# Hypothetical: being interviewed on TV **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699 "2016-09-01T20:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699/1 "2016-09-01T20:36:40Z")
Imagine that you are a celebrity of some sort, and you have been invited onto one of the popular late-night shows hosted by the likes of Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, etc. Once the preliminaries have been exchanged, the host addresses you thusly: "We have here in a hat 10 slips of paper, each with a question on it. All of these questions are of a personal nature; 5 are innocuous, such as your favorite color; 5 are very personal, and delve into areas that some people might not like to answer; and a couple of those are **extremely** personal and intimate. “You have two choices. Either you get to read all 10, and answer any 7 of your choosing; or else we pick 3 at random that you MUST answer, regardless of how personal or embarrassing they might be.” Which do you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699/2 "2016-09-01T20:40:21Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Imagine that you are a celebrity of some sort, and you have been invited onto one of the popular late-night shows hosted by the likes of Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, etc. > > Once the preliminaries have been exchanged, the host addresses you thusly: > > "We have here in a hat 10 slips of paper, each with a question on it. All of these questions are of a personal nature; 5 are innocuous, such as your favorite color; 5 are very personal, and delve into areas that some people might not like to answer; and a couple of those are **extremely** personal and intimate. > > “You have two choices. Either you get to read all 10, and answer any 7 of your choosing; or else we pick 3 at random that you MUST answer, regardless of how personal or embarrassing they might be.” > > Which do you choose? [ul] [li]Fighting the hypothetical: I laugh and choose not to abide by the rules, gently refusing to answer anything that I think is too personal.[/li][li]Not fighting the hypothetical: definitely read all 10 first—at least then I can avoid the worst ones and craft my answers appropriately for the remainder, and probably still laughing off anything I truly didn’t want to answer.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699/3 "2016-09-01T20:40:43Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Either you get to \*\* read all 10, \*\* and answer any 7 of your choosing;or else we pick 3 at random that you MUST answer, regardless of how personal or embarrassing they might be." > > Which do you choose? Not read out _loud_, right? Then I read all 10 and pick 7. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699/4 "2016-09-02T18:19:30Z")
Go ahead an pick 3, Jay/Steven/Whomever, I’m just gonna lie anyway! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-being-interviewed-on-tv/764699/5 "2016-09-02T21:15:37Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Imagine that you are a celebrity of some sort, and you have been invited onto one of the popular late-night shows hosted by the likes of Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, etc. > > Once the preliminaries have been exchanged, the host addresses you thusly: > > "We have here in a hat 10 slips of paper, each with a question on it. All of these questions are of a personal nature; 5 are innocuous, such as your favorite color; 5 are very personal, and delve into areas that some people might not like to answer; and a couple of those are **extremely** personal and intimate. > > “You have two choices. Either you get to read all 10, and answer any 7 of your choosing; or else we pick 3 at random that you MUST answer, regardless of how personal or embarrassing they might be.” > > Which do you choose? None of the above. I get up and leave with no comment. And I hope this is a live show, so they’ll have to figure out how to cover the rest of the 10 minutes they slotted. No one ambushes me. NO ONE.