Tonight on TV I caught an episode of a show I've never seen before. It seems rather interesting.
It's a sort of reality tv / game show sort of thing. It is basically a real world attempt at creating the Running Man (book)'s show for real.
There's a bunch of members of the pub told to go on the run and then there is an expert team of former detectives, military trackers, etc.... Trying to hunt and catch them as they would a fugitive. They have access to public CCTV cameras, mobile phone tracking, etc....
The people have to stay on the run for 28 days then presumably they win.
No idea if their expenses are covered by the show but I hope so.
In the episode I saw there were three people; 2 Sikh brothers and a doctor guy.
The brothers started well. One of them left his phone at home and it was full of emails about their plan.... Except it wasn't their plan. It was a purposeful misdirection.
They were going so well, travelling the country and staying with the Sikh community.... Until, despite being specifically told not to call home, they used the same burner phone to contact each of their partners and then a shop keeper they knew- they were promptly caught hiding in the back of the guys shop.
The doctor guy did better. He knew a bunch of farmers in Scotland and had help from people unlinked to the show. He was Playing with the pursuers and leading them on a goose chase around the Scottish highlands. His boredom will get him caught some day but not today.
So. The purpose of the thread.
Assume you are a contestant on such a show (or you actually are a fugitive from the law); what would be your plan? How would you avoid your pursuers?
Head to the hills for a month off the grid? Change place every night?
My plan revolves around getting to europe somehow. It just seems so much harder if restricted to the uk. Perhaps the show wouldn't even work in larger emptier countries.
Do remember however; the pursuers have police resources. They know if you have a cabin in the woods.
Nice try, I'm not going to tell you my plan! :P
Eh, I'd probably have to improvise. Obviously, I'd need to avoid using cell phones or credit cards and avoid talking to anyone I know. Beyond that... /shrug
I'd just go cross the border at Nuevo Laredo.
Bye.
E: If they provide enough cash for bribes, I'm totally set.
I could use a month in the woods.
No way. There is no way I can get away with this. The only way I can get out of Hong Kong without going through the normal border controls is to hire a speed boat from the triads. They'll betray me for sure. Even if I can get through the HK police, I'll enter mainland jurisdiction. I think they are even more efficient at catching someone.
I have a feeling with enough cash, Mono could survive undetected for a month living in the public restroom of a HK mall. :P
Or just become invisible in one of those lower-class massive housing estates.
Quote from: Tonitrus on September 23, 2015, 10:36:48 PM
I have a feeling with enough cash, Mono could survive undetected for a month living in the public restroom of a HK mall. :P
Or just become invisible in one of those lower-class massive housing estates.
Actually it is the other way round. It is easier to become invisible in a privately-owned middle class housing estate. The public housing estate units have less privacy, more intrusive management, stronger neighbourhood bonds, and more NGO presence. The private units can take care of themselves individually.
Quote from: Tyr on September 23, 2015, 06:35:32 PM
Assume you are a contestant on such a show (or you actually are a fugitive from the law); what would be your plan? How would you avoid your pursuers?
Head to the hills for a month off the grid? Change place every night?
My plan is twofold:
1) get very rich
2) dig a hidden sublevel to my house
3) hide there in case of emergency.
First I build a false wall in the back of the storage closet in a bank. Then I wait. Then I sell the diamonds and use the Nazi documents for blackmail.
If I had the money to do so, I'd just travel around Korea by bus staying in a different motel every night.
As a white guy I'm pretty noticable here though.
I get money for bribes, put it into a Swiss account and turn myself in.
Not sure if they make sure they don't have any cash on them (as obviously accessing any resources would mean instant detection) but I read an interview with one contestants who ended up begging for food.
Quote from: Brazen on September 24, 2015, 03:56:31 AM
Not sure if they make sure they don't have any cash on them (as obviously accessing any resources would mean instant detection) but I read an interview with one contestants who ended up begging for food.
