NFL athletes to play in the “Minute to Win It” 60-second circle include New Orleans Saints Pierre Thomas and Robert Meachem and Minnesota Vikings Anthony Herrera, Visanthe Shiancoe and Bernard Barrien.

Thomas and Shiancoe will team up together to win money for their charities. Bernard Barrien will play with cheerleader Amber Wright from the San Francisco 49ers cheerleading squad “Gold Rush”. Meachem and Herrera team up to play challenging “Minute to Win It” stunts. ‘

With the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina upon us, “Minute to Win It” is doing their part by featuring contestants who are attempting to raise money for the New Orleans area in this episode. Charities directly related are: Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Orleans, New Orleans and National Kidney Foundation, United Way for Greater New Orleans Area. Other charities include, Indian Nations Football Conference and The Childrens’ Hospital, Inc.

To apply to be a contestant, contact casting now at: mtwicasting@gmail.com
Include your name, phone number, a few photos of yourself, and a short paragraph on why you think they should pick you. The tip that they give is to “make yourself stand out!”

Fast-forward to five months later since filming first started on the show and get a bit of a different show. Gone are the “game agents”, the original set, as well as most of the food stunts. Thankfully what remains is the host Fieri, who jokingly labeled himself as the “benevolent ambassador of the 60-second circle”. My first impression of him was a genuinely sincere man, and I couldn’t think of one negative thing to review about him. Fieri did well when he listened to his good friend Drew Carey’s advice in the beginning stages of “Minute to Win It” which was – when it come to hosting, “just be yourself”.

Fieri also revealed in a recent press conference phone call that some of the hosts he looks up to are: Richard Dawson (The Family Feud), Chuck Barris (The Gong Show), Drew Carey (The Price is Right), and Howie Mandel (America’s Got Talent). Fieri stated that he’s not trying to emulate any particular person that he’s watched, but they have all influenced him.

When asked by The Examiner’s Matt Carter how it compared to be hosting a game show versus a food show, Fieri stated that “the common denominator is people”. “In Diners, Drive-in and Dives I’m putting their restaurants, their food in the spotlight” similar to “Minute to Win It”. They aren’t wining $125,000 but, they are getting their restaurant and location out there.

Fieri speculated that part of the show’s popularity has to do with people’s hard economic times. Not everyone can go out and buy the exercise Wii , “or the new game or new gadget. But, everybody can probably pick-up a bag of ping-pong balls, and some red Solo cups and set-up their own mini-Olympics of Minute to Win It“.

Viewers will be in for a treat this summer with an introduction to new and complex games involving multiple players as well as some back-story reveals from some of the contestants and real-life drama unfolding on the stage.

Watch new summer episodes of “Minute to Win it” on NBC starting tonight at 8/7 pm c, and continue through September.

Get our sneak-peek to games and contestants here: http://hollywoodjunket.com/2010/06/29/minute-to-win-it-preview-of-summer-episodes/

If you think you can handle the pressure of performing stunts with random household objects inside the 60-second circle, email your contact info, city you live in, your photo and a short paragraph about yourself to: Mtwicasting@gmail.com.

“Minute To Win It”s new formula of doubling-up players has proven to be for contestants either a blessing or a curse. The team is either in sync with great communication and are successful in their games, or one contestant is over-confident while the other one becomes passive. The last situation creates for contempt for the non-playing contestant after a number of lives have been lost. The number of lives is still three, which can create a problem once two strangers are sharing lives in a bad game.

New episodes, new games with more double partnered game plays start July 7th!

In a press conference call earlier this morning with Guy, he revealed that the games are “lotteried” and that there are 6-8 full-time “game wizards” in a room full of everything on earth from foods to knick-knacks creating the games in a studio next to the stage. Not all get through. Guy is still waiting to hear back if his “Ring-A-Ling” game will show-up in the sixty-second circle.

Upcoming themed episodes will be twins, and an office episode sponsored by “OfficeMax”. Contestants are a real life “Pam and Jim” from another NBC show called “The Office”. Games to expect to see in this episode are: Office Maximus, Clipper, Office Fling, Office Tennis, and Coffee Topper.

