Cha$e is an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat reality-competition show that pits a group of contestants against each other in the quest for cash prizes, while being stalked by relentless "hunters." The action takes place in real time over 60 minutes throughout various Los Angeles landmark locations including San Pedro Harbor, Universal Theme Park and Descanso Gardens.

As the clock counts down, the competition gets harder as more hunters appear on the "game board," the perimeter changes, and tasks are assigned that test fraying nerves. Contestants earn money for every second they "stay alive." If they are overrun by a hunter, they lose everything. Once the exit point is revealed, the first person to find the location wins up to $50,000.

The show is hosted by Trey Farley.  For more than 10 years, Trey has worked as a broadcast host for some of the biggest and most respected channels in the world, including the BBC, National Geographic, MTV Asia and the UK's Channel 4. His work has covered a wide range of genres including music, sports, travel, entertainment and news. Farley was born in Manila, Philippines, to an English father and Filipino mother along with two older brothers. His early years were spent in Sydney, Singapore and Switzerland. Eventually he moved to Hong Kong where he got his start as a production assistant.

He then rose to associate producer and was soon producing shows for MTV Asia including Asian Road Trip. He hosted and produced the show By Demand, which won an Asian Television Award for "Most Innovative Show." Later Trey moved to London where he worked for MTV UK and then went on to the BBC working on Masters of Combat, Live and Kicking, the weekly sports show Grandstand and Channel 4's Zero to Hero. He has also hosted National Geographic Channel's Chasing Time.

Trey recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk about the new SCI FI Channel reality show, and what goes into producing an episode.

Question> Looking at the previews it looks like you’ve got a lot of people running around pretty fast, pretty excited and scared with the adrenalin flowing and everything. What kind of precautions do you take to keep either the contestants from getting hurt or maybe even hurting innocent?

Trey>  Soft-soled shoes. I’m kidding. Yeah, a lot of it takes place - I think the one you’ve seen is San Pedro - is the rough cut that you’ve seen. Yes, it is fast-paced.  The runners are pretty much, running for their lives and hunters are chasing them. But still as excited as they are, as much adrenalin that gets pumping through their veins, everybody knows how to be safe and how to run safely through all these areas if they’re crowded or not. And everybody is briefed before the show about what to do and what not to do - i.e., if there’s a crowd of people don’t run into them. And also, all runners and all hunters are brief beforehand that they must adhere to all traffic laws and pedestrian laws. That’s stopping at red lights - red pedestrian lights and all that sort of stuff.

Question> Did you ever have any situations with people that weren’t part of the game getting involved? Like they see the guy in the suit running and maybe thinking it’s an FBI guy or secret service, or something chasing them and trying to stop the people?

Trey>  Well you would’ve thought in downtown LA that could’ve been the case. But I think people in general, if they see that sort of thing happen they just kind of keep away. I think it’s an instinct just not to get involved. So thankfully we’ve had nothing like that happen. I think when we’re in the Fashion District we had some shopkeepers volunteering for runners to hide out which is kind of cool.  And some runners tried to kind of change clothes into - changing clothes into hunters so they could walk around like hunters on the Fashion District so they wouldn’t get caught. But, that’s about it.

Question> So this is like a super intense game of tag almost. I was wondering did you, play tag as a kid and maybe in some sort of way kind of just went from being really like childish and fun to like just really kind of crazy and insane?

  Trey>  I mean that’s the brilliant thing about this show is that I think everyone at some point in their childhood and now has played tag. You know, obviously I did and what we used to do was cops and robbers in the Philippines.  And then cops and robbers turned into a kind of - when skateboards came in, we turned into urban cops and robbers on skateboards, and skating around. And so it got pretty crazy. But that’s the great thing about this show is that you switch it on and everybody has played it. Everybody has played tag and so they can just jump right in feel that kind of feeling how they were  when they were children. And that’s the thing, when runners start this competition, every - all the runners have a kind of pre-plan, oh I’m going to start, just hide out. I’m going to take it easy.  But as soon as I shout go, something within them kind of snaps and triggers and that kind of primeval feeling of being chased kicks in and they turn into 12 year olds. It’s incredible to see.

Question> Has anybody ever played it this intensely? It seems like this is just another whole level of tag.

Trey>  I mean it is - I kind of don’t want to use tag. It’s a live action videogame. And that’s what I got excited when I came onto the project is everybody has kind of grown up on videogames now and it’s videogames that are really to the forefront of our pop culture. And I really wanted to be a contestant. I mean having tag but then you have all these kind of special utilities. So you’re running around being chased but you also have these kind of - these tools like invisibility glasses and deflectors and sonic stunners. So it’s just tag amped up to videogame status.

Question> Do you ever want to just help somebody out or just like say “oh my god, I want to run right now”?

Trey>  Oh it’s crazy. You know, people just get so into it and what I was kind of surprised to see was the amount of anxiety that a lot of the runners go into. I’ve been on the game board and seen some runners literally just give themselves up to a hunter because they just can’t take it anymore. The kind of thought of like five or six guys just around the game board looking for them and hunting them down is too much and they just give up. They just walk up to a hunter and say, “I’m done”. It’s really intense.

Question> You recently told a funny story about how people react when they see hunters. And I just wanted you to kind of retell that story about people’s reactions where they kind of start off calm and the minute they see a hunter they go crazy.