The doctor guy gave away his position a little when he had a friend use his bank card to withdraw money from a cash machine and then post it to another friend elsewhere (where the doctor then picked it up).
What I don't get though is why they can't just say "Hey Dave, I'm on this TV show where I'm on the run, could you lend me £500 from your account? I swear I have the money, I'll pay it back next month when they stop tracking me"
The phones thing too...
Assuming I'm doing this from the UK...
*I would tell my dad to take my computer and tablet it and hide it away at my aunt's house for the month. Don't want anyone going through my computer, TV show or not <_<
*I can go a month without talking to my parents just fine. But if I really had to call home- I would tell one of them to buy a burner phone as well as myself. Swap numbers with them via a neighbour's phone number.
* Get a friend with a burner phone to call my parents every so often from somewhere where I'm not. Get them tracking that phone and confusing themselves.
I would put my shoes on backwards so that my footprints would always look like they were going in the opposite direction.
I'd go to a remote cabin up in the highlands and sit tight for a month.
Quote from: Legbiter on September 24, 2015, 07:01:15 AM
I'd go to a remote cabin up in the highlands and sit tight for a month.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.boingboing.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F09%2F21.jpg&hash=38245afd6d7d177b60450df5b155cfda07772bef)
:lol:
More like so:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmw2.google.com%2Fmw-panoramio%2Fphotos%2Fmedium%2F44654333.jpg&hash=78bf111b41d2887995114fb2df230a1e6fcd9109)
There's several places I could go and friends and relatives who could help me out. Trouble is, I'd never get out of London with the amount of CCTV on the streets, public transport and motorway service stations.
I would go to the biggest city in Wyoming and get lost in the teeming throngs.
The strategy would depend on assumptions about how the hunt is run. I'm assuming that (1) the target has no notice, so only has what s/he has on him or her normally; (2) the hunters only start hunting when the target starts running; and (3) it isn't in the winter.
First thing I'd do is contact a friend using a landline and get them to spot me a big pile of cash - my credit is good for that. This has to be done ASAP, because soon enough the 'detectives' would figure out who my friends & relations are and have them watched.
At the same time, I'd toss any electronics I have - cell, laptop.
Then, I'd buy a used bike, in cash - wouldn't want to risk the cameras at bus stations, train stations, or airports - and simply start a road trip to a county park I know about, buying supplies along the way. Probably stop off at a little camping store I know of in Barrie, Ont. and buy a wack of easy to prepare lightweight foods, a tent, a lantern, etc. - again, cash. Camp out for a month in a reasonably remote spot, most likely no-one would notice or care. Spend the time whittling or whatever, and come back in a month.
Unless I'm spotted somehow along the way, as long as I evade the initial 'net' and get my hands on the money, it is hard to see how the detectives could ever catch up.
Quote from: Warspite on September 24, 2015, 04:45:15 AM
I would put my shoes on backwards so that my footprints would always look like they were going in the opposite direction.
You win the internet. Everyone can go home, now.
Quote from: Malthus on September 24, 2015, 08:23:38 AM
The strategy would depend on assumptions about how the hunt is run. I'm assuming that (1) the target has no notice, so only has what s/he has on him or her normally; (2) the hunters only start hunting when the target starts running; and (3) it isn't in the winter.
It appears there's at least some notice, since the brothers had time to work up a fake plan and plant it on a cell phone they left behind.
Quote from: MadBurgerMaker on September 24, 2015, 08:54:08 AM
Quote from: Malthus on September 24, 2015, 08:23:38 AM
The strategy would depend on assumptions about how the hunt is run. I'm assuming that (1) the target has no notice, so only has what s/he has on him or her normally; (2) the hunters only start hunting when the target starts running; and (3) it isn't in the winter.
It appears there's at least some notice, since the brothers had time to work up a fake plan and plant it on a cell phone they left behind.
If I'm allowed notice, I can skip the borrowing money from a friend step and just have my cash in hand at the start. The only challenge would be slipping out of the city without leaving a trail - bike ought to do the trick.
