To think that contestants should be banned from telling us their sob stories on game shows?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

Now i am secretly rooting for the other person to beat you 😬

Bring back contestants who want the money for a boob job!

My DD wanted to apply for the next series of Race across the world and they actively ask for sob stories at the outset. We don't really have one so she decided not to apply as we wouldn't stand a chance of even getting through the first bit

The poker player guy shouldn’t have been there though.

Yeah DS and I had the same conversation on RAW and decided ‘we just want to do it because DH gets serious FOMO’ wouldn’t wash

Oh, that drives me insane on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, when they ruminate self-indulgently at length over the ridiculously easy starter questions, in some kind of attempt to show how smart they are, and how brilliant their reasoning skills.

By all means spend time carefully considering and logically thinking through the options for the genuinely difficult questions that can win you life-changing money; but nobody cares about you tediously drawing out (with anecdotes and personal experience) why it simply can't be any of the other possibilities for "How many wheels does a tricycle have?" to win £100.

I did laugh the other week when one young resident doctor (in training) was giving us a story of how he was so upset as his grandad died a few months ago. At 93. He was 93 dude. 93!!! Many people tend to die at that age. Some people die younger!

you can just imagine the interviewer angling for some hint of a sob story from the doctor that could be shoehorned int:

Interviewer: "Is there anything in your life that drew you to medicine as a career?"
Posh doctor: "Well, yah, my mum and dad are doctors and their contacts help. Also, they've got enough money to subsidise all the years of training and career uncertainty."
Interviewer: Hmm. Are they still alive?
Posh doctor: Yes.
Interviewer: Poorly at all?
Posh doctor: No.
Interviewer: Disabled sibling?
Posh doctor: No.
Interviewer (sighing): ANY family encounter with medicine at ANY point in your existence?
Posh doctor: Well, one of my grandparents died.
Interviewer: BINGO!!!!!

I watched the I Have a Dream Mamma Mia audition show a couple of years ago. I found it interesting that one girl revealed afterwards that her father died in the middle of the competition and she asked that it was not made part of her "story". The girl who won had lost her mother several years previously and it was very much part of her story. The difference in the family interviews etc in the final between her and the other finalist seemed incredibly biased as a result.

Does anybody else remember the sketch on Not The Nine O'Clock News where the men dressed as darts players were actually competing to see who could drink the most units of alcohol... and (the best bit), they were idly throwing darts at a board to pass the time whilst they waited for their next turn?!

Maybe they could introduce something similar with gameshows or talent shows. Something like Strictly, say - the judges could hear out everybody's lengthy, well-rehearsed sob story presentations and hold up their scores to rate them, with the best sob story winning; but whilst they're waiting for their own go, they could do a bit of aimless dancing to while away the time in between!

All the reality shows do it to different levels. Some of them do it nicely. But I'm interested in their sewing or throwing not what their nighty hangs next to on the washing line.

Have you seen any of Lee Mack's quiz The 1%? The contestants tell the most stupid anecdotes I have ever heard. One guy brought along his discarded eyelashes in a little jar as he is a collector. I think members of the public should not be allowed to make arses of themselves on national TV as it was physically painful how hard I cringed. At least a sob story doesn't make me wish for the coming AI apocalypse to hurry up.

My SIL is the world's biggest victim....of absolutely nothing at all.She comes from a family who are always victims of something ( absolutely nothing in actual reality). They are utterly pathetic.

It seems to be part and parcel of TV now. The funniest one I ever heard was a posho Apprentice contestant who was talking about her awful childhood as her parents had split up and her pony really struggled being moved to new stables. It even showed a clip of her pony. My eyes rolled so hard at this attempt to garner sympathy.

Well my sob story is that I havent got one

Ive got a GoFund me running to compensate for my distress.

I hate it when programmes do this. Especially Dog House.

"Here are Randy and Sandy, who are very depressed because of A, B & C. We'll be sure to mention this at every opportunity and make sure there are lots of shots of them looking wistful before they choose a dog".

Can’t you diagnose him with SFOMODD (serious fear of missing out dysphoric disorder)?

I love the 1% Club because it’s the antithesis of this … people want to spend money on nonsense, rather than “the wheel” where it’s people crying about spending it on wheelchairs, and medical treatment in America.

The Repair Shop is now a game of “Guess who died” when someone rocks up … when the question should be “if it meant so much to you, why is it in this state?”

DIY SOS, used to be a programme about people who were terrible at DIY and had made a mess of… now it exactly the same episode repeated.. there is no jeopardy, of course it’s going to be finished.

Blame the production companies and contact them! A lot of independents make these programs on national tv channels like Studio Lambert and We Are Banijay. It’ll only change if viewers reject it!

lol! We take bets on who will be the first Strictly ‘sleb to play the dead grandma card. You know it’s going wrong for them and they need the votes when “Grandma who died before I was born, but whom I feel incredibly close to, would be so very proud of me today…”

i find it less annoying on Repair Shop as it’s not celebrities looking for sympathy/affirmation. I feel the emotion might be more genuine from a random member of the public (even though I know they’ve been picked because the story they have to tell will make good telly).

Judith Keppel on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

I think that her being already well off maybe did give her an advantage in that it would make it easier to gamble if you are not 100% sure of the the answer but are fairly sure, where someone who's life could be changed by a few thousand might opt to take the money.

I agree with you thiugh that people who complain it's not fair are ridiculous. It's a competition and she won fair and square. It was also exciting and great tv to see someone go all the way!

We stopped watching SAS are you tough enough (or whatever it was called) when a female contestant sobbed about being bullied at school - she was called 'specky 4 eyes' for wearing specs. The most intelligent girl in my year at school was nicknamed 'brains' that's just how it was in the 80s - I'm specky 4 eyes (and was called porky for a while too) but I don't let it affect my whole life....

It annoyed me on squid game the challenge. Won't mention names as spoiler but one woman with a disabled son guilt tripped another contestant who did something to disadvantage her. Another made up about being about to be a dad for some reason. One of the challenges involved people going around finding out others stories before deciding to take someone out (the least deserving to win in their opinion). One self sacrificed as he didn't feel he deserved the money as others had better stories than him. Another was set up as the baddy as he was already wealthy and didn't need the money.

It's viewer manipulation but it also impacted the game itself. If people were actually dying they wouldn't play it that way

It annoyed me on squid game the challenge. Won't mention names as spoiler but one woman with a disabled son guilt tripped another contestant who did something to disadvantage her. Another made up about being about to be a dad for some reason. One of the challenges involved people going around finding out others stories before deciding to take someone out (the least deserving to win in their opinion). One self sacrificed as he didn't feel he deserved the money as others had better stories than him. Another was set up as the baddy as he was already wealthy and didn't need the money.

It's viewer manipulation but it also impacted the game itself. If people were actually dying they wouldn't play it that way

Judith Keppel is the cousin of Queen Camilla, they have quite a resemblance.

Every week DH half-jokingly says ‘and that’s why I haven’t got on the wheel’ (he has applied)😄 not got cancer, not on dialysis, not got cerebral palsy, not had a house burn down. Unlike you though we do root for them! They have far more need.

Gareth gates might have lost anyway to will young but he wouldn't have lost so significantly had will not suddenly confirmed he was gay before the final suddenly its not about the singing

Wasnt there a big brother contestant who wanted to send a neighbour to America for heart surgery? He went from being behind to winning (i dont mind this one he was a winner either way because the public would have rallied if he lost guaranteed)

So many sobbing stories these days

Eurovision is the same as well