Season 2
Total Blackout is an American game show based on the Danish series created by Henrik Nielsen which features contestants that have to complete challenges such as identifying things with either their hands, nose, or mouth; gathering items; or getting from point A to Point B, while being totally in the dark.
There is nothing more terrifying than being in complete darkness. When the lights go off, our imaginations take hold and our nightmares come to life. Contestants get plunged into blinding darkness to confront their deepest fears in Total Blackout.
Hosted by Jaleel White (Family Matters, Dancing with the Stars), Total Blackout is a half-hour, extreme game show in which contestants battle each other and their fears in a series of challenges.
However, all the challenges are played in complete darkness. There are no lights, no blindfolds and no-holds barred as the players face their anxieties and unexpected surprises in a series of nerve-wracking games.
The contestants see nothing but the audience sees all. Here's where imagination can be one's worst enemy. It's like Fear Factor – but in the dark.
Challenges include walking across a plank without the benefit of actually seeing the plank (or how far above the floor it really is), crawling through tunnels filled with unidentified objects, and guessing the weight of objects and/or people (from a large snake to a sumo wrestler) just by touch.
But the highlight of Total Blackout episodes tends to be the hilarity-producing challenge that requires contestants to identify the contents of six boxes. Those challenges have produced freak-outs and squeamish responses to things as scary as live tarantulas and as benign as teddy bears and hairbrushes.
Through Jaleel's guidance, contestants have to heighten their senses of hearing, smell and touch as they try to identify objects, which may include creepy crawlers of every kind, traverse through obstacles, real or imagined and beat their opponents' performance in order not to be dropped through the stage and eliminated out of the game.
After three rounds, the contestant who can overcome their own fears and out perform their opponents, will stand victorious and win five thousand dollars.
The international series is produced by FremantleMedia North America (American Idol, The X Factor) and was created by Henrik Nielsen (Can You Duet?, Danish versions of The X Factor, Got Talent and Pop Idol).
Nielsen and Jeff Apploff (Million Dollar Money Drop, Don't Forget the Lyrics) serve as executive producers. Jack Martin (Who's Still Standing, Deal or No Deal) is co-executive producer.