Top 10 Moments of 2012: Number 7
We’re at number seven on the countdown of the top ten moments of 2012. We’re taking a break tomorrow for Christmas, of course, so we’ll resume Wednesday, but don’t forget that you can will win a copy of the Wheel of Fortune 30th anniversary game. That contest ends tonight at 11:59PM PT so click here to enter while you can. However, for now, let’s continue the countdown as we return to England.
NUMBER 9: CONTESTANTS LOSE £460,000 ($740,000) IN PRISONER’S DILEMMA END GAME ON THE BANK JOB
It looks like 2012 was the year people officially became sick of the prisoner’s dilemma end game on a game show. You can try it all you want but it’s not going to work. If you can make it interesting in a one-off situation, though, you can achieve and genuinely tense and exciting situation. That’s what happened on the first series finale of The Bank Job, Channel 4′s short lived live quiz show, this January.
Over the course of the week our contestants have banked a huge total of £460,000. For American perspective that’s well over $700,000. The two remaining players have to choose Cash or Trash and give that briefcase to their opponent. If they select Cash, they’ll split the money. If one selects Cash and the other Trash, the person who has the Trash case gets nothing while Cash gets it all. If both choose Trash, though, they both get nothing. In a unique twist, though, if they both chose Trash the three losing contestants for the day would get it all. Relive the moment below.
It, admittedly, did work here because it was only done once and it was very unique at the time to see it played for this much money. It also worked because, despite the outcome of the greedy players, you still had some very excited contestants which was needed. It was almost poetic to see the show end this way. If I had to script it, this would probably be the perfect way. The Bank Job had many, many, many faults which we’ll discuss later but Cash or Trash wasn’t a glaring one. This wouldn’t have worked in the long term but for this one time, it did elicit a genuinely terrifying, dramatic, and exciting moment that I haven’t forgotten.
The problem with the prisoners dilemma is that you have absolutely no say whether or not you win anything. If you on an episode of Take It All against 4 greedy people, it will be impossible for you to win anything.
Not paying attention to UK game shows, this moment standed out when I originally saw it earlier this year. These moments remind me of Deal or No Deal and some of the dumb risks (and contestants) on that show.
That’s seven hundred and something thousand US dollars *tax-free* by the way, folks. The equivalent pot on a US game show would be in seven figures.
I’m surprised nobody played to lose in the final for just this situation (in fact, Michael actually said he thought about it during the week, but ultimately didn’t do that on the night).
I followed this moment live through Twitter rather than the TV, and it was electrifyingly tense.
When Stacey stole the 100,000 pound jackpot, it was a sight no one would ever believe. take it all had a lot of 500,000 dollar winners, but the show will be canceled at some point this season.
One of the problems here is the nature of the prisoners’ dilemma in game their versus the game show execution: in game shows, the worst that happens is that players go home with nothing. In the “real” dilemma, if both players are “greedy,” both players end up with a long jail sentence (effectively “less than zero”).
Combine that the inherent flaw of not having had the “prisoners” in cahoots before they have to make the decision, and you have all the ingredients for a game show disaster.