A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Secrets Of Game Shows Revealed S:02E:09
Think game shows are pure chance and fair play? We pull the camera back on the spectacle to show how formats are engineered, contestants are cast, and “surprises” are carefully managed to deliver big TV moments. From The Price Is Right’s early days and Wheel of Fortune’s syndicated dominance to Press Your Luck’s infamous pattern exploit, we trace the real mechanics that turn randomness into ratings.
Prizes get a hard look too. That “lifetime supply” often shows up as a massive bulk shipment with expiration dates. Win a car and face taxes where you won, plus registration and costs back home—sometimes before you ever touch the prize. Home makeover shows reveal their own truth: surface-level fixes, tax hikes that price families out, and sets designed for lenses, not living. Even Big Brother’s house is a warehouse with a roofless, camera-friendly layout.
We’re not here to ruin the fun—just to watch smarter. Celebrate clever gameplay, iconic hosts, and formats that still deliver thrills, while recognizing the producer fingerprints that shape outcomes. Have you ever been on a game show, tried out, or sat in a “random” audience? We want your stories. Follow, share with a friend who loves trivia nights, and drop a review to help more curious listeners find us.
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
Welcome everyone to today's show. A boomer and a Gen Xer. Walking to a bar coming to you from the Rabbit Hole Studio, where you, as our listener, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a mother and a daughter questioning, are we even related? My name's Bobby Joy, and my co-host is my mom Jane. And uh she's down there just a grinning because she's ready to entertain you today.
SPEAKER_02:Well, no, it's because Dr. Domain just automatically pointed to me to do the intro, and I'm like panicking. It's like, wait a minute, I'm not doing it. Bobby's doing it.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I pay attention, so it helps.
SPEAKER_02:Aw, so how you feeling, Bobby? I know you've been under the weather a little bit.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, just you know, battling migraines and it's you're tired. You're tired.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness. Here in Iowa, it is cold, but you know what? It's November. It's not like we didn't see it coming.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, but you know, the lows are actually the lowest it's been since March of this year. So really, yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of it's like in the 20s. It's like you forget what cold weather feels like. Oh yeah. Even though you know it's coming every year and then it just hits you like a brick wall.
SPEAKER_02:But in Iowa, you know, we could have 80 degree weather and then have a swing of 20 below the next day. Snow. And so, you know, there's that. But anyway, um, hey, guess what? Some people's primarily retirees, favorite pastime or favorite shows are on TV.
SPEAKER_04:I was gonna say bingo when you said pastime.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that is Powerball.
SPEAKER_04:Powerball.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, that could be, but uh that's the the Farm and News Report. Oh no, but they do listen to a lot of news, you know. Uh no, game shows. Game shows. Did you know that there's an actual network for game shows?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the game show network. Oh my goodness, and they show everything like from like the 70s, 80s, 90s, all of it. I know it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02:And you can search back on those old game shows, and it's I mean, it's kind of funny to watch because you know, these women with bouffant hairdo's and the guys with the four-inch tie, you know, four-inch wide tie wearing little heels, the guys wearing heels because they gotta look bigger. Yeah, or they wear platform shoes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and let's not forget the serial killer on the game show. What game show was it? Yeah, there was so that was the one. Oh shoot, what's it? The dating game. Yeah, the dating game. Yeah, he was contestant number one.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, how funny is that? Yeah, so that was really weird when that whole thing came out and that documentary came out. We found out, oh man, we were watching this guy, and the cops were looking for him. There he is!
SPEAKER_01:I mean, there he is!
SPEAKER_02:I kind of remembered that show, really. I mean, I kind of did. So, um, guess what the oldest running game show is on TV? That's still on today, yes. Oh, uh I'm gonna give you a hint here. Is it your favorite one? It began in 1956.
SPEAKER_04:Is it your favorite game show?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, so it's not press your luck.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_04:Press, I'm gonna press my luck, Elizabeth! So 1950s. Um and 1950s.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's the longest running syndicated game.
SPEAKER_04:Is it the one the pyramid? Uh no.
SPEAKER_00:$20,000 pyramid.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think inflation brought up to$100,000.
SPEAKER_04:The longest running tac toe. It's tic-tac-toe. No.