The NBC “Minute To Win It” website has a video feature where fans can upload impressive videos of themselves playing the games at home, at work or wherever they may be. One such fan who uploaded a number of videos to the site was picked to play on the show! If you’d like to play in the sixty-second circle, make a video and upload it here: http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/user-uploads/

Some celebrity surprises are also to be expected. Fieri would not reveal any by name, but he did hint that some are from the NFL. Fieri also stated that celebrity games are not made easy for charity. When Kevin Jonas played in the circle one month ago, his games were randomly picked. Fieri mentioned to one of the game creators that he thought they were very difficult games. Jonas proved to do extremely well and earned $500,000 for his charity.

“Minute To Win It” returns to NBC Wednesday, July 7th at 8/7 c.

Frankenstein, Pink Elephant, and Octopus. No, they’re not the names of comic book villains, but the names of new games which are villainous to the contestants trying to overcome them in their quest to win the ultimate, and still unobtainable $1 million on NBC game show “Minute to Win It”.

The show just wrapped its third installment of tapings on Friday, May 21st in Studio City with some new rules and other changes in an effort, so it seems, to make a contestant a millionaire. This has not been confirmed by show producers, just simply a speculation.

For starters, there are two more levels in which a contestant may bank their money if they should fail proceeding games. Contestants can now pocket their $1000 winnings, $50,000 (was always the case) and now $250,000. “Minute to Win It” also introduces a way of playing with two players at a time some of whom are twins. The rules for this are, no one player out of the two may play more than three games back-to-back. After the third game, their partner must play the next one no matter what. This rule caused for much discussion for strategies and anxiety on stage.

Will a new contestant top highest winner, Kevin Jonas’ on “Minute to Win It”? Tune into the show to find out!

One such pair of contestants were strangers, and one of them got the surprise on stage! This particular situation was very similar to GSN’s “Money List” where two strangers had to work together to complete lists of a variety of pop culture, then split the winnnings.

After witnessing one pair of contestants game in which they didn’t do so well, their families reaction made me wonder if “Minute to Win It” will be faced with letting a contestant re-appear on the show again to play, this time, by themselves. I’m sure there will be a lawyer to find a loop-hole somewhere.

So far, the most exciting and best episode consists of two male twins. This episode includes a proposal and a lot of messy on-stage antics. These twins have also played the daytime version of “Deal or No Deal”. .

“Minute to Win It” continues to explore contestants back-stories and ignite on-stage drama brought about by reunions of family members. Very similar to “Deal or No Deal”. This will either help the show or hurt it. I guess it’s just not good enough anymore for a game show to be just a game show a game show. Host, Guy Fieri introduces the show to audiences in the studio before each show taping by stating “it’s not a game show, it’s a life-changing show”.

Other surprises viewers can look forward to are, the return of “Minute to Win It” first highest winner, Blake, and a contestant who topped Kevin Jonas’ winnings!

Some new games have been added to the show. Fieri stated that there are now 85 games in the “Minute to Win It” game library. We counted 69 that are currently on the show’s website. This will surely be updated by their webmaster soon. But, in the meantime, HOLLYWOOD JUNKET is here to help prospective contestants out by providing this sneak-peek to some of the new games we saw in action that the “game wizards” have created:

OCTOPUS: Player must pull streamers from underneath water-filled “Fiji” water bottles without the bottles falling. DROP BALL: Player must remove water-filled “Fiji” water bottles placed atop of water cooler empty jugs while dropping one golf ball sitting on top of the “Fiji” bottles into the empty jugs. PINK ELEPHANT: Player must toss a red slinky to sit directly onto their forehead without the use of their hands. STICKY PICKER-UPPER: Player must roll one egg on a platter to pick-up three stickers. Finally, the most challenging game yet is FRANKENSTEIN: Player must balance three separate wooden rulers holding two batteries, one at each end on their forearms and successfully carry all three back to the starting place.

“Minute to Win It” is casting next in Boston, June 12 at the Health and Fitness Expo from 10 – 2 p, and in Chicago, June 12 at NBC Tower from 10-2 p. http://www.nbc.com/casting/#minute

Host, Guy Fieri from Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” was high energy and kept the show flowing smoothly.

