# ID TV show/episode locked room contest
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790 "2003-07-20T20:23:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/1 "2003-07-20T20:23:18Z")
I remember watching this years ago–I’m almost thinking it may have been an episode of _MacGyver_ or something. There was a contest (kind of a college dorm setting, I think) where people made barricades or various locking devices in their rooms, and other people had to try to get past them. There was one where the person made a tiny model of the room, so when you looked through the peephole (or the keyhole?) you thought you were looking into the room but were actually seeing the model. On another one the door was not actually locked at all, but the person, in trying to unlock it, locked it.
Does anyone remember seeing this? My sister just asked me if I remembered it, and I was able to confirm that she was not hallucinating, but now we’re both wondering what the show was!
---
### Author:  [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/2 "2003-07-20T20:49:27Z")
Does that episode involve a mentally troubled student going off the deep end and setting a time bomb?
---
### Author:  [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/3 "2003-07-20T21:05:49Z")
That was MacGyver. I’ve only seen three episodes of MacGyver and that was one of them.
---
### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/4 "2003-07-20T21:12:11Z")
Deffo MacGyver. Remember it well, he was one of the alumni judges iirc.
---
### Author:  [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/5 "2003-07-21T00:15:59Z")
Good enough for me! Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/6 "2003-07-21T05:34:06Z")
Sounds interesting, and obviously inspired by Cal Tech’s Senior Ditch Day.
Too bad I never saw it; sounds like it had some neat ideas in it.
---
### Author:  [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-tv-show-episode-locked-room-contest/189790/7 "2003-07-21T23:07:49Z")
Good grieve, MacGyver was the only reason I went into engineering
Spoilers for plots points
Locks included
- A number of randomly unlocked and locked locks. Solved by using iron filings and a strong magnet
- Time delay lock used by the guy who cheated. Solved by hot wiring the timer
- The barracade one. Solved when the guy cheated by using a listening device when the maker was bragging to Angus about it. From memory it used a garage door opener.
The bomb was sealed in a clear perpex case, the screws were booby-trapped only allowing 1/4 inch clearance between the walls and lid. The trigger system was a blob of mercury that was eventually disabled when electrical wires was used to burn the mercury off.
Other favourite episodes included the rapid-aging space virus and the heat seeking Darlek-ish secruit droids.