The first season of Escape the Night premiered on YouTube Red on June 22, 2016, and concluded on August 17, 2016, after 10 episodes. Created and hosted by Joey Graceffa, the season follows Graceffa, playing "The Savant", as he invites ten fellow internet personalities to a dinner party at an estate that "only exists in the year 1920", where each guest assumes a persona from the Roaring Twenties. Trapped in the estate by the evil that controls it, the guests must survive until sunrise by solving puzzles, voting one another into lethal challenges, and uncovering the house's history in order to escape.

The season's storyline was scripted and performed with actors, while the guests' votes and the outcomes of most death challenges were decided in play. Three guests — Graceffa, Eva Gutowski, and Oli White — survived the night and escaped the estate.

Format Eleven guests, including Graceffa as host and participant, are trapped inside an estate that exists in the year 1920, each dressed and behaving as an era-appropriate persona assigned on their invitation. After the first guest is poisoned at dinner, a letter left by the Society Against Evil establishes the season's objective: four artifacts hidden across the estate must be recovered before sunrise, at the cost of further lives. When the ritual meant to bind the house's evil with the four artifacts fails, a second objective is revealed midway through the season — the house draws its strength from its five former owners, and all five must be freed before the evil can be banished.

Each episode generally opens with a recap narrated by Graceffa and a scripted flashback introducing the episode's threat, often showing a victim of the house's past. The guests then work through a chain of puzzles, séances, and searches tied to that episode's artifact or owner, communicating the rules of each stage through notes found in the house. The chain culminates in a lethal challenge: the guests write their votes on slips that the butler, Arthur, draws from a hat, and the two names drawn enter the challenge. In some episodes, the nominated guests choose partners who compete on their behalf. The loser dies and is eliminated, and the group recovers that episode's artifact or frees that episode's owner.

The structure varies across the season. In the premiere, the entire group competes to save the poisoned guest. In the third episode, a single name is drawn and that guest is buried alive, with no intervening challenge. In the fourth, the challenge ends with a murder journal in which the competitors must write the name of another guest. In the fifth, both nominated guests are spared. In the ninth, every guest places their own name in the hat, and the two drawn choose partners of the opposite gender. The finale replaces the vote with an escape sequence in which the surviving guests evade the estate's staff while completing a final puzzle chain before 6:00 a.m.

Graceffa has said that three of the season's eliminations were arranged in advance by production: Shane Dawson's, because he was available for only one night, with the premiere's riddle designed so that it could not be solved in the time allotted, and those of GloZell Green and Justine Ezarik.

Production In October 2015, the subscription service then known as YouTube Red revealed upcoming projects such as Fight of the Living Dead, A Trip to Unicorn Island (2016), Single by 30, and Scare PewDiePie. These included an untitled Joey Graceffa project involving a murder mystery. In May 2016, the service teased clips of the upcoming series. Sam Gutelle, a writer for Tubefilter, described the premise as "the board game Clue", turning the party "into a whodunit, with each guest transformed into a suspect." Graceffa told Teen Vogue that the idea for the project had been in the works for two years, and that he most looked forward to collaborating with other YouTubers.

The season was filmed over five consecutive nights in the Los Angeles area, with shoots running from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and two episodes filmed each night. Writer and director Adam Lawson chose the house, built in 1890 and located near the base of a mountain, before writing the season, so that its puzzles could be designed around the location. Its roughly 160 clues and puzzles were developed with designers from Enigma Escape Room and built by production designer Geoff Flint's team, and had to work on the first attempt, as the live portion of each episode was filmed without retakes. Graceffa co-developed the storyline but was not told its clues, twists, or the timing of his own eliminations, so that he could play alongside the cast.

Guests

+ Guests from the first season of Escape the Night Guest Persona Status Cause of Death Joey Graceffa The SavantEscaped(Episode 10) rowspan=3 Eva Gutowski The Journalist Oli White Lele Pons The Hustler Dead(Episode 9) Electrocuted by the learning chair The Mobster Dead(Episode 8) Shot himself playing Russian roulette Matt Haag The Professor Dead(Episode 7) Ingested poison twice Sierra Furtado The Heiress Dead(Episode 6) Demonically possessed and convulsed to death GloZell Green The Jazz Singer Dead(Episode 4) Choked on her own blood after her name was written in the murder journal Justine Ezarik The Gambler Dead(Episode 3) Buried alive to reverse the Claws Ritual Andrea Brooks The Fixer Dead(Episode 2) Asphyxiated by gas from the Ungodly Machine Shane Dawson The Renegade Dead(Episode 1) Poisoned by the evil of the house

Cast The estate's staff and inhabitants, along with the antagonists of each episode, were played by actors.

Recurring Character Played by Role Outcome Arthur Paul Chirico The estate's butler, who guides the guests through the night and draws the names for each vote Revealed in Episode 9 as the one in league with the evil of the house; killed by his brother in Episode 10 Sarah Katia Hayes The maid Killed by the butler's brother in Episode 10 Marvin David Hutchison The groundskeeper Killed by the butler's brother in Episode 10

The former owners Within the season's story, the house draws its strength from its five former owners, each of whom must be freed by the guests.

