Raid the Cage is an Israeli Game Show format that first premiered in 2013. The series features two-person teams of contestants, who answer questions to earn time in the titular "cage"—a room that is filled with prizes that they can collect. Some of them can be easily carried out, but some are a lot heavier or need to be pushed out (such as vehicles), and higher-valued prizes often require the completion of physical puzzles and stunts to unlock.
Most versions of the show utilize a single-team format with similarities to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, with one contestant answering multiple-choice questions, and the other then entering the cage, with each question worth an increasing amount of time. The game ends immediately if the runner is trapped in the cage (there is no clock in the studio besides a warning before the cage closes), or a question is answered incorrectly. After the fifth round, the contestants are given the option to bail out between rounds.
The U.S. adaptation uses a considerably different format: instead of a solo pair, the game is played between two teams in three rounds. The contestant is given eleven possible answers from one of two categories (with the first choice determined by a coin toss in round 1, and made by the team in the lead in rounds 2 and 3), and must match them up with ten clues in 45 seconds—earning time (3, 5, or 7 seconds depending on the round) in the cage for each correct answer. The team with the higher total cash value of prizes after three rounds wins whatever they've collected, and advances to a final Bonus Round to "beat the cage".
The series first premiered in 2013 in Israel; it is a notable Long Runner as a daily series in several Latin American countries (such as Mexico, whose version has aired since 2015), under the title Escape perfecto. In 2016, NBC ordered a pilot for a U.S. version, Perfect Escape, with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Leslie Mann as hosts, but it was not picked up. An American version—filmed from the set of the Mexican version in Mexico City—would ultimately premiere on CBS in October 2023 as Raid the Cage, with Damon Wayans Jr. and Jeannie Mai as hosts. Wayans also serves as a co-executive producer.
This series provides examples of
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The U.S. version refers to the two roles as "gabber" and "grabber" respectively.
- Bonus Round:
- In international versions, the 10th and final question allows the team to win all of the prizes in the cage that they have not yet won.
- In the U.S. version, the winning team in the first three rounds gets a 90-second run in the cage, this time with higher-valued prizes such as cars. The two teammates alternate until time expires: if the contestants collect at least $50,000 worth of prizes, they win whatever they collected, in addition to their main game winnings.
- Lovely Assistant: Jeannie Mai on the U.S. version, who is stationed at the door to the cage, provides commentary during the runs, and goes over the prizes that were collected.
- Mystery Box: Some of the prizes are gift boxes, whose contents are only revealed once they are collected.
- Running into the Window: An occasional fate for those who don't escape in time. At least one contestant did this in the U.S. premiere, and another contestant on a later episode broke part of the door dragging a prize out.
- Show the Folks at Home:
- The time remaining in the cage, besides the studio turning red when the door begins to close, is not shown to the players or audience, but is shown to viewers.
- The location of a mystery box that contains a higher-valued prize (such as a trip) is also shown to viewers.
- Timed Mission: The runs in the cage, and the questions on the U.S. version.
- Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": The international format plays it straight, with a time ladder, multiple-choice questions, and Lifelines for switching out questions or swapping player roles. The U.S. CBS version swapped this out for having two teams competing to collect the most prizes in three rounds.
