Today we announce Pandora’s Box, a brand-new strategic reality competition that transforms a timeless myth into high-stakes gameplay.
From the RTL Creative Unit Netherlands, developed in creative collaboration with Fremantle, the format has three global productions already underway.
Inspired by the legendary Greek myth - where Pandora, the first mortal woman on earth, was given a sealed box by the gods with one command: never open it. Overcome by curiosity, she lifted the lid, unleashing chaos and evils into the world. This format brings that moment into today’s reality, as contestants competing for a cash prize must face the same test - stepping into a mythology-inspired world with one central premise: do they dare to open Pandora’s Box?
The Box is a powerful puppeteering force secretly concealing the names of cursed contestants - marking them for elimination and setting the stakes for survival - as players battle to keep their names out of the Box. In the ultimate test of temptation, players face the dilemma of choosing between protecting their fate or their fortune.
Keeping Pandora’s Box closed raises the prize pot. Opening it offers the chance to change their fate, but at a cost to the group: prize money is lost, dire consequences are unleashed, and suspicion spreads. It’s a game of strategy, sacrifice and suspense - where the power to rewrite fate shifts with every episode.
Set against a stunning backdrop inspired by ancient Greece, from boulder-rolling challenges inspired by Sisyphus to tense encounters with Medusa’s gaze, every quest determines the players that earn the strategic power to decide who visits Pandora’s Box. If a player opens the Box to discover who is cursed, they get to swap a name out for another player, but they risk triggering sinister repercussions the whole group will suffer.
Each cycle culminates in a face-off with two cursed players fighting for survival, as they go head-to-head in a duel to avoid elimination. The game is designed to reset every episode to create fresh alliances and new betrayals, ensuring unpredictability and escalating drama.
Pandora’s Box is an original concept from the RTL Creative Unit, which co-created The Traitors, co-developed with Fremantle and Blue Circle, a Fremantle company in the Netherlands. With three productions already underway, Blue Circle is producing the series for RTL 4 in The Netherlands; Studio89 is producing the format for M6 in France and Ufa is producing for RTL in Hungary. Fremantle handles international production and distribution.
Andrew Llinares, Director of Global Entertainment at Fremantle, said: “Partnering with RTL’s Creative Unit on this original format has been a rewarding experience. From the start the ambition was clear - to bring the myth of Pandora to life by reinventing it as a gripping reality experience that tests human nature. The rule sounds simple: don’t open the Box. But when faced with temptation, players driven by curiosity, suspicion, and revenge make dramatic choices to survive to the end. Each episode hooks viewers with edge-of-your-seat action and builds to big, climactic moments. We can’t wait to unleash this spectacular new series and invite audiences to step inside the world of Pandora’s Box.”
Peter van der Vorst, Director of Content at RTL Netherlands, said: “Audiences everywhere are craving the next evolution of strategic reality formats with originality and a clear, distinctive identity. Pandora’s Box delivers both. Rooted in a centuries-old myth full of symbolism, it explores universal themes - temptation, disobedience, responsibility, hope, and humanity’s ability to overcome. It’s a format that feels both timeless and completely fresh, and we are excited to bring it to viewers.”