If I can't go to Mexico, I'd probably just go to Houston, ditch my car in the IAH long term parking, catch a cab downtown, walk to a bar and call another cab, and have it drop me off a couple miles from where I'm headed. There are plenty of shitty motels in Houston that will take cash for a month, and unless things have changed, cameras are relatively scarce away from the airport. Hell, I could probably use a credit card for the first cab (not the second). They'd know I'm somewhere in Houston. Good luck.
I could really probably just do this in SA. Buy an "I :wub: SAN ANTONIO" tshirt and blend with the tourists on the Riverwalk/downtown if I need to leave my shitty motel for anything.
You guys are cute.
I am quite convinced these "reality" shows are at least half scripted. They just don't want to pay for actors, and the audience actually appreciates it more because its "real"
My instinct is to avoid shitty hotels.
Sadly, the person who we could get the best info from was CdM. :( I'm guessing shitty hotels were a bail bondsman's happy hunting grounds.
Quote from: Tamas on September 24, 2015, 09:27:13 AM
You guys are cute.
I am quite convinced these "reality" shows are at least half scripted. They just don't want to pay for actors, and the audience actually appreciates it more because its "real"
The thread is a "what if".
Obviously, they tart up actual shows to make them more interesting for viewers, because a show in which literally nothing happens is pretty boring.
I've been just sitting here thinking about evading the police for a while now, since I have nothing else to do here otherwise except answer the occasional email at the moment (all week, actually ugh). :)
Those two dudes who escaped from Dannemora did a pretty good job. My strategy would be to head for New York State, break into the prison holding the surviving guy and then break into the SHU, get his advice, then break back out and start lamming it.
Quote from: Malthus on September 24, 2015, 09:27:50 AM
My instinct is to avoid shitty hotels.
Sadly, the person who we could get the best info from was CdM. :( I'm guessing shitty hotels were a bail bondsman's happy hunting grounds.
That's true. Over a month they could show your photo to a lot of front desk types at the shitty motels. :hmm: Fuck it, hit up the Four Seasons. There are cameras, but they might not even ask, since aside from drug lords and mafia types, who stays at the damn Four Seasons while running from the cops?
And yeah, just having some dudes hanging out in a random motel room watching HBO or going camping for a month and wondering why their stomachs feel weird after eating MRE's every day would make for a really boring TV show.
One thing that seemed to get the two brothers caught and I can imagine being a big issue is boredom.
All well and good to say you'll hole up in a tent in the mountains with a bunch of food and water....but damn would that get dull fast.
Since its just a TV show and not a genuine life or death thing it would be even more pressing.
QuoteYou guys are cute.
I am quite convinced these "reality" shows are at least half scripted. They just don't want to pay for actors, and the audience actually appreciates it more because its "real"
You don't say.
QuoteThe strategy would depend on assumptions about how the hunt is run. I'm assuming that (1) the target has no notice, so only has what s/he has on him or her normally; (2) the hunters only start hunting when the target starts running; and (3) it isn't in the winter.
On the one I watched they told the Sikh guys to go on the run when they were just out on the street, they told the hunters who they were looking for at the same time. The runners had a little while to go back home and grab a rucksack, supplies, etc... before the hunters got their shit together.
And of course they applied to go on this TV show before hand so...It seems sensible they would have something worked out.
Quote from: Tyr on September 24, 2015, 10:24:47 AM
One thing that seemed to get the two brothers caught and I can imagine being a big issue is boredom.
All well and good to say you'll hole up in a tent in the mountains with a bunch of food and water....but damn would that get dull fast.
Since its just a TV show and not a genuine life or death thing it would be even more pressing.
I think most people could hole up in a tent in the mountains for a month if the reward is big enough.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on September 24, 2015, 10:29:32 AM
Quote from: Tyr on September 24, 2015, 10:24:47 AM
One thing that seemed to get the two brothers caught and I can imagine being a big issue is boredom.
