Buddy Games Review 2023 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
In Buddy Games six teams of four old friends convene in what looks like an idyllic summer camp setting and play crazy games. The prize for the last team standing is $200,000. These are people who have worked together for years, like a team of Chicago cops, or have been friends since they were kids or teens, like groups from Philly and Oklahoma. There’s also a group of Mrs. America pageant buddies, a group that is part of their city’s LGBTQ community and a group of roller derby friends.
When Duhamel greets the group, he tells them about the first challenge, in a round called the “Curveball.” They have to make their way to the luxury lodge where they’ll stay, but they either have to drag a massively heavy duffel bag, gag on some nasty curdled mac and cheese, or “swag”, meaning strip down to their birthday suits. The first one who makes it to the lodge can give another team a “curveball,” which is a disadvantage, during the main challenge.
The main challenge is an obstacle course, with electrified wires, a V-shaped balance beam the whole team has to negotiate while holding a huge 2×4, a mud pit where the teams have to collect mud on their bodies and dump it in a bucket, and then a massive game of beer pong where each team member has to sink a shot into a big cup. The first team to finish wins $5000.
The bottom two teams have to battle it out in an elimination round, called “Loser’s Last Stand.” In the first episode, members from each team wear a blindfold and bells, and have to capture a flag on the other team member’s waist. The first to three points stays, and the losing team has to vote off one member to go home (once the teams are down to two members, though, the whole team will go home).
Duhamel created Buddy Games and is an executive producer, and a lot of the show’s vibe flows from him. He has that same goofy, regular-guyish charm that made him a star, and it’s endearing when he wears a t-shirt that says “TEST DUMMY” on it and tries out the challenges himself before subjecting the teams to them. He is actually covered in mud as he introduces and does play-by-play on the obstacle course.
The challenges in Buddy Games are supposed to be goofy and fun, because that’s the kind of stuff you did at summer camp or when you hung out with your friends. In fact, the whole summer camp vibe of the show is welcome, given how other shows feel more cold and cutthroat. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to get some good old-fashioned team infighting, though we wonder if some of that seen in the season highlights is more hyped up than what actually happens.
What we liked the most about the show is that there seems to be a summer camp kind of camaraderie between the teams, even if they’re competing for a big prize, and that some of the teams are just happy to be hanging out with their buddies like they used to, given how adult life often gets in the way of that. Is the show silly? Sure. But silly is a good thing sometimes.