Trey>  Yeah. I mean I think runners - the contestants and runners - the runners when they enter into this thing, they kind of just take it for granted that oh it’s a competition and I’m going to get the money and it’s going to be easy. It’s a walk in the park. You know, it’s 60 minutes of running around. How hard can it be? But it’s - there is just that switch that happens, and everybody has kind of had that feeling growing up as children, playing tag in the park or cops and robbers - that kind of panicky feeling when somebody is chasing you. So, you have these calm, collected runners - a lot of them are - work out and train, and physically fit. As soon as I shout go or the horn goes, they just turn to jelly. And what’s interesting is as soon as they get the message that the first hunter has been released, that’s when the fireworks happen, because the switch happens and they just turn a little crazy. You know, they’re looking over their shoulders. They just - they start to not to trust anybody. They just start to panic.. And it’s such a powerful kind of emotion. And I’ve seen a runner just pretty much give up. They just can’t take that amount of pressure or the feeling of being hunted that they find the nearest hunter that they can and literally just give up the game because they just can’t take it anymore.

Question> Do you find that at the beginning people are together and then as the game progresses it breaks down or do you think people really try to work in teams until a certain point? Have you noticed a pattern?

Trey>  The good thing about it is there is no pattern. From game to game it changes all the time. Some games, like you say, they start out hey let’s work together - three of us together, we can make a team. There’s more odds. Hunter is released and they just separate. But then when more hunters and later on in the game, some runners get kind of thinking and conniving well if I’m hanging out with a group, I don’t have to outrun the hunter.  All I’ve got to do is outrun the slowest runner. So you see runners try to kind of come together  and use each other as bait or come together to use each other’s special utilities. It’s random. People react differently and that’s one of the great things about the game.

Question> And how long is an actual real game?

Trey>  It’s 60 minutes. It’s all in real time, 60 minutes.

Question> In choosing the locations what are you guys kind of looking for?

Trey>  It’s just kind of interesting locations. I mean there’s such a cross-section of locations that we use from San Pedro Harbor which was on a scope - such a huge scope and such a dramatic environment with cranes and the ships and everything.  But I think it’s something which has also become a character of the show. You got the runners, the hunters and the location comes across as kind of third character, if you will. And each one of the locations really is interesting - like the Universal backlot was incredible to use, because you get runners and hunters running around there, going by the War of the Worlds set, going by the Jaws set. You know, it was fully operational and tourists are going by on the - those tram things. That was amazing - taking pictures as we’re playing this game. Universal Studios the theme park at night, that was a character in itself because it was late at night and shut down. And what is normally a kind of happy, kind of (full) place just seeing it deserted was just kind of spooky as well. So I think it was just looking for locations which have - bring a character to the show.

Question> You touched upon this a little bit already in saying that some contestants who are very physically fit might buckle under the pressure. But what qualities are you seeking out in the perfect contestant - that complete package, the size, the physical fitness?

Trey>  The perfect contestant? Wow. I think from experience in the - from these shows, I think the perfect contestant, the physicality of it doesn’t - isn’t a real - from what I’ve really learned isn’t a real priority on this because no matter how fast they are, believe me, the hunters, they’re faster.  So I think a priority is having a cool head on your shoulders because people just buckle under the pressure. But if you can take the pressure and be smart, and think things through then you have a good chance of winning. You know, it has nothing to do with how fast you are or how young you are, how old you are. I think the perfect contestant is one who can think under pressure.

Question> Will the local contestants have an obvious advantage in being familiar with their settings or are you careful to ensure that it’s a playing - a level playing field? Meaning do you have like, for instance in the episode set in LA are there people from LA that would have an obvious advantage there?

Trey>  I don’t - absolutely not. I mean I live in LA and all my friends have been to LA, and not one of them has been to San Pedro Harbor.  So, we’re choosing locations where they’re pretty fresh and, it’s really not about the lay of the land. It’s really about using your head.

Question> How involved are you with actually the contestants in terms of either selecting them or do you have any contact with them prior to the game, or afterwards?

Trey>  I have absolutely no choice or contact with the contestants prior to the game at all.  I mean if I had any choice, I’d put all my friends in it because it’s a great game. But that’s not going to happen. So I have absolutely no say in the contestants. And the first time I meet the contestants is literally right before I shout go. I think it keeps everybody fresh and obviously to make sure it’s all fair.

Question> Can you tell us a little bit about how you manage this job and what do you do to prepare for each episode?

Trey>  Okay, well a few days before we shoot it, I’m on the game board doing a walk through of the entire game board with Rick. So I get a - get familiar with the game board that we’re using. We look at start points, possible end points which are, of course, secret. So I familiarize myself with where the possible exit points are going to be, how to get there, kind of find likely kind of places where runners are going to get caught or hard areas. And just go through (bits) of which are kind of (special) to that location. And then that’s about it. And then we run it.

Question> What do you think of this idea of reality shows on a network called Sci-Fi? I mean it started with Scare Tactics and now we have Chase.

Trey>  Well I mean I can see how that question is relevant but the reality aspect of the show - I mean there are very strong Sci-Fi elements to the show. You know, the way the hunters are targeting the runners and the utilities which the runners have. You know, they’re - they’ve got a hold of stunners and deflectors, and all this kind of - a deflector which pretty much looks like a Star Trek phaser. You know, so there are real strong Sci-Fi elements to the show which is why I think it has a home on Sci-Fi.

Question> How how far away do you think we are from something like the Running Man, that classic vision of the future?

Trey>  Where if you get caught you don’t live?

Question> Well obviously we’re not going to have like death shows but I mean that idea of the intense, future game shows?

Trey>  Well we’ve taken our first steps towards those. So, I think this show is an entertainment show. And, something like that is - I think that’s a little bit dark. And, I don’t think it’ll ever kind of get to that level.