SPOILERS revealed in this article if you have not watched episodes 1 and 2 yet.

More reasons to get people to buy products on Amazon? Now, there’s a game show to give consumers the excuse to buy more stuff to fill up their houses!  It’s a “Buy it Now” game show hosted by “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star JB Smoove.  Some viewers may remember his daughter from Season 2 of ABC’s “Claim to Fame.” 

Host JB Smoove, is also an executive producer of the show.  According to Smoove, he hosts the show “perfectly” and he can “do no wrong.”  Though at times, it’s difficult to understand what he’s saying, especially when he adds some urban slang to the mix.

Panel of Experts:

The first panel of episode one consists of Ring Camera creator Jamie Siminoff, Goop CEO/creator Gwyneth Paltrow, and the VP of U.S. Prime and Marketing Tech at Amazon, Carmen Nestares.  They get pitched to by four contestants total each episode. Not all will have the chance to have their products added to the “Buy it Now” store.

Jamie Siminoff, is also part of the panel on episode two.  He serves as a “resident panelist.”  As founder and inventor of “Ring Doorbell,” his backstory is quite interesting. The investors on Shark Tank “famously” turned Jamie down when he pitched the product as “DoorBot.”  All was not lost because Amazon purchased Ring for nearly $1 billion!

The second episode featured a panelist from Amazon, Michelle Rothman, who is VP of Shopping and Entertainment.  The third panelist in episode 2 was Tabitha Brown.  She’s the co-founder and CEO of Donna’s Recipe.  

In the first episode, a private chef to celebrities came on to pitch her creation.  She had not had any live sales yet.  The audience trying out her product was, she stated, is her official launching of this product that she’s been creating for seven years.  The product is a small bag of six tiny vegan “ballers” for a healthy choice snack.  They’re called “Super Dirt Ballers.”  Ugh, that’s right, a food product with “dirt” in the title. 

Another intriguing entrepreneur story came from the first contestant, 52-year-old Felicia who is a former ER nurse.  She quit her paycheck-to-paycheck job in 2018 to pursue her business which is a CPR tool.  Felicia was part of the group of contestants vying to win the $20,000 and of course a spot in the store.  However, she revealed that previously she had gotten offered $1.2 million for 80 percent of her company!  She turned it down.

How the Game is Played:
Contestants pitch to 100 “potential customers.” 

The entrepreneurs on “Buy it Now” need two out of three members  of the panel to love their product enough to want to add it to the Amazon “Buy it Now” store. Thus, this store is curated by successful entrepreneurs themselves.  But, before that, contestants must first convince the audience of 100 potential “Buyers” to want the product enough to vote “yes” with a green light. If they don’t want to buy it, the light is red instead. 

The entrepreneur contestants must get at least 10 Buyers out of the total 100.  They have a second chance to win them over after revealing the product’s price point.  The number of interested buyers can either go up or down after this.

The “Super Dirt Ballers” was very reasonably priced at $5.49.  This increased her buyership from the initial 91 buyers interested to a final 94 total. This private chef initially got $50,000 to create her company.  She was now on the show hoping to not only get into the Amazon “Buy it Now” store, but also to go up for the $20,000 offered to one winning entrepreneur at the end the episode. 

Frat Brothers Competition:

The private chef was up against some Frat brothers.  In their invention, they combined Beer pongs and darts called “Beer Darts.”  When they stated the price of $29.00, the number of people that wanted to “Buy it Now” went drastically down to 18.  Although customer interest was a lot lower than any business owner would like, it still earned them a chance to see if the panel would want to place it in the store.  They revealed that they invested $1200 into their product from Stimulus checks.

JB Smoove championed for them by trying out the game, though it’s slightly dangerous because there’s darts coming within inches of the players’ feet.  The cardboard box (part of the game) which is set in front to protect the feet, seems a bit flimsy and nothing can prevent the darts from going over the box.

The price resistance from the audience was a bad sign, though their cost of goods is $8 by assembling it themselves in their garage.  Even though they sold 10,000 units, it wasn’t appealing enough to this panel, and Carmen from Amazon dropped the hammer on them when she was a “no” vote.  Not winning over two panelists got them the boot, and their product will not be in the Amazon “Buy it Now” store. 

