I Thought 99 To Beat Was Cancelled, But There’s Finally Reason For Hope

I went from optimistic to cautiously optimistic to nervous to very nervous to down bad. As the months passed without any update on 99 To Beat, I started planning the funeral and assuming that epic finale was going to be it. Well, much to my euphoric surprise, it turns out there may still be signs of life. 99 To Beat is allegedly going through the casting process right now, and some notable reality stars are involved.

FOX hasn’t made any official announcement about the show’s fate, but after months of complete silence, social media started chattering a bit in recent days. Reality TV News/ Updates, which is typically a reliable source of info on reality competition shows, dropped a surprise post claiming there are rumors eight alumni from various competitions will be competing in the second season. You can check out the post below…

If you want to know how seriously people in the reality community are taking the post, I found comments underneath from more than five former Survivor players who know Kellie Nalbandian in real life. All shared excitement for her casting, including winner Dee Valladares who speculated that she’s going to win the money. Former Big Brother standout Tommy Bracco, who was a highlight of the first season of 99 To Beat, also commented and expressed excitement for the group of contestants who were seemingly chosen.

I’m convinced that part of the reason for 99 To Beat’s sluggish ratings is just the basic premise which sounds so stupid. I’ve personally tried to convince like a dozen people to watch it, and they all look at me like I'm out of my mind when I tell them what it’s about.

In short, the outrageous game show follows 100 people who are all asked to do some random task like threading a needle and sewing two things together. The first 99 to finish move on to the next round, and whoever finishes last goes home. That same process continues until only one person is left who wins a million dollars.

It’s not exactly an Olympic competition, but that’s what makes it so exciting. The 100 starting players are, as a whole, a pretty good representation of people in general, and because the competitions require very different types of skills, there’s not an inherent advantage for any specific sex, age group or body type. The result is you end up getting a bodybuilder and a grandma both desperately trying to drop a quarter into a shot glass that’s inside a fish tank. It probably needs a tweak or two, but the emotion and raw intensity are there, sometimes to an unhealthy level.

There’s been no announcement about when this hypothetical 99 To Beat season could premiere, but since the first season dropped in September of last year, my guess is they’re going to have it ready for the start of network TV season, probably to pair with The Floor. Fingers crossed they find a really fun and engaging group of contestants like last year and also, that they bringing back Erin Andrews and Ken Jeong who had a really fun rapport together, especially later in the season as they got emotionally invested in the contestants.