Hunted

14 members of the public go on the run for 28 days with £400 and whatever they've packed whilst being tracked down by professionals being given simulated information that real agencies would have access to. The first series was just for bragging rights but from the second onward, contestants who make it to the end split a prize pot of £100,000. Classily shot - if not always convincingly (Supposed CCTV images clearly shot side-on with a handheld camera, for one thing).

Of course, were you actually going on the run, you would probably scope out some safe places to hide and lay low for 28 days. Funnily enough, absolutely nobody on this show does that, and if you watch for a bit, it becomes evident that there are a lot of rules that we the viewers are not told about. From the odd interview with loose-lipped contestants and show staff, from observation and from what has come out about international versions of the show, these would appear to include:

• You must keep moving and not stay in one place more than a day or two.
• You must make contact with an associate from a prearranged list, a good distance from your starting point (we have had 50km suggested to us).
• You must withdraw money from an ATM, and you can't take it all in one go.
• You probably have to attend some sort of public thing.
• You can't hide underground.

Why they don't mention these rules on screen is a mystery. There's all this stuff the contestants have to do, and instead of using it by telling us a team still has to do x, y and z, they're happy to let us think the contestants are just idiots.

Also, nice aerial establishing shots (if you like tall buildings), but do we actually believe the hunters are in The Gherkin? Hell no. The "imply indoor scenes are in a given building without actually saying so, and it's not technically lying" thing was already done to death by The Apprentice.

Celebrity Hunted

This is a list of celebrity participants who have taken part in the celebrity series.

2017

• Siva Kaneswaran and Jay McGuiness (members of The Wanted)
• Jamie Laing and Spencer Matthews (Made in Chelsea)
• Dominic and Stephanie Parker (Gogglebox viewers)
• Anneka Rice (Treasure Hunt and Challenge Anneka)

2018

• Kay Burley (Sky News presenter) and Johnny Mercer (politician)
• Kem Cetinay and Chris Hughes (Love Island contestants)
• Dom Joly (comedian) and Vicky Pattison (ex-Geordie Shore star)
• AJ Pritchard (Strictly Come Dancing professional) and Louis Smith (olympic gymnast)

2019

• Lydia Bright and Lucy Mecklenburgh (ex-The Only Way Is Essex stars)
• Gavin Henson and Martin Offiah (ex-rugby players)
• Stanley Johnson (politician) and Georgia "Toff" Toffolo (ex-Made in Chelsea star)
• Jean-Christophe Novelli and Aldo Zilli (chefs)

2022

• Chizzy Akudolu (ex-Holby City actor) and Lisa Maffia (member of So Solid Crew)
• Gareth and Ollie Locke (Made in Chelsea)
• Iwan Thomas (olympic sprinter) and Richard Whitehead (paralympic marathon runner)
• Chloe Veitch (Too Hot to Handle winner) and The Vivenne (RuPaul's Drag Race UK winner)

2023

• James Acaster and Ed Gamble (comedians)
• Saffron Barker (social media star) and Bobby Seagull (broadcaster)
• Aimee Fuller (olympic snowboarder) and Katya Jones (Strictly Come Dancing professional)
• Nikesh Patel (actor) and Nicola Thorp (ex-Coronation Street actor)
• Nik and Eva Speakman (This Morning therapists)

2025

• Danielle Harold (ex-Eastenders cast member) and Kimberly Hart-Simpson (ex-Coronation Street cast member)
• Duncan James (member of Blue) and Christine McGuinness (ex-wife of Paddy McGuinness)
• Giovanni Pernice and Kai Widdrington (Strictly professionals)
• Lincoln Townley (painter) and Denise Welch (Loose Woman)

Composed by Nick Harvey.

Channel 4 programme pages: Hunted, Celebrity Hunted

Wikipedia entry

The Heist