Midnight Money Madness

Format

Midnight Money Madness was a game show where the contestants were home viewers. American residents over eighteen could enter the contest by text messaging a request, dialing a 1-900 number, or by using the online form. A person could enter up to ten times, regardless of entry method. The official rules detailing charges and entry are located at the show's website. Entries had an equal chance of selection, regardless of the means of entry. If selected, the registrant would be called and become a participant. Participants stayed on the line listening to a recorded message until they either proceeded into the next round of selection or dropped from the participant pool. One person from the final round of selection was chosen to be brought on-air for a question. The on-air contestant had the chance to play the game for cash.

The program was produced by Endemol, more notable for their big-budget game shows and reality programs like Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100 and Big Brother. In July 2007, Endemol ventured into another participation TV program with Take the Cake.

Games

Midnight Money Madness featured various minigames which were played throughout the program. The rewards for the games were cash prizes ranging anywhere from $100 – $3,700 in cash.

To speed up the games at certain points, various methods were employed:

Some games, such as "What the Blank?" & "Things That Are..." relied heavily on sexual innuendos for comedy on the show, such as "Things that precede the word 'ass'," or "Things you prefer bigger."

The games below were the most commonly played games, but are not the only games played. Some games were purposely played only once, while others were titled differently but have similar gameplay.

The Midnight Money Madness Door

Sometimes during a show, a doorbell for a door on the side of the stage rang and a celebrity, known from other various appearances and stints, would be present for the show. He/she would sometimes help out with clues or simply be there for comic material. Notable appearances include Phyllis Diller, Jim J. Bullock, Brigitte Nielsen, Barry Williams, and Debra Wilson (parodying Whitney Houston).

Controversy

There had been many complaints of technical difficulties and unscrupulous behavior on part of the hosts, producers and creators of the show. Many on the TBS forums felt that it was necessary to report when the online entries were down (as show participation at that stage is considered gambling), while others feel that the show was simply bad due to technical problems.

Two of the first three East Coast episodes were plagued with technical problems. For example, during the second episode the hosts spent the first ten minutes of the show elaborating on the entry methods. After that break, the viewers were told they are making sure their phones do not malfunction and to avoid dead air, TBS played an episode of Bloopers. The show went on normally approximately sixty minutes into the broadcast. The third East Coast episode, on August 30, had more problems. This time the problems were all off the air. The internet participation was stifled due to more technical difficulties on the part of TBS for the first forty-five minutes.

Additionally, on one episode, a blooper happened, where after an on-home contestant named Greg tried to fill the one remaining blank that to complete "Wasting..." as "money", "water" and "energy" were revealed, and with forty seconds left, the board slipped off the main prop, and caused the one remaining answer to reveal prematurely, and that answer was "brain cells", and the guy did a pun saying "Wasting props!". The host and guy were to go to commercial. This clip was seen on one episode of Most Outrageous Moments.