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The Moment of Truth premiere reactions

by Isabelle Carreau, posted Jan 23rd 2008 10:45PM
The Moment of Truth
When FOX first announced that it picked up new game show The Moment of Truth, I had my doubts about the show. It seemed too intrusive and risky. When reading Kristin's article about her time in one of the show's promo booths, I got confirmation that the show was mostly heading towards sensationalism. Even if I had my doubts about the show, I had to tune in at least once to see how crappy and creepy the show would turn out to be and how low contestants would agree to go in order to win money.

If I understood correctly, the contestants are asked questions before the show and at that time they have all the polygraph gear on them. Once they answered the questions, the show compiles the official answers taking into account the moments when the contestants lied. Then, they go on the show and are asked the 21 questions out of those they were asked and their answers is compared to the polygraph results (for example, if someone said "yes" on the show and on the polygraph test they said "yes" but it was discovered that they were lying, then the official answer is "no" meaning that on the show they have an incorrect answer... follow me?). The more questions they answered truthfully, the more money they can get. But with more money means the possibility of alienating friends and family members because some of the questions are really touchy ("Is there something you have done that could cause [your wife] not to trust you? Do you have a bank account your girlfriend doesn't know about?") and the answer could put the contestant in a rough spot. I guess some contestants will lie both in the test and on the show in the hope that they beat the test and, therefore, can get away with a lie. But unless you are Sydney Bristow, chances are that you won't be able to beat the polygraph!

As all game shows nowadays, there is suspenseful music and a pause before the result is announced. About the latter, I'm glad the wait for the results wasn't too long; that helped give a good pace to the show. Mark L. Walberg did a better hosting job than I expected him to. He interacted with the players, had interesting questions to ask the contestants that were tie ins to the real game questions. He is not the greatest host on TV but he did a fair job.

It was interesting to see the instant reactions from family members and friends. They were always on the edge of their seat and not always happy with the answers, but what were they expecting? The ex-football player's wife kept saying that she "wanted to know" but her facial expressions were not always in agreement. I'm pretty sure it was painful for her but she was supportive of the fact that her husband wanted to continue. If someone decided to go on the show, they agreed to be asked tough questions that could put their relationships and friendships in jeopardy. And if a friend or family member agreed to come to the show to support the contestant, they agreed to hear things they may have wished remained secret. My curiosity would like to know what happened after the show. Did the family members and friends confront the contestant? Were they supportive and agreed to not ask questions because they too have secrets?

Random fact about the show: did you know that The Moment of Truth is being produced in 24 countries? Oh and the show, titled Nothing but the Truth at first, was picked up in August of 2007, meaning that it wasn't part of FOX's plan to cope with the writers' strike. Strike or no strike, the show would have made it on the air.

In all, The Moment of Truth was not as bad as I expected. It is as intrusive and risky as I thought it would be though and me (and others) watching more episodes will have FOX think we want to see more of the show and other shows that are alike. Thing is, I'm not sure we do but what else is on TV? Plus, let's admit it, we love hearing secrets! I don't know yet if I'll tune in next week but if I do, I blame it on the strike and my curiosity!

If you would like to be on the show and have your secrets revealed to million of viewers, check out FOX's Truth casting page.

What did you think of The Moment of Truth?
Fantastic!144 (17.1%)
Good.164 (19.5%)
Meh.226 (26.8%)
Yuk!238 (28.2%)
What?71 (8.4%)

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fortwynt

Mark, that is exactly my feeling....

I can predict with 100 percent accuracy what answers will be true, and what answers will be false.

For instance, if a person is asked "have you ever fantasized about a woman other than your wife?" OBVIOUSLY they know to stay on the show they have to answer sticky questions like that, so we know they arent going to say "no", because why else would they be asking them a question like that unless they already knew that it were true?...Yes is the only thing they would or could logically answer because why go against what they KNOW to be true, thus getting caught up?...I find most people buy 100 percent that lie detectors are flawless (which they aren't), so i find it hard to believe that anyone would try and "beat it", rather they would tell the truth (the purpose of the show)...the whole dramatic "pause" is bogus.

