User:XAnio/sandbox/Jet Lag: The Game

Jet Lag: The Game is an American reality travel competition show created by Adam Chase, Sam Denby and Ben Doyle. In the show, the three creators compete against each other in the race to achieve a common target. The objective, challenges and guest competitors vary between each individual season.

The first season premiered on YouTube and streaming service Nebula on May 25th, 2022. New episodes have since been released on Nebula first, before being made available on YouTube a week later. The show most recently concluded its seventh season, which featured a game of tag across Europe, on October 11th, 2023.

The show garnered a large following on the internet, and was featured in Variety and Wired. As of October 2023, the show's YouTube channel has 536,000 subscribers and over 38 million views.

Format
The contestants are grouped in two teams of two, except for the Tag Across Europe seasons, where the creators compete for the win individually. Chase and Doyle have completed all team seasons as a duo, while Denby is joined by a guest content creator from the Nebula platform.

In every season, the contestants compete in various challenges, which are drawn from a deck of cards. The reward for completing a challenge depends on the format used in each individual season. In seasons 1 and 3, the teams earn money, which can be used to book flights. In seasons 3, 6 and 7, the contestants gain arteficial coins, which restrict their ability to use trains unless they have earned enough budget to afford them.

Background
Before creating Jet Lag: The Game, Adam Chase and Ben Doyle were writers on Sam Denby's YouTube channel Half as Interesting. Their first joint project was an earlier, one-off special titled Half as Interesting's Crime Spree, which was a three-part series released exclusively on Nebula. It featured Denby completing as many strange laws in as many American states as possible within 72 hours, while Chase and Doyle attempt to catch him. The experience led them to the idea of creating a travel competition show.

According to Denby, Jet Lag: The Game is inspired by other travel competition formats such as the CBS show The Amazing Race or the BBC show Race Across the World.

Production
As opposed to television formats such as The Amazing Race and Race Across the World, the contesters aren't assisted by a production and filming crew, and instead film their journey themselves using iPhones and wireless microphones.

In seasons 1, 2 and 4, which mostly rely on air travel, all carbon emissions are offset through the purchase of Gold Standard carbon credits by a factor of 10.

The Tag Across Europe and Capture The Flag Across Japan seasons make use of unlimited rail passes, specifically the Eurail and Japan Rail Pass offerings.

The final episodes of seasons 3 and 4 were released simultaneously with an aftershow named The Layover, which features unused scenes and a Q&A with the contestants hosted by Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus. Since season 5, new episodes are released alongside a companion podcast also named The Layover. New special episodes featuring quizzes or Q&As are also released between seasons. Both the aftershows and the podcast are exclusive to Nebula subscribers.

Reception
Author and YouTuber John Green has posted about the show. He makes an unplanned cameo appearance in the third episode of season 3, when Denby and Doyle briefly encounter him traveling in an Uber in Paris.

Live streamer and YouTuber Ludwig Ahgren has regularly featued the series and reacted to episodes on his streams.