Reality-fantasy hybrid series The Quest is now streaming on Disney+

Eight real teenagers are plonked into an immersive fantasy setting in new reality-fantasy hybrid series The Quest. If you’re unsure quite how that might work, hang onto the feeling: it’ll be totally thrilling to see how Disney+ realises this unusually formatted TV experiment.

Streaming exclusively on Disney+ from May 11, The Quest seems like a combo of Survivor or The Amazing Race, plus the lush high-fantasy of Disney’s worlds like The Black Cauldron or The Kid Who Would Be King.

It promises “out-of-this-realm challenges” for the lucky team of would-be adventurers who’ll get to basically LARP a Dungeons and Dragons story over eight episodes. The kid’s graphic T-shirts and references to wrestling in the trailer below definitely seem incongruous with the lofty language and the suits of armour and CGI flames shooting out of sorceress’s hands.

By the conclusion of the first season, only one hero can be crowned, presumably losing one member of our human teen squad as each week’s contests go by. Some seem more physically challenging, whilst a huge maze with towering wooden walls shows off this thing’s notable budget.

Set in the kingdom of Everealm, The Quest seems like the ultimate escapist fantasy for kids who love reading fantasy literature or playing make-believe. The reality element should add a bit of freshness to what looks like a purposefully generic medieval setting, replete with benevolent elf queens and braid-wearing noble helpers.

All episodes of The Quest have dropper at once, making your binge to the throne quick and easy. Here’s hoping the winner decides to use their crown for good and not for evil…although that would set up a cool if confusing second season narrative.