covered reality television for more than 18 years, and created reality blurred in 2000.

A member of the Television Critics Association, Andy, 40, directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. More about reality blurred and Andy.

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reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality TV and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It was created in 2000 by Andy Dehnart. He's still writing and publishing it today.

reality blurred is regularly updated with highlights from the world of reality TV: news and analysis; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of these reality TV shows, including Survivor, Big Brother, The Great British Baking Show, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, and many more.

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