# The Big Game (2020)

> Sixteen contestants of a survival reality show are stranded in the Siberian taiga for a million euro prize, only to find the game has turned deadly.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/89937

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 20
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Returning Series
- Genres: drama, thriller
- Network: TNT, Premier
- Cast: Igor Vernik, Sasha Bortich, Vladimir Verevochkin, Andrey Chadov, Linda Lapinsh, Benik Arakelyan, Elena Andreeva, Denis Kotov
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13144490/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, grim, oppressive, unsettling

## What critics say

Audiences rate the Russian survival-game thriller as a mixed but engaging watch, with its premise and tension earning more praise than its plotting.

## Synopsis

The Big Game (2020-2022) is a Russian survival thriller series created for TNT and Premier. Sixteen contestants of a new reality survival competition are taken into the Siberian taiga to compete for one million euros, with no food, belongings, electricity or communications for hundreds of kilometers. The engine is simple and brutal: each contestant wants to be the last one standing, while the production itself grows stranger and more menacing as the broadcast turns into something deadly. Igor Vernik hosts the show as its enigmatic presenter, and Linda Lapinsh plays Viktoria Kempinnen, one of the contestants whose choices test how far people will go. Sasha Bortich, Aleksey Chadov and Valeriy Skorokosov, playing Sergej Ivanovich Prikhodko, round out the principal cast. The series runs across two seasons and twenty episodes, with each season built around elimination challenges, alliances, betrayals and the constant question of who is pulling the strings. The tone is tense and grim, with a cold, oppressive wilderness atmosphere and an unsettling mix of spectacle and dread. Fans of Squid Game, Survivor and Alone will find resonance in its blend of reality television format and lethal stakes.

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