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In
2005, Kyle MacDonald, a young Canadian, wanted his own house. He
started by bartering a red paperclip for a pen, the pen for a door
handle, then this last item for a stove, etc. 14 exchanges and 12
months later, he was living under his new roof !
These barters initiated the taste of the play, the friendship,
generosity, and especially the idea that the objects have a relative
value: what is a reject for one can be a treasure for another.
Everywhere fans of this story also try to barter on Internet. They
secretly dream to recommence the initial exploit because Kyle’s story
was reported all over the planet, from the USA to Japan. Thousands of
blogs published the news, and international TV shows were interested
in the phenomenon. Why? Because this adventure is based on an obvious
reality: bartering is simple, and can pay a lot.
The concept of “Barter Race” is based on that conclusion. Contenders
are part of a brand new and original challenge on television. The
competition takes place during several episodes and between various
teams. Their mission: barter and barter again to obtain the item of
the greatest value at the end of their adventure. But it’s less simple
than it appears, because they all start the race with the same object.
So it’s thanks to their own random encounters, their intuition than
the destiny of each team will differ.
A race against the clock begins; each team is free of her method to
carry out the best exchanges. Their improvisational behaviours will
perhaps lead some of them to interact with people in the middle of the
streets, to enter shops and ask both customers and employees to trade
with them, to disturb a large audience already seated in a theatre, to
knock at townsmen’s doors … One of the main interests of this tv show
also resides in the fact that the contenders can exchange more than a
tangible item; they’ll also be able to barter an object for a service.
At the end of each episode, the objects are examined by an auctioneer
who estimates their value. The team which will have brought back the
less expensive object will be eliminated. Show after show, the “barter
folks” will be systematically confronted with new challenges imagined
by the production, so only one team will be left at the end of the
process, the one that would have carried out the best barters, the one
that will win the race … and the money. |
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