Friend or Foe?

For other uses, see Friend or Foe (disambiguation).

Friend or Foe?
Logo
Format	Game show
Presented by	Kennedy
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	130
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	GSN
Original run	June 3, 2002 (2002-06-03) – April 1, 2003 (2003-04-01)

Friend or Foe? was an American game show based on knowledge and trust which aired on Game Show Network. Three teams of two strangers attempted to persuade their partner into sharing their accumulated winnings rather than stealing it for themselves.

The show premiered June 3, 2002, and aired for two seasons totaling 130 episodes. It was hosted by Kennedy, except for the April Fool's Day 2003 episode (the final first-run episode), in which Mark L. Walberg hosted.

The show "re-debuted" in 2008, re-airing episodes from the series during that year.

Rules

At the start of the game three of the six contestants secretly choose one of the other three contestants as their teammates. If two contestants choose the same contestant as a potential partner, the potential partner decides which team member he or she wants. A second round of voting is held if necessary until all three teams have been formed. Each team is then given a "Trust Fund." In season one each team's fund began with $200.

The main game is played in two rounds. In each round, Kennedy asks a series of four multiple-choice questions and teams have 15 seconds to work together and mutually lock in the same answer. Correct answers add $500 to the Trust Fund in round one and $1,000 in round two. If teammates fail to agree on the same answer or do not each lock in the correct answer within the time limit, no money is awarded.

At the end of each round the lowest-scoring team is eliminated. If more than one team is tied for the lowest score, the team who took the most time to answer the questions is eliminated.

Both eliminated team members face a variation of the prisoner's dilemma. They approach the "Trust Box" and make their arguments as to why their partner should vote "Friend." Both team members then secretly vote either "Friend" or "Foe." If both team members vote Friend, they split the Trust Fund evenly. If one member votes Friend and the other votes Foe, the team member who voted Friend receives nothing and their teammate who voted Foe wins the entire Trust Fund. However, if both team members vote Foe, neither team member wins anything.

	Friend	Foe
Friend	50%	100%
Foe	100%	0%

Bonus round

In the "Right or Wrong?" bonus round, the partners attempt to answer 10 questions within 60 seconds. Every correct answer adds $500 to the Trust Fund and every incorrect answer gives the team a strike. The team can continue answering questions until time expires or they receive three strikes. If the team answers all 10 questions correctly, their entire Trust Fund is doubled for a possible total of $22,400. The team then advances to the Trust Box in the manner described above.

Season Two changes

• Contestants were randomly assigned to teams instead of secretly selecting partners.
• Trust Funds started at $0 instead of $200. If an eliminated team's Trust Fund was still at $0 after being eliminated, $200 was added prior to the Trust Box segment. Due to this change, the top prize decreased to $22,000.

Famous contestants

Deal or No Deal model Alike Boggan appeared as a contestant on an early first season episode.

Flavor of Love contestant Brooke Thompson ("Pumkin") appeared as a contestant on the second season, winning $2,000; her partner voted Friend while she voted Foe.

Zack from Big Brother 8 appeared on an episode.

Hollywood Dave appeared as a contestant on one episode and won $9200.

See also

• Shafted (British game show similar to Friend or Foe?)
• Golden Balls (British game show that used the same payout structure as Friend or Foe?)

External links

• Social Learning and Coordination in High-Stakes Games Evidence from Friend or Foe, (a game theoretic analysis of "friend or foe")