Contestants of the show face stunts that involve everyday household items as well as food. Fieri, this time acknowledged on-stage that the food might be thrown into a lot of the challenges because, well, he IS a chef. A question we asked him during our phone interview after the first slew of episode tapings had wrapped, and he responded back then that he didn’t think the food was for his benefit.

The biggest change the show has made is the “game show agents” as in, there are none. Previous episodes that aired included two young women, (Lauren Gilmore and Ai-Li Wang) dressed in latex pants and matching jackets that would help set-up each contestant in their stunts. The second change, no more smoke that went along with the setting-up of the agents props used in the players’ stunts.

These women didn’t seem to be used to their full extent on previous shows. It was strange having them there primarily to secure game challenges, but without talking to either the host or the contestants. There needed to be either just one who could also be a co-host, or none. It appears that maybe the producers of the show were thinking the same thing. The girls got the axe.

Agents were required to get into awkward poses as Fieri introduced each player to their stunts. A lot of times, production had to wait as the girls secured their placement on-stage and work the smoke in a the right time.

The production of the show is cleaner, simpler (I didn’t think that was possible) and more efficient with these changes, along with adding the “blueprints” that explain each challenge, it is assumed, during post editing. Also gone is the raised platform that Fieri would talk to contestants on, and now replaced with flat wood flooring.

A few things that haven’t changed is the amount of money challengers can win at each level with $1 million being the top prize. Some familiar stunts remain and new ones introduced. Yesterday’s show included these games: Egg Roll, Egg Dance; Sticky Situation; Keep the Change; Chocolate Unicorn.

The “Chocolate Unicorn” has the contestant stack seven “Ding Dong” chocolate cakes on top of each other and balance them on the forehead. “Sticky Situation”, the player must make a ping-pong ball stick to slices of bread with peanut butter or jelly. After these food stunts, Fieri played with the food by throwing it into the audience as well as eating a slice of the peanut butter bread.

This inspired him to share a childhood story with everyone. He stated that his parents were “hippies” and that they’d make their own food, including bread and peanut butter. Fieri said he was embarrassed by the fact and the appearance of the homemade bread that was unusually thick with “twigs and rocks” in it. So, he complained to his mom about it. As a result, he was sent to school with a big grocery paper bag with all the ingredients in it to make his own sandwich, including a jar of “Grey Poupon” (something his Dad liked to put on everything). Fieri joked that this was why he decided to become a chef.

Players still have three lives and an British-accented female voice counting them into game play and challenge titles. One feature that the show took out early-on in the first tapings was a clone image of themselves of each contestant displayed on the TV screen on-stage to represent their “lives”, or chances. With strange and tedious games players must master, they need real clones to reach the elusive $1 million.

HOLLYWOOD JUNKET spoke to Fieri Friday in an exclusive telephone interview during his Satellite Media Tour from his restaurant in Northern California. When asked about the “Mulligan” one contestant was given on the show who was given a second chance at her game, then after failing that, a completely new challenge, it seemed at first as though he was dodging the question but, then came back to it and answered it straight-on. He cited issues with the product (paper reams) that she was given to work with in that challenge.

Fieri also spoke of potential new food challenging he and his sons are working-on at home that may be introduced on the show if NBC brings it back for another season. One such challenge he calls “The Ring-a-Ling”. Another challenge Fieri teased would be to starve contestants for 48 hours then bring them onto the stage to sit in front of their favorite food and challenge them to NOT eat it in the 60 seconds!

Fieri also stated that the food challenges on the show were completely coincidental and not intentionally included in the show for his benefit.

Watch these interesting stunts involving food and everyday household items on the the two-hour season premiere March 14th on NBC.

Studio City, CA – Filming for the NBC import of “The Cube”, called “Minute to Win It” with host from Food Network fame, Guy Fieri began on Friday in Studio City.

NBC introduces food host Guy Fieri to the masses. Possibly another show debacle for the network.

The show introduced a set of challenges for it’s contestants that involve using everyday household objects and making complicated stunts with them. It’s almost like Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare” but without the extreme messiness!

