Distraction (game show)

Distraction is a British game show shown on Channel 4. Presented by comedian Jimmy Carr, the show involves contestants answering questions, while being distracted in various bizarre, painful and humiliating ways.

At the start of the show there are four contestants, two women and two men. Before the first round, they "get to know each other", finding out about each other's embarrassing moments.

The first three rounds are usually quizzes involving rather easy questions. However, these rounds feature various distractions (hence the name) to cause pain and/or discomfort while contestants try to answer them. The distractions may be endured throughout the round, activated in order to answer questions, as punishment for incorrect answers, or as a result of getting a question right. At the end of each round, the player who has performed worst is eliminated and receives nothing.

Distractions have included being shocked with electricity such as with electric dog collars, pushing buzzers surrounded by cacti, sticking one's hand in live mousetraps to answer a question, being shot with paintball guns, having snakes and maggots put down the pant(ies) of the contestants, urinating in a specially designed toilet to activate one's buzzer, and contestants drinking shots of hot sauce or their own urine. Several of the most frequently seen distractions are explained in further detail below.

In the fourth and final round, there is one remaining player, who wins a prize (or prizes) worth £5000 ($10,000 in the US version). However, the final condition of said prize(s) depends on how well they do in this round. Typically there are five questions, with each incorrect answer resulting in a prize (or part of a prize) being damaged or destroyed. For example, in one episode the prize was a car, and getting a particular question wrong led to the losing contestants getting to spray paint graffiti on the side of it, smashing the front windshield of the car, and key-scratching the doorside of the car.

Another Final Round was similar to the "60 Seconds of Destruction" car round (see US version). 5 questions were asked, and 1000 pound wedges were lodged into five toasters. For each question they got right, they could pull the money out of one toaster with tongs or gloves. The money would start burning about halfway through the round. Unfortunately, this final round will not be available for American audiences, as it is illegal to burn American cash.

The format was devised by Fremantle television and was sold to the U.S. network Comedy Central in 2004. The first season of the U.S. version was shown starting on January 18, 2005, and the second season began airing on January 10, 2006. Jimmy Carr has hosted all episodes of both versions.

U.S. version

In the U.S. version, round 1 is always an on-the buzzers quiz. Round 2 may be an on-the-buzzers quiz or an individual time trial in which each player is given 45 seconds (or so Jimmy claims) to answer questions. (One time, the second round was a physical challenge where each player was teamed up with a nudist and had to complete a wheelbarrow race, a leapfrog race, and a sack race. The last to finish was out.) Sometimes in round 1 or 2, players must attach clothespins or rubber bands to their faces while answering questions; the player with the most clothespins/rubber bands on their face at the horn gets 5 bonus points, and usually moves on because of this bonus. Round 3 is a head-to-head round, always a race to 4 or 5 points, usually played on the buzzers, but in the show airing January 18, 2006, it had the players find the answers on cards (in the shape of the show's circular saw logo) stuck to rotating nudists and take them off with their teeth, with the first to bring back the card and put it on the board scoring a point, and playing to 4.

The final winner faces the prize round. In the first season, there were two different prize rounds.

"Driven To Distraction" - The player won a car (usually a Ford Mustang or Mazda3, but occasionally a Ford Ranger, a Mini Cooper or a Volkswagen Beetle), and faced 4 or 5 questions. Each incorrectly answered question corresponds to the losing players doing some sort of damage to the car, usually a broken windshield, paint on the roof, smashed headlights, words scratched on the car door, or the roof being completely torn off. The player receives the car in whatever condition it's in after the last question is asked. There was one exception: in one episode, at the end of the questions, every incorrect answer allowed a big burly man 5 seconds to damage the car as much as he could. (Incidentally, that was the only time in the first season that a player won an undamaged car.) A rumor was spread that missing all five questions allowed the losing players to completely destroy the car in its entirety (either destroying the engine, or taking a sledgehammer to the inside of the car).

"Prize Plunge" - The player was shown 5 prizes (usually totaling $10,000 or more in value) in a bulletproof glass box hooked up to explosives, and usually faced 5 questions. For each question answered incorrectly, the player had to push one of 5 detonators, each of which would randomly trigger one of the explosives. At the end, whatever wasn't blown up, the player won. One of the five prizes was usually a stereotypical game show parting gift, such as a supply of Rice-A-Roni or a can of peas. This booby prize allowed for a 1-in-5 chance of getting one question wrong and still walking away with all "valuable" prizes intact.

As of February 21, 2006, there are four new prize games that have been seen:

"60 Seconds of Distraction" (also referred to simply as "Car Smash") - This is a slight update on the original car game. Jimmy asks the player three (usually multiple-answer) questions. After the first question is asked, a 60-second clock starts. For the first 20 seconds, the three losing players must stay back from the car. However, once the pointer passes 20 and goes into the red zone, a bell sounds, and the first loser sprays graffiti on the car. Then a second bell sounds, and the second loser attacks the paint job with a belt sander. Then a third bell sounds, and the third loser attacks the car with a sledge hammer. The player can pass, knowing that the losing players only stop attacking the car when they have completely answered all three questions or when the 60 seconds expire. The episode originally airing on January 24, 2006 shows that a player can win an undamaged car even if the initial 20 seconds expire: The player (who had won a Volkswagen New Beetle) answered the third question, one on U.S. Ivy league universities, giving the fourth answer just as the first losing player was about to start graffitiing the car. Jimmy then ordered that player not to do anything, as that was the last question needed. Time taken was approximately 22 seconds.