Owner Played by Introduced Freed Notes David Santos Danny Pardo Episode 6 Episode 6 A priest who lost his faith after a failed exorcism; freed when the guests complete it Madison Jones Anastasia Zorin Episode 7 Episode 7 Transformed into a mermaid; freed when the guests return her daughter's doll Colin Wentworth Zach Cramblit Episode 8 Episode 8 A soldier obsessed with his lost gold; freed when the guests recover it Vincent Wells David Rispoli Episode 9 Episode 9 A sanatorium patient tormented by hallucinations; freed when the guests survive three of them The Butler's Brother Kevin Foster Episode 10 Episode 10 Imprisoned in the cellar by Arthur; upon release, kills Sarah, Marvin, and Arthur

Minor characters

Notes:

Guest history Voting history Legend:

+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 VotedPlayers (None) AndreaLele (None) JoeyLele OliTimothy MattSierra MattTimothy EvaTimothy LeleOli (None) ChallengeWinner(s) Lele JoeyLele OliTimothy Matt Timothy Eva Oli Eliminated Shane Andrea Justine Glozell (None) Sierra Matt Timothy Lele Joey Safe Andrea Timothy Glozell Oli Sierra Timothy Timothy JoeyEscaped Eva Justine Safe Matt Andrea Matt Oli Eva Justine Matt Sierra Matt Matt Joey Oli Lele Matt Justine Matt Matt Matt Matt Eva Lele Timothy Lele Justine Safe Sierra Sierra Eva Matt Lele Lele Lele Oli Eva Sierra Andrea Justine Safe Timothy Matt Glozell Eva Justine Joey Justine Andrea Andrea Joey Shane Dead

Challenge history Legend:

+ Episode Guest(s) Challenge Eliminated Cause of Death 1 Everyone In three groups, the guests had fifteen minutes to solve three puzzles, each unlocking one bottle of a divided antidote for Shane Dawson, who had been poisoned at dinner. Shane Dawson Poisoned by the evil of the house. 2 Andrea Brooks vs. Lele Pons While the nominees were sealed in gas capsules, their chosen partners raced through three sabotage puzzles to force the Ungodly Machine to malfunction; the first to finish freed their player, and the other capsule filled with gas. Andrea Brooks Inhaled noxious gas produced by the Ungodly Machine. 3 Everyone The guests voted, and the single name drawn from the hat was buried alive by the group to reverse the ritual concealing the second artifact. Justine Ezarik Buried alive to reverse the Claws Ritual. 4 Joey Graceffa vs. Lele Pons The nominees played party games with Calvin's mannequins to earn the combination to a drawer, which held a murder journal: the next name written in it would die. GloZell Green Choked on her own blood after Joey wrote her name in the murder journal. 5 Oli White vs. Timothy DeLaGhetto The two performed in three carnival acts — a strongman bell, juggling, and a tightrope walk — before the crowd voted on which of them should die in a tank said to contain piranhas. None The Ring Leader spared their lives. 6 Matt Haag vs. Sierra Furtado Sierra held down a possessed girl while reciting a prayer, as Matt performed the steps of an exorcism around them. The final instruction revealed that the rosary would kill whoever wore it, and that Matt could place it on Sierra or on himself. Sierra Furtado Demonically possessed and convulsed to death. 7 Matt Haag vs. Timothy DeLaGhetto After drinking poison, the two recreated three nursery rhymes with dolls in their dollhouses, each earning a vial said to hold the antidote. Matt Haag Ingested poison twice. 8 Eva Gutowski vs. Timothy DeLaGhetto A game combining Battleship with Russian roulette, in which every successful strike forced the player hit to fire a revolver at their own head. Timothy DeLaGhetto Shot himself in the head while playing Russian roulette. 9 Lele Pons vs. Oli White Strapped into electroshock "learning chairs", the nominees depended on partners of the opposite gender throwing metal rings onto posts; every miss delivered a shock, and the slower team's chair overloaded. Lele Pons Electrocuted by the learning chair.

Episodes

Reception Critical response On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Escape the Night season 1 has a Tomatometer of 71%, based on one critic review. Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred described the show as "lighthearted" and "campy", writing that while it was still finding its footing, it showed promise and could be seen as a worthy successor to Whodunnit?.

On Common Sense Media, critic Emily Ashby gave a more mixed evaluation. She called the series a "mediocre pseudo-reality horror" that leans heavily on YouTube personalities, and argued that while the ensemble cast and 1920s mansion setup provide some suspense, the plot feels formulaic and overacted. She also noted that the violence is fairly mild, if cinematic, and that there is "very little" in the way of positive role models, though some teamwork and intrigue emerge as strengths.

Awards and nominations + Award Year Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Streamy Awards 2016 Best Costume Design Olivia Hines Best Ensemble Cast Escape the Night

See also Murder in Small Town X The Murder Game Whodunnit? The Quest 13: Fear Is Real Killer Camp

References