In the US version of Cash Cab (Wikipedia page), a trivia game show on the Discovery Channel, I was wondering how real it is. I thought that because the host, Ben Bailey, has to read the questions that he was not really driving through New York City. However, when I searched the Internet for more information, I have become convinced that he really is driving through the city, but there are several other things about the show that seem to be fake.
Based on discussion with my cousin Matt and these few pages...
...I believe that they really are driving through the city, especially because there is a gray van that follows them the whole time. Then, when I saw that Ben Bailey has an ear bud in his left ear, I decided that his eyes really are paying close attention to the road and the guys in the trailing gray van are telling him what to say.
Something else that I wondered about was how they "screened contestants" before appearing on the show (as is claimed in the text shown for a brief moment at the end of the show) if they are surprising random taxi-goers. One of the above sites provided an answer. They find people for the show by farming them from local trivia events. They tell them that they are going to be on a reality show about where people want to go in New York. So, no random person that actually has somewhere to go ever has a chance to get on the Cash Cab. This makes sense because it will allow them to have contestants that do fairly well.
Finally, and this was especially saddening to me, the cash is not real. Instead, they mail you a check. This sounds really believable. They would need a paper trail.
Some of you may be saying, "Tyson, why can't you just enjoy the show?" Well...no...I cannot not.
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Wow....that was a good background. I wondered about a few of those things, but the screening and the fake cash I had no idea about.
ReplyDelete~Ben H