What is it Worth To You?

How important is your reputation?

A new TV show debuted on FOX last night called The Moment of Truth.  The concept of the show is simple:  Tell the truth, win money. 

Of course, the questions asked to the contestants are intended to be difficult to answer due to the potential "consequences" for telling the truth.  To validate the answers are "true", the contestants are asked 50 questions via a rigorous lie detector session prior to the show.  When the contestant appears on the show, only 21 of the 50 questions are selected to be asked in front of friends & family, a studio audience, and millions of viewers.

As I watched the show with my daughters (tweens intrigued by the concept), I found myself asking the question:  Who would want to be a contestant on this show?

The Moment of Truth is designed to deliberately embarrass & humiliate the contestant.  Not only that, it will likely disrupt families & friendships.  It could lead to the loss of a job, or future employment opportunities.  Assuredly, for the contestant to walk away with any cash, it is inevitable to suffer the ill consequences of telling the truth.  Is money that important?  Of course not.  But the producers of the show would like us to believe there is a dramatic controversy at play.  After watching one episode, I am convinced there is no controversy.

Despite its high debut (over 23 million viewers), I think the show will lose some appeal.  If you really think about it, the people who are willing to be on the show have nothing worth preserving.  They already know the pool of questions prior to sitting in the hot seat.  They already know the possible fate by answering those questions.  If they choose to continue to "play" already knowing the potential worst case scenario, one might conclude that the "worst case scenario" really wasn't that bad.  Who cares if your wife finds out about an act of indiscretion if you don't plan on staying married to her?  Who cares if you jeopardize a relationship with someone you were already in jeopardy with?  For me, the show started to reek  like an episode of Jerry Springer.

For this show to be truly "captivating", it would need contestants who value their reputation and truly have something to risk.  I argue that anyone who treasures existing relationships and self-esteem would never agree to be on this show.  Thus the promoted hype of the show is reduced to a simple reality:  Watching losers risk nothing.  That will get stale to viewers in time.

To simplify my opinion in .net terms, please observe the following snippet of code:

if (person.SelfEsteem==null && person.HasNothingToLose)
{
    TheMomentOfTruth.InviteContestant(person);
}