From the article “Game Show Confidential” in this week’s TV Guide:
I had always suspected this because it seems the “computer” always leaves the most plausible wrong answer.
So, the description of the 50:50 on the show is an outright lie. Not misdirection, or hyperbole, or a half-truth, but a lie.
And that surprises me - I would have thought that integrity in today’s game shows was at a very high standard (because of the notorious past) and the FAA would be tough on dubious practices. Or is just show-biz, and anything that makes a good show is ok?
I’ve noticed this too. At least on questions I knew the answer to, this did seem to be the case. It wouldn’t surprise me. However, the FCC has only limited jurisdiction, mostly related to interferance and power levels, and having little to do with content.
Actually, they say that it removes two of the wrong answers, leaving one correct and one incorrect one.
What real difference does it make? As long as the right answer is there and you have a 50/50 shot at it it doesn’t matter. It’s still truth in advertising.
I was on WWTBAM (I never made it to the hot seat, never got to answer any questions, and didn’t wi na cent), so I’m qualified to answer this.
Michael Davies met with the ten contestants, gave us our tour of the set, and showed us how to play the game. He also answered our questions. Someone mentioned that “It always seems as if, when people ask for the 50/50 option, they’re always left with the two options they were leaning to. Is that deliberate?”
SUPPOSE, for the sake of argument, the question is "Which President wrote the Declaration of Independence:
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) James Madison
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Ronald Reagan
At this point, the contestant may start thinking out loud… He may say, “I know it’s not Reagan… I think Abraham Lincoln was much later… so it must be either Jefferson or Madison, but I’m not sure… let me have the 50/50.”
BAM! Sure, enough, the contestant is left with the choices A & B!
So, the question was, is there a guy backstage toying with the contestant by eliminating only the ones he’d already eliminated? No- according to Mr. Davies, the question writers had ALREADY determined LONG before the taping of the show, what the two choices would be if the contestant asks for a 50/50. When the writers make up a question, and the 4 possible answers, they decide which two answers will be left on the board.
According to Davies, in the EARLY going, they tend to make it easy on the contestant. So, if the contestant asks for a 50/50 on one of the EARLY questions, the two choices left will probably make the right answer pretty obvious. But if you ask for a 50/50 LATE in the game, when the questions are tougher, they deliberately leave up the two answers that are most likely to seem correct.
So, the choices left by the 50/50 option are NOT random, and Mr. Davies never pretended they were.
when Regis was host (at least), wasn’t there always the mention of a computer intervening, if only to leave the two answers that we now know were selected in advance by members of the team. To my mind, at least, the mention of the word suggested something random…which in fact it wasn’t.
I want to back up astorian and others that this is not something newly unveiled by TV Guide. I just recently bought a thrift-store book from the show, and in it the producer freely admits that 50-50 is designed to leave a wrong answer choice that would seem plausible.
Does this come as a shock to anybody? I always thought it was pretty obvious. Also, I’m not sure where the deception is. You’re left with 2 choices, one of which is right. 50/50.
I watched hundreds of shows & I saw a clear pattern. Notice the first 4 answers don’t repeat? You’d get an answer of ‘a’ but you would never get another ‘a’ until the fifth question or later.
Therefore, if the answers were: a, b, d I knew the fourth question was ‘c’ … Perhaps once in 50 or a hundred shows this would change. Same pattern often repeats for the next few questions too.
In the German edition they still insist the 50/50 is picked randomly, which is ridiculous. (The same things apply that you guys have already mentioned).
I was on a quiz show (aptly titled “Quiz Show”) where they have 9 questions out of different categories. The people there kept insisting that a “random generator” picked the questions/categories.
We pointed out that coughcough - the 8th question always was Geography. Always. But they still kept insisting. Maybe they had signed over their souls to the network.
The deception is in telling the computer to remove two of the wrong answers, which gives the impression that the computer is now deciding which two to remove. If they did not want to create that misimpression, they’d say “We will now remove two of the wrong answers.” Telling the computer to do it makes it look like it will be a random selection.
I had long ago noticed that when the contestant said something like “I’m leaning towards A and B”, then like magic, C and D were the ones to get taken off. I was always very suspicious of them, because they did go out of thee way to make it sound like the computer’s decision would be random.
Now I understand that their words can be interpreted to mean that the computer is not making a random decision, but is simply deleting the two choices which the producers had already told it to delete. I also understand that the computer did not delete C and D because the contestant will think A and B to be likely answers; rather the producers had already decided that the contestant’s indecision will probably center on A and B.
It makes a big difference. As others have said, they usually remove the two answers that most reasonably informed people could have eliminated themselves. They are hoping/assuming the 50/50 will at least have a chance of eliminating one of the two answers that are most difficult to decide between.
Well, it’s obviously a lie! They take two of the three wrong answers away - that’s 67%! They think they can fool us, but they don’t know the computational powers of the SDMB!
Well there’s a change in argument. That isn’t the point. The point is that they do give the impression that it will be random by saying “computer take away two of the wrong answers please.”