Not since Maury Povich exploited his first troubled teen have I wanted to punch a television producer or personalty more than I did last night. I simply want to grab the creators of the show Spin the Wheel, shake them and scream "What the fuck do you think you are doing?!"
I realize there is a ton of pressure to churn out content that will catch someone's (anyone's) attention. As a result, there is a plethora of vapid garbage on TV and the internet. But what I saw last night on Spin the Wheel crossed the line from stupidity to downright malicious.
By the way, this is not one of my sarcastic rants. I am not joking when I say that I believe Maury Povich should be arrested for child abuse. The mental abuse he heaps on troubled teens is one of the most despicable things I have ever seen on television. He routinely airs shows titled "My teen is out of control." These shows consist of a parent bringing their child onto national television to be booed and berated by a live studio audience and hundreds of thousands of viewers at home. These kids need help not ridicule. And while we are at it, what about the parents who created an environment where kids become "out of control"? What about the parents who seek to gain attention and profit from their children's misery instead of seeking professional help? Everyone involved in exploiting these broken kids should be ashamed of themselves.
But on to the topic at hand: Spin the Wheel. After my wife, daughter, and I finished watching a show we had DVR'd, the TV went back to Fox. It appeared to be about half way through a new game show called Spin the Wheel. It seemed like it would be a little mindless fun so we left it on. From what I could tell, a team comprised of a mother and her college aged daughter had to answer questions and then spin a wheel. It seems the daughter's only role was to sit in a chair and decide when her mom would quit. If the mom answered a question right, she would have good spaces added to the wheel. If she answered wrong, she would have bad spaces (lose all your money or negative amounts) added to the wheel. She would then spin and the amount she landed on would be added to her potential prize. In order to collect the maximum prize, she needed to spin the wheel 16 times. If she had any money in her "bank" when that final ball stopped bouncing (it is kind of like a vertical roulette wheel) she would collect that amount. However, if she landed on a negative amount or the back to zero space, she got absolutely nothing.
During the last 4 spins, the contestant no longer needed to answer any questions. Instead, "The Wheel" would compute an offer in exchange for the contestant ending the game and no longer spinning. The offer was a fraction of what the contestant currently had in the bank. I don't remember the exact details and I will certainly never give the show any of my time again to find out, but I think she had $500,000 in the bank when the final four spins began. "The Wheel's" first offer was roughly $40,000. So the contestants could choose to take the $40,000 and end the game. They would no longer have a chance to win over $3 MILLION. Here's the catch... the daughter had to make the decision for her mom to quit.
Ok. So what? Why would that elicit the rage of an otherwise reasonable person?
Here's the problem...
The daughter makes the decision in secret. No one in the entire studio (including the mom) knows when or if the teammate accepts "The Wheel's" offer.
Again, so what?
This means that the mother had to keep spinning without knowing what her daughter decided.
The mother made her four excruciatingly tense spins. She made it to the final one. She still had no idea what her daughter had chosen. An offer of $200,000 was placed on the table. Unaware of whether her daughter had ended the game or not, the mother stepped up and took her final spin.
It bounced on a spot that would have dropped her total to zero.
It bounced again.
And again.
Then it settled in on one that brought the total to over $1.3 MILLION!
Now came the time to find out if the daughter had accepted an offer or if they were millionaires. Long story short, the daughter had accepted the initial $40,000 offer. Then her mother agonized over spinning and jumped in elation when she saw that final tally.
Logically, neither of them should feel bad. $40,000 is still a lot of money for spinning a wheel. Neither did anything wrong. That money wasn't even theirs... it was merely potentially theirs. Both were super classy and showed each other a tremendous amount of love and acceptance.
Remember that time you made a decision that cost mom $1.3 million?
Here's the problem. For the rest of their lives, this will always be hanging over them. "We could have been millionaires if it weren't for you."
Relationships have been completely destroyed over far less than $1 million.
How long does it take to accept and get over the fact that your daughter made a choice that cost you $1.3 million? How long does it take to feel free from the guilt of knowing you chose wrong and cost your mother $1.3 million?
I know these contestants are adults and they chose to play by these rules... but why were these rules even an option? I am willing to bet (less than $1.3 million) that this show will do irreparable damage to this family. And for what? Five extra minutes of drama for an audience to consume.
There is a very simple solution. Simply end the game when the player chooses to quit. I would imagine it is far easier to gather for a family party and joke about whether or not you quit too early than glare at each other while knowing what could have been. But what fun is that?
Everyone knows the mob wants blood.
Images 1, 2 From Giphy, 3, 4