Cash Cab (British game show)

Cash Cab
Genre	Quiz show
Created by	Adam Wood
Presented by	John Moody (UK); Ben Bailey (US); Thomas Hackenberg (GER); Vicky Stavropoulou (GRE); Ivan Ivanović (SER)'; Grygoriy German (UKR);
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Producer	Lion TV
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	13 June 2005

Cash Cab is a game show originating in the United Kingdom in which passengers in a specially designated taxi cab are offered the chance to win money by correctly answering a series of trivia questions on the way to their destination. It was devised by Adam Wood. In late 2005, an American version of Cash Cab began airing with comedian Ben Bailey as host.

In the UK

In the UK the programme is made by Lion TV and was originally shown on ITV beginning in the summer of 2005. Episodes of the show now air on Challenge.

The show's host initially poses as an ordinary taxi driver and drives around the major cities of the United Kingdom in a cab. The show pays its passengers for correctly answering standard general knowledge questions. Contestants are recruited in advance but are not told that the quiz will be taking place in the cab, so although the "pick-ups" are not as random as they appear on screen, the contestants are genuinely surprised when the taxi turns out to be the Cash Cab.

The contestants tell the driver their destination before getting into the taxi and are not allowed to change it. They then have the distance they need to travel to answer questions. The first five questions are relatively easy and worth £10 each, the next five are a little harder and worth £50, the next seven, even harder and worth £100, and any question after that is worth £500. If the contestant gets three questions wrong, they lose the money they have won up to that point and are made to walk the rest of the distance. The host of Cash Cab, John Moody, is a genuine qualified taxi driver, and has an easy-going presenting style.

In the US

File:Cash bio.jpg

Ben Bailey

The United States version of Cash Cab airs on the Discovery Channel. Some pre-screening of contestants occurs, although the contestants are not alerted to the actual nature of their participation. Once a passenger or group of passengers has been picked up, they must state their destination. Seasons 1-3 of Cash Cab took place in New York City. Anyone that hails the Cash Cab (a Toyota Sienna minivan with identification number 1G12) does not know that they are about to be on a game show until they hire the cab and the driver informs them of the rules. According to Variety, Discovery Channel initially ordered 40 episodes from Lion Television and taping of the initial run was completed in November 2005 before the show premiered that December. A new set of 40 episodes were taped and aired in 2006 and 2007. Another 80 episodes are being taped in 2007 and will air through spring and summer.

The driver/host of the Cash Cab is stand-up comedian Ben Bailey. A support van tails the Cash Cab with producers and a camera crew (for the various street shots), and the staff provides logistical information and questions by way of a walkie-talkie and earpiece (sometimes visible when the driver turns his head for the camera). The driver greets the fare(s), takes their destination, then pushes a button that both activates an LED light panel in the roof of the cab and plays a musical sounder with an iPod. After the shock and surprise has passed for the fare(s), the driver informs the players of the rules of the game (though not always shown onscreen). The players are also told that once the Cash Cab starts, the cab will not take detours of any kind unless directed by a police officer, stop sign, traffic light, or other legal means of diverting traffic, and offers them the chance to get out of the cab if they do not wish to play. A contestant must stay in the cab until they reach their destination in order to keep the money they have won in the game. Answering three questions incorrectly at any point during the trip will force the driver to pull over and dismiss the fare without the money they had already won.

If the passenger stays in the cab, the game begins. The first four questions are worth $25 each, the next four questions are worth $50, and any question thereafter is worth $100. In Cash Cab: After Dark, however, all of the money values are doubled to $50, $100, and $200, respectively. If a contestant has won at least $200 (even on the After Dark version) and the cab is forced to stop at a traffic light, the driver will start a Red Light Challenge. The driver will read a question that has multiple correct answers (usually four or five), and the passenger will then have 30 seconds to give those answers. Giving all the correct answers is worth $250, and failure to answer the question will not count as a strike, and they won't lose any money. Only one Red Light Challenge may be played per game, though, as with the Shout-Outs.

