La 2 Cat premieres 'Rescat', a new contest to show off your Catalan skills

BarcelonaWhat other Spanish word can be formed with the letters of somni? Ten seconds of time. The new contest Rescat wants to make the viewer play with language, so that they test not only their lexical knowledge, but also creativity and the ability to bluff opponents. The new format from La 2, presented by actor Peter Vives in his debut as a master of ceremonies for a contest, will occupy the schedule from eight thirty to nine o'clock, every day from Monday to Friday until the summer. It premieres this Thursday and, for now, there will be 60 programs, awaiting whether this production by La Manchester, Ricard Ustrell's production company, takes root and gets renewed.

The program is an original format developed by Elisenda Gorgues and Martí Lucas in which different intelligences related to language are explored. In one of the challenges, for example, the definition of an unusual word is proposed. The three participants in each episode must invent a non-existent word that could fit. Then the three proposals and the correct word are read, and points are obtained for guessing it correctly, but also if someone has voted for your proposal. In each program, two contestants survive and one goes home with the money they have accumulated up to then.

The unspent budget accumulates in a jackpot that, in this first season, reaches five figures. The challenge that allows you to win the big prize is an ascending scale of anagrams: in one minute, you must solve a three-letter word, a four-letter word, a five-letter word, a six-letter word, and a seven-letter word, of increasing difficulty.

Elisenda Pineda, the contest director, explains to l’ARA: “The format is a gem, which plays with Catalan with a touch of Enigmàrius, of Paraulògic... But it's not all based on knowledge: you have to be cunning and strategic”. The roster of contestants for this first season is voluntarily diverse: “We have had young people of eighteen who studied philology, but also retired choir singers and shepherds. We have had doctors, lawyers, and many school teachers. And we are happy to have an inclusive set for contestants with reduced mobility. We asked to have transversality of gender, age, and mobility, and we have been able to achieve it”, Pineda details.

Peter Vives's election has allowed for the addition of a humorous and empathetic part to the format. A follower of late shows, he had long imagined himself making television and the opportunity arrived with the launch of La 2 Cat. “I use my acting skills, like when we do a little gag at the beginning where I explain an idiom through improvisation, but presenting has been more complicated than I expected,” explains the performer, who declares himself happy to contribute his bit in favor of Catalan. “I thought it would be easy since I wouldn't have to memorize a script, wouldn't do nights... and, damn it!, between the teleprompter, what they tell you in your ear, and talking with the three contestants... I ended each program exhausted!”