All well and good to say you'll hole up in a tent in the mountains with a bunch of food and water....but damn would that get dull fast.
Since its just a TV show and not a genuine life or death thing it would be even more pressing.
I think most people could hole up in a tent in the mountains for a month if the reward is big enough.
Yup. As long as you know it's for a month, you can put up with a lot of boredom, if it's for a big pay-off (or to avoid jail, or worse ;) ).
Quote from: Malthus on September 24, 2015, 10:47:39 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on September 24, 2015, 10:29:32 AM
Quote from: Tyr on September 24, 2015, 10:24:47 AM
One thing that seemed to get the two brothers caught and I can imagine being a big issue is boredom.
All well and good to say you'll hole up in a tent in the mountains with a bunch of food and water....but damn would that get dull fast.
Since its just a TV show and not a genuine life or death thing it would be even more pressing.
I think most people could hole up in a tent in the mountains for a month if the reward is big enough.
Yup. As long as you know it's for a month, you can put up with a lot of boredom, if it's for a big pay-off (or to avoid jail, or worse ;) ).
Yeah, though I think it would be easier to evade the actual police than the "hunters" on the show. Unless you've committed a major felony, the real police aren't really going to put any resources into hunting for you. In many (most?) cases the police don't even know who they're looking for.
It seems there are a lot of passive strategies here, when with a mobile phone, an alarm clock and some everyday household explosives you could make a pretty passable IED. Let's see the hunters keep up their pace when two of them have their legs blown off.
Quote from: Warspite on September 29, 2015, 09:50:36 AM
It seems there are a lot of passive strategies here, when with a mobile phone, an alarm clock and some everyday household explosives you could make a pretty passable IED. Let's see the hunters keep up their pace when two of them have their legs blown off.
:lol:
Just imagine the audience skyrocketing.
L.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on September 24, 2015, 09:31:49 AM
Those two dudes who escaped from Dannemora did a pretty good job. My strategy would be to head for New York State, break into the prison holding the surviving guy and then break into the SHU, get his advice, then break back out and start lamming it.
Dannemora? The Swedish iron ore mine?
A friend just posted this on Facebook: "In case anyone's interested, my company has been working with Channel 4 to make this programme. Some of our cyber security experts have been working with ex-police to hunt people down."
So I'd probably bribe him to ensure the cops got fake results.
Quote from: Warspite on September 29, 2015, 09:50:36 AM
It seems there are a lot of passive strategies here, when with a mobile phone, an alarm clock and some everyday household explosives you could make a pretty passable IED. Let's see the hunters keep up their pace when two of them have their legs blown off.
Better shank the cameraman following you first.
Quote from: Tyr on September 30, 2015, 02:00:02 PM
Quote from: Warspite on September 29, 2015, 09:50:36 AM
It seems there are a lot of passive strategies here, when with a mobile phone, an alarm clock and some everyday household explosives you could make a pretty passable IED. Let's see the hunters keep up their pace when two of them have their legs blown off.
Better shank the cameraman following you first.
Behead him, and put the video on social media. Though you'll have to avoid the ISIS mistake of leaving geotagging on. You don't know whether the hunting team have Reaper drones flying overhead.
You'd have to behead the cameraman asap, but then follow the investigators back to their home base after they check out your house before employing your phone IED. They can't find you if there's no one left. Hire a homeless guy to deliver it for you. This whole thing would be like...half an episode long.
Quote from: Tamas on September 24, 2015, 09:27:13 AM
You guys are cute.
I am quite convinced these "reality" shows are at least half scripted. They just don't want to pay for actors, and the audience actually appreciates it more because its "real"
:zipped:
If most reality shows are scripted, they should fire the writers.
I would go to Mumbai, live in a slum there for a while, become friends with the local organized crime chief and start working as a weapons smuggler.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on October 02, 2015, 11:34:36 PM
If most reality shows are scripted, they should fire the writers.
none of the "writers" are paid as writers. Mostly comes from the exec, supervising and segment producers.