The passenger is allowed two "Shout-Outs" during the course of the trip, and each type can be used only once. The first type is the "Mobile Shout-Out", in which the contestant is allotted a phone call to a friend by means of the driver's cell phone. The fare is allowed 30 seconds to consult with their friend and give an answer. The contestant may also elect to use a "Street Shout-Out," causing the cab to pull over so that he or she can consult with anyone on the street without any official time limit.

One of the show's gimmicks involves the host giving a disappointed response initially to a contestant's correct answer, then excitedly telling them they actually got the question right. Bailey usually does this multiple times, to almost all his passengers. This is similar to what Regis Philbin used to do when he hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Should the passenger reach the destination, the driver offers the passenger a choice. The passenger has the option of keeping the prize money and leaving the cab, or the choice of answering a final, more difficult, Video Bonus question for double or nothing. This is, essentially, a test of the risk aversion of the passenger.

Three games are usually played per episode. The record for the most money won on the U.S. show is $3,000. The episode aired in June 2007, with a team of three professors from Borough of Manhattan Community College, including astrophysics and physics professors. The trio traveled an unprecedented 53 blocks to the New York Public Library, correctly answering 17 out of 18 questions and the Red Light Challenge along the way to win $1,500 before doubling their winnings on the video bonus question.

One episode of the program was a special celebrity edition, which featured actor Thomas Haden Church, Jed Ortmeyer and Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers, and Harry Smith, co-host of CBS's The Early Show. All played for a charity of their choice. The Discovery Channel matched the contestants' winnings.

For equipment, the Cash Cab has ten cameras: one on the host, three on the passengers, one pointing forward from the back window of the cab, and three (front, left, and right) in the advertising shell on the roof of the cab. The rear of the cab behind the seats contains ten recording decks with a tower containing a countdown timer.

In 2007, Ben Bailey was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, but lost to Bob Barker.

Also in 2007, Discovery Channel began airing a new edition of the program, Cash Cab: After Dark, in which contestants are picked up near or after sunset and the cash value of the questions is double that of the "classic" version of the show (however, a successful Red Light Challenge is still worth $250).

In Australia

The Australian version airs on cable music channel Channel V Australia and is hosted by Channel [V] host James Kerley. Series 1 was shot entirely in Melbourne.

The Australian version has a heavier focus on music questions and introduces a segment called The Loot or the Boot. At the end of the 5th question, contestants have the opportunity to risk what they have won so far, for what is in the boot. Boot prizes may be something good or something bad and the players play on regardless of what they choose.

The Australian Cash Cab is fitted with 8 cameras and a 9th camera follows in the car behind. Rather than tape, the cameras are all recorded directly to hard drives that are stored in the boot of the cab.

26 episodes have been shot.

Other countries

The format of the show has been sold to numerous countries around the world, including the Netherlands (BNN), Greece (Mega Channel),Israel (Channel 2 (Israel)), Ukraine (City Channel (Kyiv)), Pan-Arab (MBC 1) , Russia (TNT), France, Poland, Turkey, Indonesia, Spain and Serbia (Fox Television Serbia). The show airs on Kabel 1 in Germany, and has been successful enough to merit a spin-off version of the show in which celebrities play the game. In Norway, it has been commissioned as a prime time show. A second season was recently commissioned in Hungary (Viasat 3), and the show will begin soon in Lithuania (LNK), and in the Czech Republic (Czech TV).

Other countries that have the rights to launch their own versions include New Zealand, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Portugal, Malaysia, South Africa, and Chile.

External links

• Cash Cab at Channel V Australia
• Cash Cab at UKGameshows.com United Kingdom
• Cash Cab at IMDb United Kingdom
• Discovery Channel Fan Site United States
• Cash Cab at IMDb United States
• Quiz Taxi on kabel eins Germany
• Keš Taxi on Fox Television Serbia
• מונית הכסף on Israel Israel