In my last post I shared that my uncle was going to be on the new game show airing Monday night, December 10th, called "Take It All", which is based on the "White Elephant" or "Dirty Santa" gifting game. It is a fun game to play with friends--strangers maybe not so much!
Uncle John/Santa luckily made it through to the last "Prize Fight" round wherein the last two players have to select a secret vote button to choose either to each keep their own prizes and both go home winners, or try to Take It All and steal the other player's prizes. However, if they both choose Take It All, both go home with nothing. Uncle John and the other player were both school teachers and he emphasized how he felt it was a god-given opportunity both of them could benefit by in selecting Keep Mine. Which is what he did. The other player did not--and collected over $400,000 in prizes. Santa was robbed! (link to the full episode on NBC).
My aunt posted on Facebook that after the show some of the audience was really mad, some of whom had to be removed by security. The other player's shocked students were in the audience and started to chant "Santa, Santa", getting the audience involved. Uncle John, though at first a bit stunned, took it with a grain of salt, as he was no worse off and had a lot of fun, leaving with his integrity intact. The Take It All Facebook page has had some interesting reactions too, many of them negative against greed being featured. One guy started a page on indiegogo.com to raise the 50K that Uncle John should have won as his cash prize and give it to him! Too funny.
Now, this is a game show and all the rules are explained to all the players and losing is of course more likely than winning. But having to trust another player with your prizes is a pretty brutal ending! On last night's episode, both players chose Take It All, and both went home with nothing. We'll see if this show survives its maiden voyage of six episodes this week.
