Jet Lag: The Game is simultaneously the most entertaining travel program, most nerve-wracking game show, and my current favorite Youtube channel. Throughout it’s currently five available seasons, creator Sam Denby and his friends (and video editors) Ben Doyle and Adam Chase have circumnavigated the globe, played a continent wide game of tag, and have played the biggest game of connect four you will ever see. The current season sees the three competitors (and guest creator Toby Hendy) racing across New Zealand, using the country’s highway system as a giant game board. A sixth season is in the works.
Denby is the founder and creator of the educational Youtube channel Wendover Productions, and its more lighthearted short-form sister channel Half As Interesting (HAI). These channels, although varied in subject matter, specialize in content about transit and geography, so following them up with a game show that combines both subjects seemed like a natural progression for myself as a viewer and fan. Each season is well designed for both suspense and competitiveness, achieved with the help of periodic challenges and “roadblocks” for the teams to complete along the way, whether it be general tasks like “catch a fish” or tasks that require teams to participate in some local tradition or attraction. Two teams of two (Denby paired with a guest and Ben and Adam paired together) compete against each other to achieve a travel based goal, whether it be circling the globe the fastest, making it to a European destination without being tagged, or traveling to the most US states within 100 hours. Drama comes not only from these self imposed challenges, but from everyday inconveniences like delayed trains and flights and even just traffic on the highway. Every episode is hilarious and varied.
Jet Lag: The Game has released consistently since May of 2022. I was hooked from the first episode I saw. While everyone involved is funny, charismatic, and entertaining to watch, Doyle and Chase are the standout double-act, usually willing to take more risks and participate in more creative challenges. A running gag involves Doyle getting intoxicated multiple times throughout the seasons for various challenges (which always seem to fall on his and Chase’s team) and his drunken banter is consistently a highlight.
The pacing of each episode and season is immaculate, with regular cliffhangers and sharp editing between the teams. The show is entirely filmed on Iphones but nevertheless is well produced. Despite the complicated rules of some seasons and plethora of options, I have never been lost as to what is going on due to frequent voiceover reminders and regular map updates spliced into episodes. All of this combines to make an easily watchable show that both has great stakes while not taking itself too seriously. At its very basic, Jet Lag is a slightly more complicated travel vlog of a small group of friends exploring mundane nooks and crannies the world. As someone whose hobbies include aimlessly scrolling through Google Maps and who enjoys stopping at every weird roadside attraction, this show has allowed me to see bucket-list places like New Zealand, Western Europe, and the American West up close, in personal intimate ways that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. No other “travel show” is able to take you on such an immersive journey.
Jet Lag: The Game is available to watch for free on Youtube or on the educational creator focused app Nebula, where episodes release a week early. For those interested, I highly recommend starting with Season Three: Tag Across Europe, or the current Season Five: Race Across New Zealand for a good introduction to the concept and players.