The obvious advantage of using everyday items is the show saves tons in production costs especially when the game play takes place directly on the stage with very few props.

Each contestant must complete a series of ten tasks to be completed in one minute or less to win the grand money prize of $1 million. In pursuant of that, the lower money levels that can be obtained are: $1,000; $2.500; $5,000; $10,000; $50,000; $75,000; $125,000; $250,000; $500,000. If $50,000 is won, the contestant keeps that if they fail at tasks after that. If they lose before earning $50,000, they walk away with nothing.

Some tasks that were given to game competitors on Friday’s show included the following: Pulling tissues out of a box with one hand; hitting three soda cans off of another one with a ball of yarn; sucking M&Ms candy up with a drinking straw and placing them atop other straws; riding a bath rug around an obstacle of bath instruments one of which was a toilette plunger; pulling-up M&Ms candy placed on top of a pencil with two strings; and one contestant’s feat was to move cookies into her mouth using only her face muscles.

Rules of challenges are not clearly stated by Fieri, or the announcer. There is a chance the show will add some narration in post production later.

Players get multiple chances if they fail a task. But, only two and they’re called “lives” which represent doppelgangers of there own selves. An exception was made when one contestant could not complete the first task. After missing it the first time, the director of the show stated that they were going to give her a “mulligan” due to nerves. When the contestant failed it a second time. Guess what? Production stopped the show, cleared the stage. Then re-started the whole show over again from the very beginning with a new first task for the player. Really? Did executive producer Mark Burnett leave the set of “Our Little Genius” and go straight onto this one? No game show Standards & Practices in sight, and a “game show” lets a contestant re-start their game.

“Minute to Win It” openly states that every contestant on the show is given the challenges ahead of time and are allowed to practice them at home. I really lost interest at that point. It’s not fun watching contestants re-do something that they’ve already done a number of times at home, even if they still fail the task on-stage.

During day one of filming, there was no explanation given to why contestants practice at home. One possibility might be due to the fact that contestants are given only two lives compared to nine lives given on “The Cube”. Then, why not just add more lives?

With the NBC Pubic Relations Department on a walk-out due to the Conan O’Brien upheaval, NBC really can’t afford another show controversy.

Food Network’s celebrity chef Guy Fieri hosts “Minute to Win It”.

“Minute to Win It”, a British import of “The Cube” challenges its contestants to various stunts that involve household items. The show relates its content to their popular food host Fieri by putting food into the stunts. Some food items on yesterday’s show included: M&Ms candy and cookies. A wrap-around screen behind the audience seating area projects various displays of cookies and M&Ms floating through the air. I thought I was watching “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” again!

Contestants are given two “life-lines”, so to speak that give them two chances to complete a stunt. These are called “lives”. The “lives” are represented as the contestants’ clones of themselves on a large screen on stage.

Each challenge is presented to the player via a female announcer with a British accent as the “blue-print” of the stunt is shown to them as an electronic diagram on the digital screen. This is in place of “The Body” on the British version. The player is then sent off by Fieri to attempt the stunt on the stage platform.

Two model-type young girls are the resident “game agents” who insure each contestant is set-up in their challenge properly. The entire game consists of ten separate challenges. Each contestant has only sixty-seconds to complete each task. Once they reach the $50,000 level they get to keep that money if they should loose the following challenge. If a contestant completes all ten tasks, they win $1 million.

I have to admit that I went into watching “Minute to Win It” with a fresh canvas, having never seeing “The Cube” until today. All the while, while I was witnessing the events on stage of what the production was calling a “game show” I kept feeling that there was something missing. After watching “The Cube” today, I now know what that is. It’s organization, intrigue, and brains. There is none of that in “Minute to Win It”!

I’m predicting that this show is sure to be the record-holder of the cheapest “game show” ever produced! The host is from a cable network (score!), the props are all cheap household items, and there is no contraption build on the stage (like say a big rectangular glass room). All games are played on the stage itself!

Now that NBC has to pay “The Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien a reported whopping $30 million to buy him out of his contract, I’ll also bet that the network will be happy that they saved so much money on this show!

Check-back for an exclusive sneak-peek!