SPEAKER_00:Oh. Oh, it's uh um uh where they bring people in, they try and guess who they are.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_00:Like I witnessed who they are. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like I witness these fascination of you have to guess which one's the true then. Which one's the lie?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's not oh, that's let's make a deal.
SPEAKER_02:Let's no, uh, what is that? Wheel of fortune about truth.
SPEAKER_00:The dating game.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh, the price is right. Jeopardy. So the price is right. The price is right began in 1956 and then it was revived with a new format in 1972. So that's kind of when people started watching it really more. The longest-running syndicated game show in the US is Wheel of Fortune. And it premiered in 1975. Isn't that wild? So, do you remember? So, apparently, the yeah, the price is right in 1956 had a host named Bill Cullen. Huh. I kind of remember that name. Bill Cullen. Could you imagine? I wasn't born in 56. That is even older than me.
SPEAKER_04:But but could you imagine like going back and watching those and seeing the at the prices on everything, and you're just like blown away, a washer for$55 and it's brand new. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I went to Mexico because of a game show.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's right. The girlfriend that you were dating at the time, she won a trip. She was on what show? Jeopardy?
SPEAKER_00:No, let's make a deal with Monty Hall.
SPEAKER_02:With Monty Hall. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:She dressed up as a chef. So she was working for the college and had something going on in California. And so just by chance she stood in line to be in the audience. And it's interesting, they put a spring on the seat. You know, you see all these people bouncing around. Yes. Yeah, they're they're they're bouncy seats.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we're not.
SPEAKER_00:It's a show where they all dressed up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she she missed out on a car, but she got a trip to Mexico. And she took you to Mexico, yeah. I was already in Mexico at the time, but yeah, she brought me.
SPEAKER_02:That's not much of a trip.
SPEAKER_00:It wasn't much of a trip. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think somebody got screwed on that whole thing. I think you did, yeah. So that's what we're gonna talk about today, but we're gonna talk about some of the secrets that uh are behind the game shows. And so uh, like I said, the price is right originally premiered in 1956. And then do you remember who the actual uh host was up until recently?
SPEAKER_04:Oh I know it's shoe carry now, but it was uh uh come on.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, Dr. Domain's got his hand up going.
SPEAKER_00:Go for it. Bob Barker. Bob Barker Spader, your dog or whatever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, nude your pants. That's right. Yep, that's exactly right. So, anyway, my as I mentioned earlier, my favorite is press your luck. No ammies.
SPEAKER_00:Now, when does that show start?
SPEAKER_02:Press your luck. Yeah. Oh, that's a good question.
SPEAKER_00:Don't cheat.
SPEAKER_02:I am gonna cheat.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. No, it started belt and Google foo.
SPEAKER_04:Well, there was something let me just use this water to use AI to see when it came up. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, Bobby, I think uh let's see. It was I'm gonna let you guys guess when 1980. Oh, you're so close. 1983. Oh. 1983. It was on CBS Network, and it was hosted by Peter Tomarkin.
SPEAKER_04:I almost said Peter Dinklage, but no, that's the actor.
SPEAKER_02:That would have been entertaining. So there was something that happened on Press Your Luck uh years ago. Do you remember what that was? Oh my goodness, come on.
SPEAKER_04:I really the only time I really dealt with Press Your Luck was at the casino because they had the casino game that was Press Your Luck. But I do remember the no whammies, no whammies, you know, things like that.
SPEAKER_02:So what happened was go ahead, Dr. Domain.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I don't know the gentleman's name, but he sat and watched all the shows, and what he did was study the pattern of the lights around the perimeter of the casino.
SPEAKER_04:That's what I did at the casino.
SPEAKER_00:Is that what you did?
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, Jack. They fixed that too. So you got kicked out. Yeah. Well, they caught up with this guy eventually. And they because they they were like, he didn't hit a single way. I mean, he brought I mean you have to. No, you're right.
