MINUTE TO WIN IT: or Two…or Three!

SNEAK-PEEK!
SHOW SPOILERS! SHOW SPOILERS! SHOW SPOILERS!

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.

OUR LITTLE GENIUS: Questionable On-Set Activity!

“Our Little Genius”, set to air January 13th has been pulled from the FOX schedule and as stated by producer, Mark Burnett, will have to re-shoot episodes for the network announced today due to some questionable findings. Well, we’re not surprised!

During visits on the set of “Our Little Genius”, HOLLYWOOD JUNKET reported some unusual findings, which have recently been affirmed by a news release from FOX today and as reported by The L.A. Times.

In our original post on December 5th last year, the “Behind-The-Scenes!” section (at the end of the post) revealed some very un-game show type activity on the set. You can read it here: http://hollywoodjunket.com/blog/?p=1680

The most surprising incidents on the show were whenever a child contestant got one of the first three answers incorrect, they were allowed to re-start a fresh game. The child was taken back stage along with his or her parents for about a half-hour or so, then returned to the stage to start a new game. The stage manager explained this as a “rule” that is written into the contestants contracts that they sign according to the producers of the show. That in fact, contestants are said to be “guaranteed to win at least “$10,000″. The only reason that this would make sense is if this clause was written as to not directly conflict with the title of the show…you know, the ‘Genius” part. Perhaps, but this theory didn’t hold up with the last contestant of the last tape day. That’s all I can state for now.

Two children in which this occurred actually did go on to do quite well on the show.
In one case, a young boy was brought back for a second time. In the format of how the game is played, the contestants’ category is revealed to them before they take on the next set of answers. This is how their parents decided whether or not they want their child to continue on. When the boy stated that he was not very familiar with that particular category, filming was again halted briefly. Then when filming started again, the child was given a new category, which – surprise, he did know!. The stage manager stated that there was a “technical error”, and that the categories got “mixed-up by mistake”.

Update: We have contacted the show, and given them a second opprotunity to respond to our reports. We will keep readers updated.

Witnessing the show, did not seem like a game-show, but more like a scripted test-run of shows. Another very interesting sidebar, is that there were no representatives from “Standards and Practices” visible on the set the entire two show dates that HOLLYWOOD JUNKET was in attendance. We’re not stating that they were not there, just simply stating that we didn’t SEE them. This is unusual especially in incidents when several contestants have to re-start their shows. “Standards and Practices” reps are always on-stage of any game show for anything that affects a contestants game.

What happened during the last day of filming? We’ll reveal that in a future post!

HOLLYWOOD JUNKET gave producers the opportunity to respond to our earlier statements in the article in December, but they never got back to us.