What better way to kick-off BBC Three's re-launch than with a double-bill of its best in-house programme: The Real Hustle. One of the few BBC Three exclusives that's actually worth watching.The show is basically a conman version of Beadle's About, and remains consistently enjoyable, despite recent seasons inevitably struggling to feel as fresh as the first few. After all, there are only so many ways to trick people, so some of the later scams were often just variatiations on tricks the show had done before.
The Real Hustle has now transferred to Las Vegas: the gambling capital of the world. The perfect place for our trio of British cheats (handsome English conman Alex, dour Scottish trickster Paul and Sheffield sexy swindler Jess) to fleece some Americans. And good fun it was, too!
As usual, most of the cons were based on creating plausible scenarios for victims to be suckered by: pretending to fix someone's wobbly car wheel, whilst actually stealing their luggage; pretending to be a valet parking attendant, and driving off with expensive cars; pretending to be a hotel inspector, and stealing an occupant's valuables; pretending to be a multi-millionaire Sheikh, and stealing $80,000 worth of jewellery, etc...
But there were also some genuinely clever tricks in the mix: bamboozling a barman during an exchange of money, pocketing $10 in the confusion; various ways to cheat at blackjack; a fun proposition bet about retrieving a bank-note from inside two pints of water; diverting a casino dealer's attention, so you can replace their shoe of cards for your own, etc.
There weren't any big scams to really justify the extravagant Vegas setting, but it was probably unfair to expect stunts on par with Ocean's Eleven! This double episode effortlessly passed an hour, and even when the tricks are variations/twists on established swindles Real Hustle has done before, it's still amusing and entertaining enough to sweep you along.
It's surely worth watching just for sexy Jessica Clement (photo above) -- someone you definitely wouldn't mind being fiddled by...
12 February 2008
BBC Three, 8.00 pm