SPEAKER_02:So it was Michael Larson, Michael Larson, he won over$110,000. And back then in 1984. That's huge. That's huge. Yeah. But he did it exactly the way that you said is by memorizing the board's patterns. But that's not illegal. Well, it's like card countries. Yeah, he was just smarter. Yeah. But they they actually brought him up on uh fraudulent marketing scheme charges. Oh, that's and tried to charge him. And uh, but he squandered all of the money that he got, and at this kind of it wasn't really a failed scheme, but they called it a failed scheme. And he died of cancer in 1999.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. Okay, Debbie Downer over there. I know what really, I mean stats. It shouldn't be illegal because you're not doing you're not rigging the game, you're not messing with the outcome. It's like card counting in Vegas. Is it frowned upon? Yeah, but should it be illegal?
SPEAKER_02:No, because if you're smart enough to do it, to figure it out. Yeah. Well, and like these game shows don't do some backhanded stuff. Oh, they do.
SPEAKER_04:Come on, it's just shit show, literally.
SPEAKER_02:Have you ever watched The Wheel of Fortune where they go to spin it and then it's like it's spinning really, really fast, and then stop. Yep. Yeah, yeah, you can't tell me that's not rigged. Don't tell me that it's not.
SPEAKER_00:So what was the show that had um played Cranston? He they bought all the lot, they figured it out. They bought like thousands of lottery tickets and they won.
SPEAKER_02:Oh consistently. No, that was just the lottery.
SPEAKER_00:That was based on yeah, lottery. That was based on truth, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right, exactly. So what happened was was they got the town folk and everybody involved, and they started investing money and buying lottery tickets because this this mouth mathematician figured out how many chances there were to win, and so started playing the odds. And I mean, they were making buttloads of money. But um, Mike Larson was the one who, you know, uh kind of screwed up the whammy show, I guess. Uh, but that is my favorite show. And then there was another contestant that was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and they cheated. Guess how they cheated.
SPEAKER_04:Uh oh, by coughing.
SPEAKER_02:There is somebody in the audience coughing. Yep, had a had somebody else in the in the audience's wife, Diana, and they were convicted of cheating on the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
SPEAKER_04:Which is the original version.
SPEAKER_02:I believe that is true. That was in 2001. And then there was a big scandal back in the 1950s in the US about rigging several popular shows. Contestants were secretly given answers by the producers to help them win. And you know, I don't know if everybody knows it, but if you go on Jeopardy, you get that information in advance. It's just how many of those you can memorize.
SPEAKER_04:Speaking of Jeopardy, did you know that certain bets are forbidden on the game of Jeopardy? Like what? Okay, so uh, so this is the funny thing. So certain bets, like number bets, are forbidden because of their association with white supremacy. What? Yeah, no, don't BS on that. Yeah, like numbers. Like what? Like the whatever the white supremacy numbers are. What are they? Like four or four or something like that, or God, hold on. Give me a minute.
SPEAKER_03:Come on.
SPEAKER_04:Six seven. Six seven, I swear.
SPEAKER_02:I had to throw that in there because my grandson, who's a teenager, he he does that. Six seven.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, so yeah, so apparently there's a couple of them. So references to sex, Nazis, or Satan. So apparently you can't bet$666. Well, that's Satan. Well, okay, okay, uh,$69. Can't do it. You can't bet$69. Cannot do it. No, no. Yeah. Um, and you're making this up. No. So, and then like uh apparently the number 14 and 88 are associated with the Nazis. I gotta go back a little bit, but I know 88 is just because of the SS, but yeah. So um the white supremacist 14 words slogan. What? Yeah, so they're forbidden. And even Ken Jennings, you know, the big Jeopardy guy, he made a joke about it um on his Twitter about that they were forbidden. Oh my gosh, I bet they came down hard on him. I'm sure that that's why he's not there anymore.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, isn't he the host? No, there's a woman there.
SPEAKER_02:No, there's a woman now. Oh, yeah, I don't know who she is, but yeah, you're right. He's been on uh what's that other game show? I do like this one, uh, where you have to beat the the guy that beat somebody up?
SPEAKER_00:Beat the monkey?
SPEAKER_02:No my goodness. Oh my goodness. There we go. I'm not even gonna go into it because I can't remember the name of it now.
SPEAKER_00:Have you seen some of those Japanese shows where like a silhouette of something like this wall coming towards you, and you're gonna can contort your body to fit through?