The second is "Barrel Drop", a variant on the 5-prize game. The player is shown three prizes totaling approximately $10,000. Jimmy asks the player three (usually multiple-answer) questions, each corresponding to a given prize. The player has 10 seconds and as many guesses as needed to completely answer the question. If the player runs out of time, a 1,000-pound barrel (about 455 kilograms) drops down and smashes the prize. Whatever isn't smashed, the player wins.

The third game is called "Conveyor Belt", and is the exact same as "barrel drop", but the prizes are placed on a conveyor belt. The player has until the prize is carried by the belt to a red "X" (again, approximately 10 seconds) to completely answer the question. If the prize reaches the crosshairs of the red "X", a wrecking ball swings down and destroys the prize. The player wins whatever isn't hit by the wrecking ball.

The fourth prize round is called "Rope Burn", and is reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg contraption. Each of three prizes is placed under an anvil suspended by a rope. The contestant has 20 seconds to answer three questions. If the contestant does not answer all three questions in the allotted time, a blowtorch aimed at the first rope will be ignited. The rope will of course burn, allowing the anvil to drop onto the prize and crush it. As soon as all questions are answered, any lit torches are extinguished, and the contestant wins whatever has not been crushed.

Notes

The set for the British version is a library/study area, and the buzzers are all upside down desklamps, similar to those on Win Beadle's / Ben Stein's Money. The American version is set in a brightly colored loft apartment, with halogen light buzzers. In the British version, Jimmy Carr simply told the players their scores at the end of the round. In the US, the plasma TV beside him shows the scores, with Jimmy only telling the contestants how many clothespins or rubber bands they have on their faces at the end of the round.

Jimmy Carr claims that in an individual time-trial-based quiz, the players have 45 seconds. However, the time is not displayed on-screen. Viewers who time the round with a stopwatch will find that most times, the horn goes off after 35-40 seconds. This leads the viewer to believe one of three things: either the players are given a limited number of questions (perhaps 7), several seconds of footage are cut out of each quiz, or the timekeepers approximate the 45 seconds by counting it in their heads. If the first case is true, Jimmy doesn't tell the viewers, and if the third case is true, then human error becomes a major factor; a player could be given a significant amount of extra time over the others and thus have a better chance of advancement to the head-to-head round.

There is a quiz book for "Distraction" in the United Kingdom, featuring most of the distractions featured on the show. Requires Buzzers, Distractions, and a brand new car.

Famous Distractions in the Past

Cactus Buzzers- Yet a Distraction in America, yet it's a viral video on the internet. Contestants must answer questions by buzzing in to a small hand buzzer surrounded by cacti. Halfway through the game, they are blindfolded and the cacti spin, making it harder for them to buzz in.

Nudist Relay- Taking place in the second round, the three remaining players don't answer questions, but instead have to do a relay race, featuring the wheelbarrow, the 3 legged race, and leapfrog (or "under the bridge"). The last place finisher is eliminated.

Pee Buzzers- There seems to be an obsession with urine on Distraction. As explained above, contestants are seated on specially designed toilets, with only a small door on the stall for privacy. To answer a question, they must "do a little wee" to activate their buzzer. This is the second most commonly featured game in the US version, with only the hot sauce drinking round being featured more often.

Drinking Urine- Although it has only been featured in the UK, it has been mentioned several times in the US (first on Comedy Central's behind-the-scenes videos with Jimmy, then on an actual episode or two.) The two final contestants compete against each other by drinking a shot of their own urine left over from drug testing. The final shot is usually the rest of the cup or the other contestant's urine.

Wrestlers - Usually the most brutal distraction, each contestant is thrown around and manhandled by "professional" wrestlers for 45 seconds while trying to answer questions. Less "severe" variations on this challenge include answering while being manhandled by attack dogs, being enclosed in a pen with geese and covered in feed, and having one's head stuck in a box containing pigeons.

Catapults - This round made its US debut in the second season and is used quite frequently. To buzz in, contestants must pull a lever which in turn launches a cream pie into the player's face. After the contestant has used up the pie, it is replaced with other random food items (ketchup, mustard, guacamole, raw eggs, honey, fruit pies, jelly, and rice have been seen so far.) Incidentally, the contestants are dressed in their regular clothes for this round, and while they may clean off their faces, they must "wear" the food on their clothes and in their hair for the remainder of the show.

Electrocution - Contestants are given an electric shock when they buzz in. In at least one UK episode, the electrocution was "punishment" for getting a question wrong or when an opponent got one right. In the US version, random electrocutions would start occurring about halfway through the round. It is also used when the contestant gets a question right, and the electrocution goes to their mothers.

Butt Buzzers - The contestants were lined up side by side, and wore gold go-go shorts with buzzers attached to their rear ends. Questions usually contained something about butts, and to answer the question the contestant had to slap the buzzer located on his neighbor's bottom.

External links