BULLSH*T THE GAMESHOW is the perfect show for our stupid times.
In Netflix's new trivia show, contestants don't actually have to be right — they just have to act like they are.
There’s a line that host Howie Mandel likes to revisit throughout the all-too-brief duration of the first season of Bullsh*t the Game Show, Netflix’s new entrant to its (largely unsuccessful) game-show canon. The contestant has won a significant amount of money answering trivia questions, despite getting a sizable percentage (in some cases, most) of those questions wrong, simply by being able to convince a panel of judges that their answer was right. After the contestant wins, say, $25,000, Mandel will comment on the absurdity of the situation: “You just won $25,000 by knowing absolutely nothing.”
This isn’t particularly trenchant analysis on Mandel’s part: It’s purely a statement of fact. Bullsh*t is a combination strategy-and-trivia game show ostensibly modeled after early-aughts hits like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Deal or No Deal that does not reward knowledge of trivia or clever implementation of strategy at all. Instead, it rewards contestants’ ability to convince a panel of three judges (all of whom are themselves being judged based on their ability to discern whether the contestant is telling the truth) that they know the answer to the question in the first place. They attempt to do so usually by invoking long-winded explanations and biographical details that aim to justify their answer. (One contestant, for instance, claims she knows that Walt Disney World uses balsamic vinegar to ward off mosquitoes because she actually worked there; though the contestant was actually a former Disney employee, the answer turned out to be bullshit.)