SPEAKER_04:You have to shape it, yeah. You have to make the shape in order to fit through, otherwise, you get knocked off and you get eliminated. Japanese shows are wild. But you know, you know, speaking of that, there are shows, and I know these aren't like necessarily game shows, but they really are like master chef. Yeah, the contestants actually practice their dishes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, they do, yeah. Like you're given the dishes beforehand. Well, you know, we talked about that. It's like they show up and they go, Okay, what's your secret ingredient? Oh, it's rutabega and you know, black turtle farts. Black turtle farts. I don't know. They come up with some weird stuff, and it's like, how would they have that in the kitchen?
SPEAKER_04:You know, have you ever seen have you ever seen that show Cash Cab? Oh, yeah, yeah. So that's that's that's completely set up.
SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say, I know they're not random people. So this is making me crack up right now. Hold on, hold on.
SPEAKER_00:How does that work though? Because like they'll have like a shout-out, like they're going through New York, right? And like, oh, do you want to I'll do a shout out? Well, do they stage all the people on the street and everything?
SPEAKER_04:They stage everybody. Wow. Yeah, everything from the contestant to the shout-outs to the route that they take. Like they have it all pre-planned. Thanks. So that way there's a lot of people. I mean, if you think about it, let's let's really think about it. New York, God love New York, you know. But you're not gonna be driving that fast in New York, first of all, on a case. And second of all, you're not gonna pick up some rando knowing that you're carrying hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars in this cash cab that's lit up like Christmas. True. I know what's in there. True. What if they get robbed? Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Like well, if they get robbed today, it all gets shared with everyone else.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and I see what you're saying, though, because the reason that you know that it's set up is because they have the cameras already set up outside the cab talking to the people on the street, right? Looking in to the other people who are saying, Hey, we're gonna shout out where that where'd that camera have.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, how that camera know that they needed to be right there at that time. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:So I see your point. So they do a lot of behind the scenes tricks uh you know to create like a dramatic or exciting spectacle. One of the things that they can do is they can make the set look bigger. Yep. And I know that they do that on pressure luck for sure. And also, have you ever seen Pond Stars? Yeah, they're in Vegas. They're in Vegas. You can tell that though. So we went to that place.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:And I kid you not, that entire store is about the size of a fly bathroom. Yeah, yeah. It's tiny. The real store is tiny. Yeah. And they they monitor everybody that comes in, so there's always a long line standing out there waiting to get in because they think it's something fantastic. But there's nobody wheeling and dealing like that. I mean, maybe back in the day when they first started, but now they all think they're actors because of reality show people. But anyway, so they also uh some of the game shows will use fake timers, and we talked about that kind of with the Wheel of Fortune. It's not really a timer, but come on, you're not gonna convince me they're not controlling that stuff.
SPEAKER_04:Well, and they even asked people on uh Buzzfeed.com, which I go on all the time because I love BuzzFeed, and one of the guys had a cousin that was on Survivor, and they had actually won the final challenge 45 minutes ahead of the second place person, but they cut the show so that it seemed like it was only seconds that they won it by seconds.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, and I was gonna say they trically edit and control the narrative, right? And so contestants also, we talked about this because Dr. Domain mentioned it. They're all are you know, you mentioned that your friend, your ex-girlfriend, uh whatever.
SPEAKER_04:Um, like he you weren't even in his life. Shut up. Who? I've been in his life since he was a baby.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well, not like that. Now we're getting weird cry about it.
SPEAKER_04:Talking about your ex-girlfriend that's the game show stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you were okay.
SPEAKER_02:What about it? I don't want to go back and what I was gonna say is contestants are often pre-selected and coached. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:She was they went around, they so the Monty's got some crony that goes out and well, he did, that will talk to people and figure out okay, who has the most energy, who can really get excitable. Right, yeah, and that fit her profile.
SPEAKER_02:And so cool, yeah. Well, um, so game shows are susceptible to scandals like rigging, cheating, and fake contestants, and so we do know that for sure. And sometimes when you see these contestants on the show, you kind of go, This can't be right. I mean, this can't be real. So manipulating the set, I talked about that, making making the whole set look bigger on screen or using camera angles or lighting to make them seem larger. Um, the Jeopardy set apparently is only about half the size of a school gym. It makes it look like it's a magnificent stage, right?
