Will anyone beat the Cube to win a million?

It was 2015 when Philip Schofield’s consistently entertaining game show The Cube last aired, and it seems like a different world today.

Now-familiar phrases such as “quarantini cocktails”, “Extinction Rebellion” and “TikTok celebrity” would have seemed like the stuff of dystopian fiction back then, and so it seems only right and proper that, as the show returns, it does so with the rewards increased to go along with the heightened state of things.

Saturday’s one-off celebrity version got the ball rolling, and now it’s time for Joe Public to shoot their best shots.

There’s another big change to the format, too, as this time around contestants take part in pairs rather than going solo.

Teams are, however, all from the same household, reflecting the “new normal” to which we are all adapting, and which has led to TV programmes in particular having to do things differently.

Still, if you’re going to have a family outing or a day out with your housemates, then one which you might return from a million quid richer sounds perfect.

As before, the challenges seem straightforward – balance some blocks, remember sequences, toss a ball into a bucket, that kind of thing.

The tasks are rarely as easy as they seem, however, and when taking place under extreme pressure inside the confines of the titular perspex box can suddenly become downright fiendish. And with a cool million now at stake, that pressure is higher than ever.

Schofield is excited by the prospect of returning, saying “The Cube is such a cracking format but with the players now in teams and a whopping million-pound prize fund, it now means this high-pressure environment has just got tougher.

“I can’t wait to be reunited with the legendary perspex Cube!”

Also making a welcome return will be the ‘Voice of The Cube’, Colin McFarlane, and ‘The Body’ – the masked, anonymous demonstrator of the tasks who somehow manages to expertly execute even the most fiendish of challenges. One wonders how many retakes they get – the contestants, meanwhile, get only nine lives in which to complete their feats.

They can give up in between rounds, taking home the money they earned so far, but once they’re locked in the box there’s only two ways out: with more money, or with nothing at all. To help them they can choose a trail run, or they can ‘simplify’, making one aspect of the game slightly easier – be it a larger target or a fraction more time. But each lifeline is only available once.

Head of entertainment commissioning at ITV Katie Rawcliffe said “The Cube was a firm favourite with our viewers and now with a life-changing prize and the chance for players to compete in pairs the stakes are even higher. We look forward to more jaw-dropping moments that will have viewers shouting at the TV from the edge of their seats”.

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

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