Bullsh*t the Game Show: First Season
May 5, 2022 11:15 AM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Answer 10 questions to win a million dollars. Or don't, as long as you can convince people that you know more than you do.
The bullshitter is asked a trivia question and given four possible answers. They answer it, then find out whether they were correct. Either way, they tell three other contestants their logic in picking the answer. The other three then have to guess whether the bullshitter is correct. If the bullshitter is correct or at least one contestant is fooled, then the bullshitter stays in the game. If not, then the contestant who was most accurate (or fastest) becomes the new bullshitter.
Howie Mandel hosts this trivia game on Netflix.
The bullshitter is asked a trivia question and given four possible answers. They answer it, then find out whether they were correct. Either way, they tell three other contestants their logic in picking the answer. The other three then have to guess whether the bullshitter is correct. If the bullshitter is correct or at least one contestant is fooled, then the bullshitter stays in the game. If not, then the contestant who was most accurate (or fastest) becomes the new bullshitter.
Howie Mandel hosts this trivia game on Netflix.
Man, as my trivia team can attest based on the very many times I have lead them astray, I would be *so* good at this.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:31 AM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 11:31 AM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I found it fun to have on in the background for a couple of episodes but the need to hype drama on gameshows tires me out really quickly. And what drove me crazy was the ones where I knew 100% that the answer was wrong, but some crazy bullshit convinced people to go along with it anyways.
Maybe I'm too old and cranky for gameshows.
posted by nubs at 12:03 PM on May 5, 2022
Maybe I'm too old and cranky for gameshows.
posted by nubs at 12:03 PM on May 5, 2022
Definitely recommend skipping the first episode as the awkwardness was extreme and hard to watch.
posted by bleep at 3:26 PM on May 5, 2022
posted by bleep at 3:26 PM on May 5, 2022
I watched the first two episodes last night after hearing about it on this thread, and I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. I think in a half hour episode, they might ask maybe 8 or 9 actual trivia questions, most of which veer wildly between stupid and unknowable and trivially easy and yet mysteriously no one actually seems to know the answers. Add in my general dislike of Howie Mandel and I'm not going to keep watching this.
I would probably still like to be on it, though, because I could win a lot of money just by knowing way more of the answers than any of the contestants did.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:44 AM on May 6, 2022
I would probably still like to be on it, though, because I could win a lot of money just by knowing way more of the answers than any of the contestants did.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:44 AM on May 6, 2022
I would probably still like to be on it, though, because I could win a lot of money just by knowing way more of the answers than any of the contestants did.
I've been wondering what the show would be like if you had a contestant who was an actual trivia buff, who just had the confidence to say "I know the answer to this is (B)" and not really engage in the whole explanation thing. Like, let's just ask questions and answer them and see who is wrong and who is right and stop with the whole long winded explanations of everyone's thinking and the "witty" banter with the host.
Gah. Maybe I need to get back to losing at Learned League.
posted by nubs at 8:17 AM on May 6, 2022
I've been wondering what the show would be like if you had a contestant who was an actual trivia buff, who just had the confidence to say "I know the answer to this is (B)" and not really engage in the whole explanation thing. Like, let's just ask questions and answer them and see who is wrong and who is right and stop with the whole long winded explanations of everyone's thinking and the "witty" banter with the host.
Gah. Maybe I need to get back to losing at Learned League.
posted by nubs at 8:17 AM on May 6, 2022
I suspect that they coach them on what kind of performance they want and the people who aren't willing to go along with the story telling thing just don't get cast. What they would do if they cast you and you made it into the hot seat and then you just shut down and couldn't / wouldn't do that, I don't know. Probably Howie would just mock your confidence and they'd spend more time with the panel contestants?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:36 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jacquilynne at 8:36 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Probably Howie would just mock your confidence and they'd spend more time with the panel contestants?
Probably - and, of course, the show is not predicated on you being right but being able to convince everyone else you know the right answer; that's the "twist" over a straight up trivia contest. I would expect someone who just got every answer right but didn't really engage with the panel/host would be voted off as a bullshitter before they got through enough questions to make it really clear that they did just know the answers.
posted by nubs at 8:42 AM on May 6, 2022
Probably - and, of course, the show is not predicated on you being right but being able to convince everyone else you know the right answer; that's the "twist" over a straight up trivia contest. I would expect someone who just got every answer right but didn't really engage with the panel/host would be voted off as a bullshitter before they got through enough questions to make it really clear that they did just know the answers.
posted by nubs at 8:42 AM on May 6, 2022
I've been wondering what the show would be like if you had a contestant who was an actual trivia buff, who just had the confidence to say "I know the answer to this is (B)" and not really engage in the whole explanation thing.
I seem to recall at least one contestant took this tack on a few questions. I have a feeling the producers really work on the contestants to get them to “have fun” with the format. That said, a couple of contestants were absolutely horrible at coming up with a bullshit answer. They just floundered and stumbled so badly you felt really sorry for them. And the panel had to dig deep to make their reasons for calling bullshit more politic than simply “dude, you suck at this.”