SPEAKER_04:No, I mean I can I can see that though, because it doesn't look that big to me, but yeah. They also control when people laugh and clap because they they have the little signs, the little signs that come up, the little little handlers that go, okay, now go, oh yeah, you know, type of thing. And they also do like uh family feud. It looks like you know, they do multiple days or you know, when they run the shows back to back. What they do is they do it all in one day and they just have them change clothes, right?
SPEAKER_02:So things like that or countdowns or time announcements are pre-recorded, right? And they do the edit editing so that they can make the audience's reaction seem enthusiastic during that time period. Uh, one of the things on casting and vetting of these contestants, there, you know, everybody thinks that they're chosen at random. Oh, I want to go on the prices right.
SPEAKER_04:They're not. Good luck. Yeah. I went through the Jeopardy process myself. And it was there's a reason I did not go on Jeopardy. Let's just put it that way, because I got to like the fourth step in it, and I was like, okay, I'm done. Like, this is bullshit.
SPEAKER_02:They had the Wheel of Fortune at one of the casinos here in it. Is it Oceola? Yeah, yeah. They had one of I I think it was Wheel of Fortune. When a girlfriend and I went down there, because you could try out to be on the show. So we went down there and we stood in line for a couple hours, and I said, I'm not doing this anymore because it was cold outside. And so, but all of these people were standing in line, and I'm not kidding you, for long, yeah, a long period of time, and they came out and said, We've got our contestants, you all can go. Yeah. And it was, I mean, they were mad, but you know, it's not like they're going through that entire process of everybody that applies.
SPEAKER_04:Because and the Jeopardy process, I mean, it's long and drawn out because you have to, there's an online process, there's a screening process, they go through interviews and auditions, and how much can you shut up and not say about the show process? And it's like, well, I can't shut up for shit, so don't put me on there.
SPEAKER_00:So they're briefed on have you done it? Have you gone through a screening?
SPEAKER_02:I haven't.
SPEAKER_00:I think she should go through a screening.
SPEAKER_02:I don't think so. I think she should.
SPEAKER_00:Naked and afraid. Do you get screened for that?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, for goodness.
SPEAKER_04:That would be interesting.
SPEAKER_02:That right there makes me sick. Okay. I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror, let alone.
SPEAKER_00:You're giving a little satchel to cover up, you know. Whatever it's called, little baggy.
SPEAKER_04:See, they would do the reveal, you know, like where you meet you meet your teammate or whatever. You're gonna, and I would just be like, oh my god, and just walk away. I'd be like, Where's the plane? We're not doing this. We're not doing this.
SPEAKER_02:I can't even imagine. Oh my gosh. Uh just the thought of it.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, back to what I was gonna talk about. Uh, sometimes you know, you hear sometimes surprises are lifetime supply. That is false, actually. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04:It is not always, and sometimes it's too much. Yeah, yeah. So they'll like either send a bulk lifetime supply where they're like to your house all at once. So you get like a box peanuts. You get a box of rice aroni every week for the rest of your life, and they they plan out, you know, depending on your age. So let's say you're in your 30s when you go and compete, and they're like, You won a lifetime supply of book of rice aroni. So they're like, Okay, like maybe 40 years. They send 40 years worth of rice aroni to your house at one time, and it's like and it's all sitting out in the garage.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, like what are you supposed to do when it's got an expiration on it of three months from now?
SPEAKER_04:Right, right. I mean, you know, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Put it on eBay or Facebook marketplace.
SPEAKER_02:Or just give it to the food banks.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and and I was reading about somebody who actually did get a lifetime supply of the rice aroni, and it was an old, old game show, and they gave it away to their friends, their neighbors, the community, all the food banks they could find, and they still had like two pallets of rice aroni they could not get rid of.
SPEAKER_02:I like rice aroni. But yeah, you like it that much? Not that much, not that much. But here's the other thing on prizes. Um, a lot of people don't recognize this, but you have to pay taxes on that stuff. Yeah, and you have to pay it before you go.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. So you better have a couple thousand dollars going in.
