Game show contestants, money goes to money?

[faginsgirl]

Hi.



You know when I watch a lot of game shows like `who wants to be a millionare` I wonder if these shows just help the rich get richer. What I mean is, if you won, say £20,000, wouldn`t you only gamble if that amount of money didn`t mean that much to you anyway? Therefore, the people who need the money would stop at that but people to whom it was a drop in the ocean would carry on to try for the million as in thier mind they wouldn`t have that much to lose?



My thoughts on this are triggered again when on the show `divded` a man who was a `forensic accountant`, so is hardly stacking shelves in Tesco (no offence to anyone who does that, done it myself), said he was prepared to let a massive jackpot dwindle to nothing if he didn`t get his way of getting the biggest amount, the lowest amount being around £10,000, the highest I think was £56,000, and around £30, 000 in the middle. One of the contestants had already said she would take the lowest amount, so in effect, if this guy didn`t take the middle money he would have lost £30,000 out of sheer stubbon greed.



In the end he won the lot as the other male contestant backed down and took the middle amount. I do believe this man would have stuck to his guns. Madness.



It`s the way of the world I suppose and it will never change.



xx

[ShirlGirl]

I suppose in some cases it might help the rich to get richer, but in a lot of cases, perhaps most, people just don't know when to stop. For starters they're excited to be on the show and the further they go the more sure they are that they're headed for the big money. They're on a high and they just get carried away. They're gamblers. It would be all the same if they were playing the pokies and on a winning streak. Instead of quitting while ahead, they keep going and invariably lose the lot.



(I was like that myself once. In London in the 60s, a friend took me to a club and introduced me to roulette. I kept winning, so I kept playing. I walked away with nothing - lost a whole week's hard-earned wages. But I learnt my lesson - never again!)

[will.15]

A quiz show is a little different than straight gambling because the person is estimating how smart they are. If they have been answering the questions without difficulty they would be more willing to risk it.

[julian_craster]

Think of Judith Keppel (with Royal Family connections) as a contestant on Millionaire ....

[faginsgirl]

name='julian_craster']Think of Judith Keppel (with Royal Family connections) as a contestant on Millionaire ....

Yes, not exactly going home to a council house in a rough area with three hungry mouths to feed.



But saying that, it wouldn`t be fair to say if you are well off you can`t apply to be on a game show. It`s just one of my niggles the way it often pans out that`s all.



xx

[GoggleboxUK]

I see your point FG and I think you're right.



Quiz shows are better suited to the well educated, the well educated have better jobs and so earn more money therefore don't need the winnings as much as your average minimum wage earner whose level of general knowledge an education may be more limited.



There are a lot of quiz shows that feature these type of middle and upper class contestants: Eggheads, Millionaire and Mastermind being the first three to come to ind.



I suppose the programme makers have to consider the entertainment value of a show above all else. Having a constant run of contestants who get halfway there and then trip up isn't good TV and there needs to be the occasional big winner to prove it can be done encourage others into playing the game (particularly in the case of Millionaire).



Bear in mind that most of the big money quiz shows want a large audience so they can fund the show through advertisements and ridiculously easy phone-in questions at £1 per call.

[julian_craster]

For morons, there is the Noel Edmonds show on C4, for which you need to know nothing at all......even a chimpanzee could win £250,000 on that ......

[will.15]

You have to be pretty sharp for Jeopardy.

[ShirlGirl]

name='will.15']A quiz show is a little different than straight gambling because the person is estimating how smart they are. If they have been answering the questions without difficulty they would be more willing to risk it.

Quiz show - right. I was thinking of something like that guessing game where you pick cases.

[lostintown]

For those of an academic bent, someone has written a paper on this very subject..http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ec...s/twerp719.pdf

(it lost me after paragraph 3?!?) and this one which is a bit more accessible Introduction to Game Theory/Deal Or No Deal - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks