Pirate Master Review

Ok so, we’re addicted to Pirate Master. Diane, Lauren, and I watch it every Thursday on CBS.

I’m so ashamed, I’ve allowed Mark Burnett to do it to us again. Survivor, Eco-Challenge, On the Lot, and now this. I swear at this point he could put on a show featuring 12 people trying to rid themselves of athlete’s foot and we’d watch it. It’s like the guy has some sort of Steve Jobsian reality distortion field that sucks in our simple minds and holds them captive.

So what is Pirate Master you ask? Basically a bunch of people on a pirate-style ship, competing for money. From Wikipedia:

The premise is based on the fictional legend of the pirate captain Henry Steel and the Treasure of Zanzibar. Based on this tale, Steel divided his loot into 14 parts and hid them across the island of Dominica. A special chest, the Chest of Zanzibar, was created with 15 locked compartments, each containing maps and clues to find each of these stashes. The treasure found through the clues in one compartment will contain a key that can be used to open another compartment. The 15th compartment, which can only be opened once each other compartment has been opened in order, contains a map showing the location of every gold stash on the island of Dominica and would lead to the largest prize.

Each week, the contestants are divided into two crews, Black and Red, to hunt for the treasure indicated by the maps and clues obtained from the most recently opened compartment on the Chest of Zanzibar.

The show is corny. The set-up is contrived. The production-values are typical of a show of this type. But I love it.

When the two crews are out competing against each other, the course is littered with pirate decor. The crew in the lead at some point can trigger a trap for the trailing team (logs fall across a path, netting springs up blocking a river, etc.) It’s all very corn-ball and tongue in cheek, but it’s also fun. Strangely, our 5 year old loves it. I think it’s the concept of following a map and finding the treasure at the end. I enjoy the idea of the loot being parceled out in varying amounts, and the strategy that springs up as each of the crew end up bribing others for their votes.

The wiki has a table which shows the running tally of loot each player has. With all the bartering and trading going on, it’s going to be tough to keep that table accurate.

There was 1 minor celebrity on the cast, former Kansas City Chief’s running back, Christian Okoye. He’s since been cut adrift (he was inexplicably slow during the challenges. Strange for a former NFL player.)

TV Guide’s preview for the show can be found here.
A running episode synopsis can be found here.