March 12 2008 at 8:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Benny_who_ha

I have seen on of the contestants (the beauty queen) on a late night infomercial. She was hawking the benefits of a male performance enhancer. What does this mean? Are they all actors?

February 02 2008 at 8:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
CrabbyGolightly

I'm already wringing my hands over the possibility of the first "Celebrity Editon." Can you imagine? The public could finally find out all sorts of truths about their heroes. We could ask Tom Cruise, 'Is Suri the human hybrid baby born with the alien sperm donors from the Church of Scientology?' Check out www.crabbygolightly.com for some more questions we could pose to our favorite celebrities! CrabbyGolightly.com. Taking a dim view of celebrity, media and power.

January 27 2008 at 12:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kat

I could NOT stand the









wait in between questions and










answers! Very very irritating! I'm sitting there watching, and wondering, "gee, I could probably go to the bathroom and back by the time stupid computer woman says the answer!"

The contestants were asked 50 questions beforehand...though they didn't know if they were able to fool the test or not. Eh, I would have rather enjoyed seeing a LIVE lie detector test. One contestant can only hope that they won't ask on live tv, "Have you had an affair with a monkey while married to your wife?" and will stick with the easy questions. So, while it's true that the contestant does not know what of the 50 questions will be asked, they have some idea. Great premise, poor results.

January 25 2008 at 3:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ORKMommy

We all have to agree that's it's not as bad as "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader". Last night, it was on for 2 HOURS!! The first 30 minutes consisted of 4 questions! Nothing is as bad as that show!

January 25 2008 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cindy

The Moment of Truth has a great premise and very interesting questions. However, I felt the same way I feel when I'm sitting at a stop light for 5 minutes, then the guy in front of me doesn't go when it turns green. It took 30 minutes to get to 8 questions. I mean REALLY! Get on with it! I don't have the patience to watch it again. Most of Americans want a quick fix, not 5 minute questions.

January 24 2008 at 8:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GerryofNorVA

You must DVR the show first! You HAVE to be able to FF through it because of the idiotic pauses and inane banter. I finished this 1-hr show in like 20-mins this way. It's the only way you can deal with it.

And now that the second contestant has been ID'ed as an actor how much credibility remains for it ?

January 24 2008 at 3:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gilbert0

What a terrible show. The quality was done way too cheaply. And I found the voice of the lady very annoying. I don't see this show making it very far. I for one won't be tuning in again!

January 24 2008 at 1:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

I agree with others that 1. it would be more fun if they were hooked to the polygraph on stage and 2. the waiting, both for the contestant to give their answer and for the true/false determination, is a waste of time.

Having only seen one contestant finish, it may be too early to tell, but here is my biggest issue with the "game".

I had the impression that the personal trainer truly believed his "no" answer (have you touched women clients more than necessary) that got him kicked off the show, "FALSE". He had already admitted to some worse stuff and the question was very weakly worded, I'm sure he would've been willing to admit to it in order to stay on the show.

Presumably, the producers can get a pretty good idea which questions fall into this category - i.e. that the contestant will give a "false" answer on the air. All they have to do is inject one of these questions when they're tired of the contestant (or afraid for their money) and move on.

As my son pointed out to me, the contestant really has no reason to lie - once the question is asked, the truth will come out anyway - so why would the contestant knowingly contradict the polygraph?

The contestant knows all the questions, but only the producers know all the "right" answers!

January 24 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ORKMommy

My first impression after watching it was that they use whatever will cause the contestant the most embarrassment or misery. You could tell from looking that the first guy's wife probably has low self esteem and doesn't trust her husband to begin with, so they went with those questions. The second guy's big secret is the gambling, which is why his questions were geared towards money. In the preview for next week, they have his son come out and ask about gambling his kids college funds away.

If someone agrees to be on this show, they agree to have their dirty laundry exposed in front of their friends/loved ones...they deserve what happens!

I'm ashamed to admit though, I will be watching again. For the same reason I slow down to see a car accident. I'm not perfect, but I am what I am! :-)

January 24 2008 at 11:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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