This is an okay waste of time. I’m not a big fan of Howie, so I kind of tune him out. Honestly, I don’t think it’s much better than Is It Cake?, as far as dumb entertainment goes.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:42 AM on May 6, 2022
I seem to recall at least one contestant took this tack on a few questions. I have a feeling the producers really work on the contestants to get them to “have fun” with the format. That said, a couple of contestants were absolutely horrible at coming up with a bullshit answer. They just floundered and stumbled so badly you felt really sorry for them. And the panel had to dig deep to make their reasons for calling bullshit more politic than simply “dude, you suck at this.”
This is an okay waste of time. I’m not a big fan of Howie, so I kind of tune him out. Honestly, I don’t think it’s much better than Is It Cake?, as far as dumb entertainment goes.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:42 AM on May 6, 2022
I would expect someone who just got every answer right but didn't really engage with the panel/host would be voted off as a bullshitter before they got through enough questions to make it really clear that they did just know the answers.
If you're always right, your ability to bullshit doesn't matter. But some of the questions were damn near unknowable. And some of them were just incredibly poorly crafted -- like, there was a question in one of the games I watched which was "Contrary to popular belief, stepping on a rusty nail won't give you what?" And then there were four answers, including tetanus and I don't know, like, diptheria and malaria and such. And it's like, well, okay, I get you're going for tetanus here, because that's the thing we were all warned about as children, but stepping on a rusty nail won't give you any of those four things, so now you've pinned your trivia question based on the incredibly vague and unmeasurable phrase 'popular belief'. It's just bad question writing.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:10 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you're always right, your ability to bullshit doesn't matter. But some of the questions were damn near unknowable. And some of them were just incredibly poorly crafted -- like, there was a question in one of the games I watched which was "Contrary to popular belief, stepping on a rusty nail won't give you what?" And then there were four answers, including tetanus and I don't know, like, diptheria and malaria and such. And it's like, well, okay, I get you're going for tetanus here, because that's the thing we were all warned about as children, but stepping on a rusty nail won't give you any of those four things, so now you've pinned your trivia question based on the incredibly vague and unmeasurable phrase 'popular belief'. It's just bad question writing.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:10 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
While we watched the contestant (Megan?) win the million tonight, and my wife and I worked out that the game would be incredibly easy to, well, game.
To be clear, we in no way think she cheated! We were fascinated by how the guy (Billy?) seemed to give the votes she needed, and we realized that, if two contestants colluded, it would be dirt simple to use small gestures or other cues to let your partner know which way they should vote. Of course, the trick would be somehow getting both accomplices on stage together and one of them getting to play. But, other than that...
posted by Thorzdad at 6:01 PM on May 8, 2022
To be clear, we in no way think she cheated! We were fascinated by how the guy (Billy?) seemed to give the votes she needed, and we realized that, if two contestants colluded, it would be dirt simple to use small gestures or other cues to let your partner know which way they should vote. Of course, the trick would be somehow getting both accomplices on stage together and one of them getting to play. But, other than that...
posted by Thorzdad at 6:01 PM on May 8, 2022
And plus too, didn't the contestant who had the tetanus question tell the story of the time she stepped on a rusty nail as a child and got tetanus, not contrary to popular belief but totally confirming popular belief? I'm sure she just got dragged to the doc in the box to get a tetanus shot, rather than actually contracting a case of tetanus from a rusty nail, but she didn't tell that story. She absolutely said she got tetanus from a rusty nail. That was the story she told.
My problem was that people had elaborate stories that hinted at direct knowledge every time. "Because I traveled to the caldera with my eighth grade class and read the history on the poster in the educational kiosk, I know that the volcano erupted in 1412." Question after question. It was too improbable that anybody would have life experiences of all this wildly varying trivia question stuff. A fun story is okay now and then, sure, just to make the show be the show they want the show to be, but I think it should also be okay to just shrug and say, "I dunno, man, I just had a strong feeling about it. Turns out? I was right!"
Job one to succeed on this show appears to be to pretend not to know a goddamn thing about anything. There were too many ridiculously easy questions mixed in with the unknowable stuff, so it looks like you have to first somehow convince the showrunners that you aren't going to know the answers to all of those and bleed the drama out of the early part of the game.
posted by Don Pepino at 5:58 PM on May 13, 2022
My problem was that people had elaborate stories that hinted at direct knowledge every time. "Because I traveled to the caldera with my eighth grade class and read the history on the poster in the educational kiosk, I know that the volcano erupted in 1412." Question after question. It was too improbable that anybody would have life experiences of all this wildly varying trivia question stuff. A fun story is okay now and then, sure, just to make the show be the show they want the show to be, but I think it should also be okay to just shrug and say, "I dunno, man, I just had a strong feeling about it. Turns out? I was right!"
Job one to succeed on this show appears to be to pretend not to know a goddamn thing about anything. There were too many ridiculously easy questions mixed in with the unknowable stuff, so it looks like you have to first somehow convince the showrunners that you aren't going to know the answers to all of those and bleed the drama out of the early part of the game.
posted by Don Pepino at 5:58 PM on May 13, 2022
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posted by Etrigan at 11:21 AM on May 5, 2022