Customer Appeal!

Pictured (l-r): Shaelani, JB Smoove. AMAZON Studios

The audience definitely plays good or bad to these contestant entrepreneurs.  Because based on the overall appeal of the product to gender, age, etc.. can make or break a contestant. Same as in the real world by-the-way. 

The next entrepreneur catered to a larger consumer base because she was selling skin care!  Skin…something everyone has.  Shaelani, born a male, transitioned to a woman and has always been a stickler for skin care.  She ended her presentation with 93 green lights.  The cost is only $24.99 for the face wash that has a unique design with a built-in brush.  

A fellow skin care lover, Carmen was immediately excited for the product.  Jamie liked that she delivered a premium product for an affordable price.   She won over both Carmen and Gwyneth which earned her product in the store.  Jamie also liked her skin care product because it’s packaged inside a revolutionary dispenser.

The Final Round:

The panelists had a tough decision to make in choosing which one out of the three contestants would receive the $20,000.  Jamie said “one of them truly stopped our hearts…and then your product restarted it.”  Yes, that’s right it was Felicia with CPR Wrap that won the $20,000.  I partially think that the panelists felt her anguish after realizing she missed the $1.2 million opportunity presented to her years ago.

As Seen In Episode Two:

The second episode featured an entrepreneur with a different type of “wrap.” It was a special type of plastic to attach to the bill of ball caps to get a “perfect” curve.  With a price of $25.00, potential buyers went from 22 to 24.  When it came down to the panel, Jamie told the entrepreneur that he inspired him, and gave him his final “yes” that he needed to get his product into the “Buy it Now” store on Amazon!

That was followed by an invention that took 20 years of a portable pool vacuuming system. The down side to this invention was that the inventor was pitching to a bunch of potential buyers in Los Angeles.  Most don’t own a backyard, less than a pool!  He finished his pitch earning only 8 green lights.  Not enough for the Buy it Now store. 

The host, JB Smoove, didn’t help the situation after the inventor received this dismal news.  Because Smoove reacted “we’ve never been this low… this is breaking the record for Buy it Now.”  Lol.  Then there was the business of announcing the price. Surely this could possibly help earn him enough interest and “votes” (so to speak) to get him up to the required 10, right?  

Well, the price is $1,295.  Gasps were heard throughout the room.  His number fell to 7, and JB Smooth said he was “worried” because he had “so many red” and had “no swimming room…you had nowhere to go.”  Then added some words of encouragement to follow that up as the contestant exited the stage.

When A Product Doesn’t Make It:

There was no words or reaction from the panel when this pool vacuuming system invention got shot down.  I was hoping to hear their thoughts because it was clear that they had some!

A former pageant queen came out to the “Buy it Now” stage “fierce!”  A product that straight away cuts in half its possible customers by appealing to mostly female buyers.  It’s a mask for women to wear over their head in order to not get makeup onto clothing.  Surprisingly, a price of $25.99 for a piece of Organza material actually garnered her more customers and got 47 possible buyers.

Unfair Advantage:

The problem with “Buy it Now” gives entrepreneurs who have exceptionally entertaining presentations an advantage.  The better the presentation, the more Buyers they get.  But, are they reacting to the presentation itself, and not necessarily the invention?  It’s a slippery slope.

This exact scenario came up with a daughter and father pair who pitched an interesting bug catcher and kill device in one called “Swat-N-Scoop” selling in a three pack for $19.95  Now, similar inventions are already on the market.  But, I suspect that they won over 51 possible buyers so easily because they had a very well-rehearsed and entertaining presentation. Even the panel was entertained.

The price reveal increased the buyer number to 60.  Next, was time for the panel’s reaction.  Michelle asked a very good question: what the reviews were like for their product.  The father answered that they’ve been positive, and customers like the “no kill” option. What was great was when Jamie asked the Buyers how many would go Green if the product was offered at $8.99 for just one.  That got the Buyer’s number up to 70.

SPOILER: Swat-N-Scoop was the winner of the $20,000 for the second episode. 

Watch “Buy it Now” currently streaming on Amazon Prime.