SPEAKER_02:So let's say that you want a$25,000 car. Okay, there's no$25,000 car. Let's say that you want a$60,000 car. Right. You have to pay the taxes for the state of which you want it. Right. And then you have to go back to your own state and license that thing. And so you're paying for tags and all kinds of stuff. But I mean, gosh, that that adds up, man. And even if you won a buttload of money, you may not even see it. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So and that's on that's on more than I mean, just cars. You have to pay literally the taxes on anything you win.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And it's right there. It's up front. It's not like you can be like, okay, well, can I just take the cash option and take the taxes out of that? They're gonna be like, no, you have to pay the taxes up front, right? Out of your own pocket.
SPEAKER_02:And let's face it, I mean if you're on a game show trying to win a freaking car, you don't have the money for the taxes. Hey, I'm just here to to win my rice around you. I didn't I didn't even know I was gonna be eligible for a car. So, anyway, those are some of the things that I wanted to talk about. So, oh, the other thing was the producers because the producers really do, you know, they can help the contestants win by giving them information. Right. And people don't even know that the producers are working with their, you know, their rivals over here. Right. You know, they also tell them what outfits to wear.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Here's what colors you can wear, here's what you need to wear when you're on stage.
SPEAKER_04:Here's how many buttons your shirt can go down. Here, here's the type the cut of jeans you need to wear, the cut of pants you need to wear. And producers, you know, a lot of times on the cooking shows, those surprise ingredients aren't surprise because the producers tell them they tell me. They're like, hey, you know, the surprise ingredient's gonna be avocados, so start thinking about something with an avocado in it.
SPEAKER_02:And you know, it's something like um, what was it, Iron Chef America, which is only 60 minutes, and boom, you gotta have 14 dishes on, you know, in front of the judges. And everybody thinks that they're only taking 60 minutes to fix this stuff. No. And, you know, I mean, maybe it does take that long, but the judging, on the other hand, I'm sure that that was probably, you know, well, and on those shows, they have they actually have people there that help to plate them and present them, and you don't see those people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:All you see are, you know, the chefs that are competing, but they actually have people to help plate them and organize them and things like that that you never see. It's insane.
SPEAKER_02:It is insane. It is, and that's why I'm not going to try out for I think you should.
SPEAKER_04:I think you should go through a screening process on something. Yes, with your special ingredient.
SPEAKER_02:Turtle farts, black turtle farts.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:The other thing is I do watch a lot of that'll totally ruin my dish. Oh my god. Oh my god, you know, fix her upper uh shows. Extreme home makeover.
SPEAKER_04:Whatever that is. That Thai guy that did that, yeah, he came out years later and was like, yeah, we basically just put like paint on shit and then moved them back in.
SPEAKER_02:They don't actually finish the house.
SPEAKER_04:No, there's homework and all kinds of stuff. Or they do it to the point where the house is now valued so much that the family can't afford the taxes any longer and they lose the house.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So you have somebody who's dirt poor. Yeah. And we're gonna build you a million-dollar home here and we're gonna furnish it, and we're gonna put a swimming pool in, right, and we're gonna put, you know, do all of this stuff, and your taxes just went to hell in a handbasket, and you can't afford the utility bills on this thing. Right. And they were dirt poor to begin with. It's like, well, their floor was falling out from under them, and uh the roof was leaking. And well, let's give them a million-dollar house and try to afford hey, at least the shithole was paid off.
SPEAKER_04:Now that now they're losing their land and everything else because they can't afford the taxes on it.
SPEAKER_02:The other thing is, is uh I was gonna say on the carpenter shows, one of them, this is so funny because I contacted them one time because I said, Hey, just seems odd to me that you've got this show on TV and you're all out there working and you're using all this stuff and nobody's wearing safety glasses, gloves, or anything. Right. OSHA violations left and right. And they and you know what their response was? And and this was uh Magnolia Network. So I'm not gonna say the names of the people, but you all know who it is now. They said, well, they don't really work on the houses. No, no, they don't. They said they're rarely on scene, so it's not them. And I thought, well, whoever it is that you're filming, yeah, you need to tell them to put some safety gear on, you dumbasses. But the other thing, the other thing is, is like um big brother, you know, the house and stuff, yeah, is actually a huge warehouse.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and even though inside of a warehouse, it's not even a real house.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So there's no like actual weather. There's no, I mean, there's no roof on the place because they have to be able to see in the rooms with the cameras and see what's going on. So it's basically, yeah, it's like a dollhouse with the roof ripped off.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So there's a lot of stuff that goes on on these game shows, folks, that you all think that it's just so legit, and it's really not which ones are legit? I don't know. None. Don't ask.
