In the spirit of Halloween, AMP Radio Calgary is currently holding a contest deemed “The Panic Room”.
The rules are simple: Starting Monday, October 28th, be the last one of five contestants standing in the panic room by November 8th and win. $10,000 in prize money, a $2,500 shopping spree to Sunridge Mall and a $4,000 travel voucher.
Of course, its not that easy.
The room is only 10 feet by 10 feet and is pretty small, and the contestants are constantly being taken through a series of punishments and tortures to see if they can last, with a 5 minute washroom and water break once every three hours. The food is supplied, but other than that they are confined to that space for pretty much 24 hours a day, on top of that, they aren’t allowed to talk to the spectators outside the box.
My opinion: Radio contests like these are sometimes not bad, although sometimes questionable. From what I’ve been reading on the Facebook page for AMP and what I’ve been seeing, so far a lot of people have negative opinions towards this contest. After the first day, one person had already walked out, saying that he had been bored. A lot of people have been complaining that the ‘punishments’ weren’t scary enough and were rather disappointing, while others say that the prize money could’ve been used for a better cause, such as donating to charity.
So far some of the torture the contestants have been subjected to include: eating larva, crickets and chocolate covered insects (yum?), holding a 30 pound snake for 10 minutes, playing a high pitched tone non-stop adding 5 minutes for every balloon popped in the room and having 2 of the five playing a recorder nonstop for 6 hours straight.
Personally, I can see why some people feel disappointed by this contest. The way it was advertised made it seem like it would be scarier, but I honestly feel like it seems like more of a see how much stress you can tolerate room than a panic room.
That being said, I don’t think I would eat any insects, so I would totally be out of there first. Also, I don’t think that they could do anything overly scary in the room, since it is supposed to be a contest for the sake of entertainment and people can see everything. On the live feed, half the time they’re just standing around doing nothing, which isn’t something people are really looking for, especially since the sound is omitted. After what challenges they’re put through though, I think that they need the rest. AMP said that they’re just building up to the scarier challenges, which seems like they’re trying to make the people as tired as possible before starting to really scare them. I’m probably going to keep getting updated on this contest though, because I’m curious as to what they’ll think of next and who will win in the end. I honestly don’t see the Panic Room as something negative though, I just find it to be an interesting contest similar to survival game shows on TV. If you feel like seeing the contestants in action, drop by Sunridge Mall in Calgary, or check out the stream here. Also, if you have any suggestions for what kinds of torture the contestants should do next, suggest them here! You could win $1,000! There are currently only 2 contestants left in the Panic Room, (at the time I am writing this) who do you think will win?
Also, what do you guys think? With what’s been going on in the Panic Room so far, do you think that if you were in there you could’ve won?
All images are from the AMP Radio Facebook page.