The Search is a seven part television show on Channel 4, which first aired on 7 January 2007, the final episode was broadcast on 24 February 2007. The premise of the programme was that ten contestants with unique skills must solve a variety of ancient clues and puzzles from throughout history, with the aim in each episode of finding "The Symbol". The team which fulfills this directive wins the game and the losing team must then sacrifice a team member. The final episode saw the remaining (three) contestants compete to uncover a £50,000 hidden treasure. This 'treasure' was located somewhere in the United Kingdom according to Jamie Theakston on the Steve Wright radio show on BBC Radio 2 broadcast on 26 January 2007. The Search is presented and conceived by Jamie Theakston, inspired by the Kit Williams' children's book Masquerade and made by Princess Productions. The programme was filmed at a variety of locations and made active use of historical buildings and themes incorporated in the puzzles. The first episode focused on Renaissance Italian themes; the second, Medieval French; the third, Mughal Indian; the fourth, Ancient Egyptian, the fifth Mayan Guatemala, the sixth Inca Peru and the seventh (finale), British History. Episode synopses Episode One: Renaissance Italian Theme The contestants meet in Venice and proceed to a boatyard called Arsenale di Venezia. Using Rotogravure maps they create a map to head to Corte del Milion. On the way, by gondola, the girls make a tactical error and go the wrong way, giving the boys the lead. At the location, the contestants break "la wan" wax balls, in accordance with the Chinese message hiding technique of steganography. Inside is the name of the next location, Florence. In Florence, continuing the Renaissance theme, the Search makes use of the Uffizi and Accademia. In the Uffizi gallery, the girls follow a clue of "eye of the beholder" by following the line of sight of one of the statues. Their next clue takes them to the Medici Chapel (Medici financed many Renaissance artists). Here, the teams found the name of their next location to be the Abbey at San Galgano, whereupon they are forced to scour the site making use of perspective to reveal a perfect circle. Digging at the point where this circle was revealed unearthed the location clue for San Gimignano. The boys allowed the girls to win by not interfering when