SPEAKER_00:How about wipeout? That's fun.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's fun. That is fun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And then what's the biggest but the biggest fatty or the biggest loser, whatever they're called.
SPEAKER_04:That's actually really rigged. That's one of the biggest rigged. Um, so what they do is they were found to be giving them performance-enhancing drugs. One of the figures was okay. Yeah, you still lose the weight, but then like you turn around as soon as the show's over, you're not getting all of these um helpful um chemicals.
SPEAKER_02:Think about it. Who gave 400 pounds back? Right, but they're working them out eight hours a day. Who in their right mind can keep that? They can't do that.
SPEAKER_00:I'm just saying it's legit, right? The weight loss is real.
SPEAKER_04:The weight loss is not sustainable and it's probably not healthy. And it's probably not in the time limit that they're saying that it is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I got another one. Fear factor. That one's a good one.
SPEAKER_04:That one is a good one. Yeah. Joe Rogan. Yeah, before he did the podcast. You know, where we used to used to get gross acts, you're like, they would put snakes on them in the things. Yeah, yeah, that's sick.
SPEAKER_00:Sounds a good one. That's sexy. Did they win money on that?
SPEAKER_04:They did, yeah, yeah. But you know, you talk about wipeout. Uh MXC was the original wipeout, and it was filmed uh in Japan. And that one was legit. That was like legit, that was hilarious, too. That was one of the best ones to watch.
SPEAKER_02:One of the other ones, I don't think you can fake this, but I can see how it could be staged is like the gladiator challenges. And what's the one where you have to go through it, you know, and time it and Ninja Warriors. Ninja Warriors. I mean, how do you really rig that?
SPEAKER_04:Well, you would you would allow them to run the course beforehand a few years. But you could let anybody do that, right? Yeah, yeah. Or maybe give them like a second chance if they fall and they're had money on them. I don't know. That would be a way to do it.
SPEAKER_02:Money on them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, bookies on the side. Yeah, you got bookies on the side.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, hey, you can bet on anything nowadays just on your phone. So yeah, I suppose. Yeah, I suppose. That'd be a good one.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I that's all I had for the game shows.
SPEAKER_04:I still think that you should go through the process of at least one game show. No, but one game show.
SPEAKER_02:I would like to hear from our listeners to see if anybody has been on a game show or if they were, you know, they were interviewed or vetted for a game show.
SPEAKER_04:Or even in the audience, because a lot of the audience has to be vetted as well. Yeah. They have to be prepped and vetted and things like that. So yeah, anybody out there that's that's ever been through the the game show circus.
SPEAKER_02:I would love to hear from them because one of the other things that I discovered was like, let's say we were talking about the car earlier, and let's say it was a sixty thousand dollar car, and I said, Hey, you know what? I don't want the car, just give me 10 grand. You can't do that. They won't let you know that because you know they have these deals with the with the people who provide these prices like the manufacturers and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00:You can donate it, right? There's nothing saying you can't donate that. No, but what they'd be you have to pay the taxes. That's what I'm saying. Maybe the con the charitable contribution may offset some of the taxes.
SPEAKER_04:At the end of the year, I mean, who's gonna wait for that? Not poor people.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I should I don't have all the answers, probably.
SPEAKER_02:I don't have any answers. So uh the only thing I'm gonna tell you right now is uh I think that's all we had for game show here at the rabbit hole studio today. We appreciate you joining us here. And be sure to follow us. We look forward to spending time with you each week. We would love to hear from you if you were on a game show, if you had anything to do with a game show or what your experience has been with game shows. I find it quite interesting. Uh, only just don't diss mind press your luck. Love that show. Like us online, and if you have positive feedback for us, or if there's a topic you want us to talk about, drop us a short email at Boomer and Gen X or at gmail.com. If you have hate mail, where's that going, Bobby?
SPEAKER_04:Uh that's going in the game show file of bullshit that does not happen. That's exactly right. So until next week, I'm Jane Burr. And I'm Bobby Joy, and you're stuck with us. Peace out later.